Hearts Boys Team Advances to Sectional

Members of the Effingham High School golf team advancing to sectional play were, left to right, Ryker Schneider, Colby Heaton, Aiden Beck, Ben Donsbach, Austin Waldhoff, Tate Niebrugge and Coach Jeff Schafer.

The Effingham High School boys golf team advanced to the Carbondale Golf Sectional Tuesday.

The EHS squad finished third at the Class 2A Mattoon Regional with a 355 total. The top three teams advance to sectionals along with the top 10 players not members of those teams.

Charleston, having a monster year, won the regional title with a 301 total. The four scoring Charleston players were under 80 with Preston Smith and Keegan Gowin co-medalists with a 74 each. Mattoon was a distant second with a 343 total followed by Effingham 355, Paris 361, Lawrenceville 367, Olney 367, Arcola 375, Mount Zion 376 and Taylorville 384.

For Effingham, junior Tate Niebrugge led the way with an 80. Junior Aiden Beck shot a 90, freshman Ryker Schneider shot a 92 and junior Ben Donsbach shot a 93 for the four counting scores. Junior Austin Waldhoff shot a 108, and senior Colby Heaton shot a 111.

"Wow is all I can say," said EHS Coach Jeff  Schafer. "I have been very fortunate to have some teams overachieve but this has to be one of the best ones.

"Last year we pulled off a big upset to get to the sectional but it was at our own course.  We were seeded eighth of nine teams in the regional where the top three teams advance to the Carbondale Sectional Monday October 8.  We knew that Charleston and Mattoon were pretty much locks to advance. We had had some success against some of the other teams in the regional but Lawrenceville and Paris were ones we had to play better than and today we were fortunate to do that.

"Tate Niebrugge saved a really good time for his best round of the year with an 80.  He finally finished his round off with some solid play down the stretch. He has been really close this year and today was his day as he finished seventh overall.  Aiden Beck had a tough day and battled through some adversity to hang in there and shoot a 90 after some early holes could have done him in.

"I can’t say enough about freshman Ryker Schneider and junior Ben Donsbach as Ryker had his lowest high school round for the third straight time and Ben shot his second best high school round.  Austin Waldhoff and Colby Heaton also played for us today.  The best thing is we have five of these guys back next year and they are going to get a taste of what it is like to get to the next level, which we really thought we were a year away from, so hopefully we will take this experience in and really enjoy it and help parlay it in to great experience for the future."

Charelston won the regional title with 301 followed by Mattoon 343, Effingham 355, Paris 361, Lawrenceville 367, Olney 367, Arcola 375, Mount Zion 376 and Taylorville 384.

Effingham will now compete in the Carbondale Sectional Monday at Hickory Ridge Golf Course.