Port Neches-Groves will be well represented at the April 19-20 Region III, 5A golf championships. The Indians are headed to the Texas A&M Golf Club as District 21-5A champions and will also be represented by Jaxon and Jeffrey Wolfe who qualified as medalists.
The Wolfe’s, in fact, placed second and fourth overall, with Jaxon’s 161 (78-83) good for second and Jeffrey’s 171 (90-81) taking fourth. Barbers Hill ace Grant Doggett roared back with a 69 Tuesday at Eagle Pointe for a 148 that took medalist honors by 13 shots.
Devin Galloway, who finished third overall, led the way for the champion PN-G Purple team with a 168 (81-87). Other scores that counted toward PN-G Purple’s winning total of 689 were Jason Adams’ 172 (82-90), Dalton Shields’ 173 (85-88) and Jake Gauthier’s 177 (89-88).
For PNG, it was the 10th district championship in the past 11 times the tournament has been played. The Indians had a string of nine straight titles broken by Nederland in 2019, then there was no tourney in 2020 because of COVID.
“I’m so proud of the effort all our players exhibited Monday and Tuesday,” said PN-G coach Jerry Honza. “We knew we were going to be going into Barbers Hills’ back yard and that they were going to play better. Our Purple team played great on Monday and built a good lead.
“We just wanted to stay close at Eagle Pointe and we were able to do that and hang on for the win. And our medalists showed up in a big way. I’m so excited Jaxon played well enough to medal and qualify for regional. Jeffrey, our other Wolfe, has had some good rounds this year but he splits his time with basketball, so he gets fewer reps.
“I never dreamed he’d fire the second low round of the day and qualify for regional. But great for him, he did just that.”
PN-G Purple shot 352 after opening with a 337 at Beaumont Country Club. Barbers Hill, thanks to Dogget’s 69, closed fast with a 343 for 709 to break out of a tie with PN-G White for second place. PN-G White struggled to a 372 on Tuesday for a 738 that left it in fourth place behind Crosby’s 726.
Scores for PN-G White included Michael Blotner 179 (83-96), Evan Klutts 184 (97-87), Lake Edwards 184 (91-93) and Blake Makelki 194 (98-96).
Nederland improved by 16 shots on Tuesday to finish at 854. Charles Morgan led the way for the Bulldogs with 188 (97-91). Tyler Louvier (102-108) and Jacob Kotzur (108-102) finished at 210 and Owen Harren shot 246 (108-118).
The final round of the 21-5A girls championship was scheduled for Wednesday at Eagle Pointe. PN-G’s girls were in third place with a 451 after round 1, trailing a 344 by Barbers Hill and a 397 by Crosby.
Jeannie Truong had the low score of 105 for PN-G. Other scores that counted were a 108 by Taryn DeJean, a 117 by Kassie Carpenter and a 121 by Lorey Guidry. Playing as a medalist Nevaeh Granger posted a 119.