COVINGTON, Ga. — The Eastside golf teams get to keep the Newton Cup for one more year after defeating Alcovy and Newton in the two-day tournament at The Oaks Course on Wednesday.
The Eastside boys retained the cup with a score of 332 followed by second-place Newton with a score of 464 with Alcovy scoring 484 points.
It took sudden death, however, before the Eastside girls finished off Newton, as both teams tied with a team score of 348 after regulation.
The Eastside girls started the day two strokes behind Newton with a 185 to 187 lead. Newton freshman Ally Black, who was the low medalist, put Eastside further back shooting a 42 on the par 36 front nine.
But after Emma Camfield (54), Karly Townley (52) and Tiana Hoff (55) posted their scores, the Eastside girls had a two-stroke lead when Camfield’s score was combined with those posted by Sydney Bryan (66) and Kayla Goodridge (57).
However, the teams ended in a tie when Deja Kelly came off the course with a 64.
In sudden death, the two teams remained tied after the par-four, 280-yard second hole. Camfield posted a five with Townley scoring an eight for Eastside. Meanwhile, Black scored a six and Bryan posted a seven.
After Goodridge recorded her score of eight, Eastside freshman Caroline Culbertson reached the green in three strokes where she three-putted to give the Lady Eagles the win.
For Eastside girls coach Dennis Jones, this year’s victory may have seemed a bit sweeter than in 2017, given the relative youth and inexperience on this squad.
“The girls have made a lot of progress since the beginning of the season,” Jones said. “I only had one returning player, Emma Camfield. All the other girls hadn’t played high school golf before. All four girls shot at, or below their averages Wednesday, which is what propelled us to victory.
“I’m so very proud of how hard they work and how far they’ve advanced in such a short time.”
In the boys match, there was little doubt that the Eastside boys were going to win as they started the final day with an 82 stroke lead over Newton and an 88-stroke lead over Alcovy.
Eastside extended its dominance shooting a 164 followed by Newton with a 214 and Alcovy with a 228.
Giving Eastside the dominant win were Griffin Autry with a 37 followed by Landon Farill (39), Wes Conner (42) and Wyatt Hamby (46). Will Harwell shot a 48, but his score was not counted in the win.
Newton started the tournament with a six-stroke lead over Alcovy in the battle for second place and held on to its lead after Will Sullivan and Alcovy’s Robert Murphy posted matching scores of 49.
The Rams extend their advantage as Jaylen Simons and Brice Smith’s scores of 52 and 54 respectively were better than Alcovy’s Hilton Bryant (53) and Reese Murphy (63) scores.
Newton’s Casey Roberson and Alcovy’s Steven Rosser finished the scoring tied with a 66.
Boys coach Rick Rasmussen said he was proud of both Newton squads, and unlike last season, feels good about some of the players’ chances heading into next week’s Region 8-AAAAAAA tournament at Monroe Golf and Country Club.
“We’re taking both boys and girls to the tournament this year,” Rasmussen said. “Overall, our inexperienced kids did well, and (our boys) got second to a very experienced Eastside team and finished 20 shots ahead of Alcovy. We’re proud of how they’ve developed.”
