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BOYS GOLF: Logansport wins sectional title; Pioneer advances as a team

The boys golf teams from Logansport and Pioneer had a lot of reasons to celebrate Friday. The Berries edged Twin Lakes by one stroke, 298-299, to win their first sectional title since 2019 and 26th all-time. Advertisement The Panthers placed third with a 330 and beat Rochester by a fifth-place tiebreaker to advance to the regional as a team for the first time in program history. Logansport coach Abby Lundy said her team peaked at the right time. 'They've been playing really well the last two weeks and I knew low 300s was going to have to do it and the weather was going to have to work out and it all came together for them today and I'm so happy for them,' she said. 'They work really, really hard. 'We started the season with a trophy at Rochester and then we finished at Wabash last week with a trophy. Then 298 today is very good for us.' Advertisement Lundy knew it was going to take a good round to beat Twin Lakes. 'They were ranked in the top 20 in the state this year,' she said. 'And we knew we had to compete with them.' After the awards ceremony the Berries were taking pictures with the sectional trophy near the brand new clubhouse at Dykeman. As Athletic Director Brian Strong put it, the new clubhouse was about a seven-decade improvement from the old one. The Berries were going to be tough to beat on their home course. 'Home course advantage, I mean, these boys are out here all the time and that's what it takes,' Lundy said. 'It takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of mental ability to be able to finish and when they have a bad shot, they've been really good this year at not letting it simmer and moving on and competing very well.' Advertisement The Berries have a young but talented group. Sophomore Graham Taylor led them with a 1-over 71 to finish tied for second overall. Junior Eli Baldwin and sophomore Evan Brandstatter each shot 74 to finish tied for fourth. Junior Logan Lange and sophomore Louis Rozzi each added a 79. 'I played pretty well,' Taylor said. 'The course is in great condition. Just one bad hole out there with a double bogey (on the sixth hole). That kind of put me out. But other than that I held in there pretty well. I had just basically pars throughout, one birdie (on 13).' Twin Lakes senior Leo Dellinger, who will golf at Wabash College, shot a 1-under 69 to repeat as the sectional medalist. 'Leo played really well,' Taylor said. 'He had some more birdies than me and he kept in it.' Advertisement Dellinger and Taylor were tied for the lead at 1-over going into the 18th. Dellinger put his second shot about one foot from the hole and had a tap-in eagle. But he was fortunate his shot stopped so close to the hole. 'He hit two trees. His shot was not the cleanest shot coming into the green,' Lundy said. 'He got lucky for where it stuck.' Taylor was able to close strong with a par. 'He and Leo were neck and neck,' Lundy said. 'Leo eagles 18 and Graham pars. They were tight coming down. Walking the fairway with him, his composure was there and everybody just finished so well and composed and they didn't get rattled at all.' Advertisement It was the Berries who were able to celebrate a team win as they were able to knock off the four-time defending champion Indians by one shot. 'I think it's really big, honestly,' Taylor said. 'Especially from last year and the tournaments we've had earlier this year, the scores are definitely a lot better and just the team is doing a lot better.' A big story was the play of Brandstatter, who got a spinal cord injury while getting scoliosis surgery last August. He was in the hospital for two months and had to completely relearn how to walk. There will be a feature on him in the Pharos-Tribune next week. 'He is just like the Pacers,' Lundy said. 'He's the comeback kid. It's been amazing. We had tears back in August when he had his surgery and he had all the complications and he's overcome that. The moment he woke up from surgery, he was like, 'I'm going to walk and play golf this spring.' And we all were like, 'OK, OK.' We tried to tell him it's OK if you don't. And then to be able to go all-conference and now placing tied for third at sectionals, what an amazing story.' Advertisement The Pioneer Panthers wrote quite a story themselves as they were able to get past perennial power Rochester for the third and final spot in the regional. 'Our goal was to shoot a 330, which was crazy that we actually hit that number,' Pioneer coach Kyle Rans said. 'We said that early in the season we wanted to hit 330. We shot 350 last year, so we made a big difference from last year. We were hoping we could get Rochester. It came down to our five player, Tayt Smith, who's a senior, shot 89, so ecstatic for him. And Pioneer golf has never went as a team to regionals. So we're excited that we get that opportunity.' Sophomore Dane Bowditch led the Panthers with a 79, followed by sophomore Ivan Reyes (80), junior Micah Rans (82), junior Brady Price (89) and senior Tayt Smith (89). The Panthers had to come back from a five-shot deficit on the back nine to clip the Zebras. Advertisement 'Micah went 46 on the front here today and then went even par on the back, 46-36 for an 82,' coach Rans said. 'So he turned it on on the back. We're just ecstatic that we're going as a team, super excited.' What makes Bowditch's round even more impressive is that he also runs track in the spring and was part of two Kokomo Sectional champion relay teams for the Panthers. 'This is his home course,' coach Rans said. 'He grew up playing this course. He's a primary track guy and then he plays with us. He practices after his track practice, he comes up here and practices. So this is his secondary sport. But we knew he would shoot well here. We had him about 70% of the time in regular season. So we had him at conference, we won conference at Round Barn and then had him today. We definitely needed his horsepower.' The top three individuals on non-advancing teams were Rensselaer's Beck Drone (77), Rochester's Davis Renie (78) and Frontier's Brady Greer (79). Advertisement Winamac placed seventh (369) and Caston placed eighth (370) in the 11-team field. Brendan Hines led Winamac with an 85, followed by Logan Fredel (92), Talen Garner (95), Will Biros (97) and Jayden Beckner (122). Max Sommers led Caston with an 85. He was followed by Luke Graham (86), Owen Chapman (89), Jace Rentschler (110) and Gage Thomas (121). The Lake Central Regional is Thursday at the Sandy Pines Golf Club in DeMotte.