Eleven strokes down, state champions up
None of them have been as impressive as what occurred Tuesday, Oct. 6, at Sevierville Golf Club.
Despite trailing by as many as 11 strokes, the Warriors rallied past First Baptist Academy for their first Division II-A team title since 2022. CAK posted a two-day total of 25-over 601 to defeat Jackson Christian School (606) and FBA (608).
“I’ve been lucky enough to win a few, and I’ve never won one like this,” Cooper said. “This team, they did not look like they were going to win.”
So furious was the comeback that Cooper did not witness the core surge since he had gone to check on the CAK girls’ participants.
“I was with the boys for the front nine and was close to the tunnel going toward the girls on the back,” Cooper said. “When I went to see the girls, we were somewhere in the neighborhood of eight or nine shots back.
“I looked down, and we were four back. I wanted to get over for a par three at the end and bolted back to the River Course, and by that time, we were one shot ahead.”
Tyler Stafford finished with a 2-over 74 to lead CAK while Aiden Cooper shot a team-best 71 for CAK as part of 11 birdies for the team on the back nine.
“They were in fourth place with nine holes left, then won by five or six,” Cooper said. “They’re just a really resilient bunch. Even in the region, we were not playing well and we had to play well to even make it and did.
The freshman, Ryan, never gives up, and they’re all like that — you don’t have to coach them out of the doldrums, they understand emotions can’t dictate what your next shot is.”
A young CAK girls team took the same approach for a third-place finish with a total of 57-over par.
“Really excited about how they improved in the postseason,” Cooper said. “They’re young but they’ve got better days coming. High level players, and these girls got to see what that level of play was like. They both posted their lowest scores in region to get here, so they’re hard workers and have a lot of upside.”
The same is true for Farragut’s Sophie Williams, who posted a two-day total of 159 during the Division I Class AA state tournament on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 8-9. Williams shot a 79 her first day and tied for 17th out of 47 golfers, then shot 10-over the second day for a score of 80 to bring her to the total result. She finished at 19-over, tying for 18th in the state in her second appearance in the tournament.
“Sophie played great. Honestly, probably the best I’ve seen her hit the ball all season,” Farragut coach Ryan Mahoney said. “She struggled around the greens on the second day, costing her a few strokes, but all in all, some of the best ball-striking I’ve seen from her all season.”
Hardin Valley’s girls team finished third in the team scores at the same event, totaling a 312 at 32-over par. Addisyn Newman led the Lady Hawks with a 146 through both days while Riley Taylor tied for 24th with a 166 and Emma Dolynchuk tied for 42nd at 205.
In other area results, Catholic’s girls placed third in the Division II-AA state tournament with Teagan Walker, Linzy Johnson and Anna Kate Coatney at 149, 156 and 180, respectively.
Bearden finished seventh as a team in the Division I Class AA boys state tournament, notching a team total of 625 over two days at 49-over. The team compiled a 314 the first day and a 311 the second day, though William Ibbotson led the Dawgs with a 152 overall. Individually, Hardin Valley’s Arjun Patel placed 21st with a two-day total of 150 at 6-over. Ibbotson was tied for 26th at 8-over.
For Webb, Colmore Sprouse finished 3-over with a 147 in the Division II-AA boys state tournament, tying two others for 14th place on the individual leaderboard.
Photo courtesy of Donnie Cooper
