“It got a little on the warm side,” said Mike Eye, Pendleton County head varsity golf coach, of tournament day at The Raven Course at Snowshoe Mountain. Otherwise, he shared that “there were clear skies … a beautiful day for golf.”
The Wildcats entered competition against Tygarts Valley, Union, Tucker County, and Pocahontas County last week. All season long, Pendleton County and Tygarts Valley have battled in the top echelons of the Potomac Valley Conference and this day was no different.
Eye shared that The Raven “is the only place that people say is harder than The Highlands (at Fisher Mountain).” He explained that the difficulty comes for opposite reasons.
“At The Highlands, the greens are mostly undulating. The tee to the green is not that difficult.” Conversely, at The Raven “it’s hard to get to the green” but once there, it poses less of a challenge. “At The Highlands, the greens are mostly undulating. The tee to the green is not that difficult.” Conversely, at The Raven “it’s hard to get to the green” but once there, it poses less of a challenge.
Overall, the Wildcats took second place with a score of 371. The Bulldogs from Tygarts Valley shot a 363. Tucker County, Pocahontas County, and Union rounded out the field.
The top six in the field earned all conference honors. Dylan Eye and Beckett Aumann tied for fourth, shooting a 92. Landon Davis tied for sixth and scored a 93. “These three kids made all PVC, which is pretty cool,” shared coach Eye, who also remarked that the difficulty of the course at The Raven made both the team and individual scores that much more impressive.
Jake Thompson shot a 94 and placed eighth, and Hayden Kimble shot a 99, good for a tie for 10th. All the way around, the Wildcats executed a tremendous performance on the links.
A match is scheduled for today at The Highlands, but that depends on the weather. Regionals start on Oct. 5, and the coaching staff has high expectations for the squad as the postseason nears.
Coach Eye shared that “in my opinion, this is the best team that we’ve ever had and I mean the team as a whole.”
The coach did not refer to the talent or accomplishments of his squad, but something deeper. He explained that “some days, you just don’t have it” but that these Wildcats “lift each other up and encourage each other. They rally together, encourage each other, and all give 110 percent.”
He added that “the only thing we ask is maximum effort.” If an athlete conducts himself as a sportsman and gives the best of himself, “that’s all you can ask.”
Coach Eye added that he and Dayne Davis, assistant coach, believe that being an effective coach means that “you teach them to be great human beings. You’ve got to teach sportsmanship, what it means to be a good teammate.”
“Teach them to be great humans and the winning will come,” Eye said.
