Saints finish 2nd in ECC boys' golf opener

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on March 12, 2013 1:47 PM

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South Johnston got the best of both worlds on Monday afternoon.

The Trojans claimed first place in the team standings at the season-opening Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference boys' golf tournament and Patrick Stephenson claimed medalist honors with an 18-hole round of 73.

South shot 325 as a team.

"South Johnston has a pretty good team this year," Southern Wayne head coach Jeremy Joyner said. "Our guys know what they have to do in order to beat (South Johnston) after today's match."

Southern Wayne, the two-time defending conference champion, finished second 331 team score. Timmy Stroud and Jonathan Barrow led the Saints with a round of 80 respectively. Barrow delivered the shot of the day when he holed a short iron for eagle on the par-four 4th hole.

Kyle Best finished with an 83 and Jonathan Langston carded an 88 for the Saints.

"I was really pleased with Barrow because he has been struggling lately and today he put that behind him," Joyner said. "I think we left a few shots out on the course as a team and we need to correct that going forward."

Cleveland finished third with a 346.

C.B. Aycock earned a fourth-place finish with a 367 team score. Battle Burnette paced the Golden Falcons with a round of 89. Josh Wheeler added a 91, Dylan Mitchell carded a 93 and Mitchell Langston added a 94.

Eastern Wayne finished sixth at 428. Willis Underwood led the Warriors with a round of 94. Underwood was the only Eastern Wayne player to break 100.

"This team has some potential, but we need to get our numbers up," first-year golf Eastern Wayne golf coach Tony Parrish said. "We only have five guys on the team and today we played with just four. That puts a lot of pressure on the guys that are here."

North Lenoir rounded out the team standings at 455. Alex Brownlee led the Hawks with a round of 83.

The next ECC tournament is March 18 at Reedy Creek Country Club.