The Ada News
Oklahoma City —
With the aid of a pair of two-under rounds of 70, Ada catapulted from a morning round fourth place position into a tie for second after 36 holes of play Monday at the Class 4A State Tournament being held at Lake Hefner’s North Course in Oklahoma City.
The Cougars of coach Robbie Powell carded a team total of 301 in blustery conditions in the morning, then trimmed 10 strokes off that score with a 291 in the afternoon. Ada trailed Elk City by eight shots after 18 holes, but caught the Elks in the afternoon. Heritage Hall, the pre-tournament favorite, stands alone in the lead after rounds of 295-289 for a 584 total. AHS and ECHS are eight strokes back and the only competitors within striking distance as the tournament entered Tuesday’s final round.
Junior Wyatt Robson paced the Cougars with back-to-back rounds of 70. Robson reeled off five birdies in a span of seven holes during the morning round and matched that hot start in the afternoon. At one point in the second round, Robson had his score at four-under par, after making an eight-foot birdie putt on the par-5 11th hole. At four-under for the tournament, Robson stood alone in third place individually.
The Cougars received a big push in the afternoon round by another junior as Blake Long posted a season-low round of two-under 70. Long nudged into red numbers with a downhill birdie putt on the 13th hole and tapped in a birdie on No. 18 to close out his round, which was preceded by a four-over 76 in the morning. The 146 total left Long alone in 7th place individually.
Yet another junior, Justin Powell, rebounded from a slow start in the morning with birdies on the final two holes to record a 79, then battled back through adversity on the back nine for a 75 in the afternoon. The team’s lone senior, Cole Townsend, charged back from a seven-over 43 on the front side of the afternoon round with a three-under 33 on the back. His rounds of 79-76 amounted to a 155 total.
Kyle Rodrigues, another junior, rounded out the Cougar scoring by carding a 76 in the morning and an 83 in the afternoon for a 159 total.
Ada enters the final round grouped with Heritage Hall and Elk City. The Cougars need to make up eight strokes against a Charger squad that has been the dominant team in Class 4A this spring. Heritage Hall’s Trent Mewbourne led the overall medalist race after rounds of six-under 66 and four-under 68.
Following the gallant effort in the afternoon, Powell conceded the Cougars faced an uphill battle.
“We’re going to need to go post a good number tomorrow and we’ll probably need a little help from Heritage Hall,” Powell said.
