Posted: May 25, 2010 |(0) Comments

Nicolet golf coach Ted Wachs was scrambling around trying to find out the last time the Knights won a conference title. He thinks it may go all the way back to the grand old prep days of PGA pro Skip Kendall in the early-1980s.

So team leader Ben Schlossmann and the rest of the Knights were extra careful in putting the final touches on this long coveted championship at Friday's slightly soggy 18-hole finale at Washington County.

"It was pretty nerve-wracking adding things up afterwards," said Schlossmann, whose team had a good lead in the race going into the finale. "You could watch coach and tell that it really meant a lot to him."

But not half as much as Wachs thinks it meant to the kids, as the final counts showed that even with just a second-place finish in the finale, the Knights had more than enough to declare themselves conference champions.

"They were fired up and nervous going in," he said, "and there I was trying to find the last time that we won a title. … This had been a main goal all season. Win conference. I knew that they could do it. They just had to believe in themselves."

The Knights finished second to a surging Germantown squad (320) in the 18-hole finale with a 324 score while Homestead was third with 326.

Nicolet had built up enough of a lead through the league nine-hole events that it could afford the runner-up finish here. Homestead would finish second in the final standings and Germantown third.

"The guys knew that they really needed to beat Homestead and that would do it," said Wachs. "The weather was tough early with the wind and the rain. My range-finder wouldn't even work."

Balanced team

Schlossmann finished second individually in the 18-hole finale to overall league medalist Jordan Niebrugge of Homestead with a 75. He got help from Noah Hersch (81), Aaron Sandock (83), Rob Bamberger (85) and Kyle Lurie (88).

Sandock, Schlossmann and Hersch all earned first-team All-NSC, while Bamberger was named second team.

"We just needed someone to go low (like Schlossmann) and then the rest of the guys helped out," said Wachs. "It was nice. Ben (Schlossmann) hits the ball so far that it needs its own passport and Robby (Bamberger) is just my 'Steady Eddie.' He's always on the fairways."

"I thought we had the confidence to do this before the season started," said Schlossmann. "We thought we had four solid guys and if we got a little contribution from someone at five, we'd be more than OK.

"But we kept our celebrations to a minimum," Schlossmann said. "Our real eye on the prize is getting to state, so we stayed pretty calm."

As did Homestead coach Steve O'Brien, whose team struggled all spring to find a consistent lineup behind Niebrugge, who won the overall league title by an impressive 17 shots after carding a 71 this day.

"Jordan is really starting to put everything together," said O'Brien of the returning state individual runner-up. "At the start of the year, there were a few things he was still working on. Now things are coming together and he's managing the course very well."

Niebrugge turned in an 18-hole average of 75 for the season and a nine-hole mark of 37.5.

Other scores this day for the Highlanders included Kyle Waugaman 82, Dylan Drozdowicz 84, Bryan Silver 89 and Joe Tautges 92. Drozdowicz earned second-team all-league honors.

O'Brien, whose squad has dominated NSC play for the last 15 years, recognized a good team when he saw one in Nicolet.

"Looking at the all-conference list, you can see their quality," he said. "That's a team that can do some damage."

Bay takes fifth

Whitefish Bay finished fifth in the 18-hole finale with a 346 total. Coach Frank Donadio was pleased for junior Sam Richtman, who played himself into honorable mention all-league status with an 82.

Donadio was pleased with the consistency of the team, as all shot in the 80s for 18 holes including George Schley (87), Mike Armstrong (88) and Danny Umland and Jack Comiskey (89 apiece).

"This was a good day for us," Donadio said. "I'm happy for the group and how far they've come this spring. This was the first time we've all been in the 80s."

As for Wachs, who's in his 44th year of coaching a number of sports at Nicolet, he's feeling quite sprightly about this league title.

"It's fun now," he said. "If this keeps up, I'll keep doing this (coaching) until I'm in a rocking chair (laughs)."

UP NEXT

SECTIONALS: Area golf teams took part in WIAA regional meets on Tuesday. The top four teams and first four individuals not on those teams advanced from the regional to WIAA sectional play at 9 a.m. June 1 at Blackstone Creek in Germantown.

STATE: From there, the top two teams and first three individuals not on those teams advance to the WIAA state tournament at University Ridge in Madison on June 7 and 8. Homestead was fifth at state last season while Bay's now-graduated Jack Schultz was fourth and Nicolet's Aaron Sandock was 10th. Nicolet missed a state team berth by one shot at sectionals last year.