Arcadia holds off BRF, G-E-T to win Coulee boys’ golf title
When winter hit and snow covered the ground this year — and especially when the wintery weather decided to hang around for what some might say was too long — Arcadia High School boys’ golf coach Mitch Sobotta continued to keep in touch with his golfers ahead of the spring golf season.
The Raiders kept working, and their time and dedication culminated last Thursday with a second place finish at the Coulee Conference tournament to secure Arcadia its first conference title in more than a decade.
“I’ve been kind of preaching to them all winter long, just been telling them that we’ve got a lot of good golfers coming back, we had a lot of young golfers that were eager to get out and play,” Sobotta said. “When we get done with practice, they’re not the first ones off the golf course and they’re going to play a few more holes if they can.”
Arcadia and Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau were slated to play an invitational in Black River Falls on Wednesday and another in Holmen on Thursday before tournament play starts next week.
Arcadia did enough at the par-72 Drugan’s Castle Mound Golf Course in Holmen on Thursday to stave off Black River Falls and G-E-T for the conference team title, finishing third as a team with a 363.
Black River Falls made the Raiders’ sweat a bit with an event-low score of 331, and a second-place finish from the Red Hawks (361) on Thursday secured a top three finish in the conference this season behind Arcadia and the Tigers.
“We’re starting to play more consistent and better now, and that’s because of the repetition and getting outside,” G-E-T coach Rick Schmidt said. “We’re excited to see where we sit with that (regional) and we know that we have the potential to be right there to move on to sectionals.”
The Raiders held onto the conference championship by still having enough golfers in the top 20 on Thursday to score individual points and beat Black River Falls in the team standings by one point.
That effort was led by top golfer Cole Sobotta’s nine-over par 81, good for third place as an individual. Sobotta recovered from an eight-over 44 on the front nine that involved a bee sting to one of his hands and delivered a one-over 37 on the back nine.
He was a big reason for the Raiders’ first conference title since 2011, coach Mike Sobotta said.
“He came back strong and finished quite well. It obviously helped us to bring that home.”
Black River Falls had the top two scores as Coulee player of the year Mike Antonelli golfed an even 72 and was joined by teammate Evan Anderson at the top of the scorecard with an 80.
The Red Hawks got a boost from the middle of their lineup with Lance Jumbeck shooting a team-low 14-over-par 86 from the No. 4 spot to tie with four other golfers for fourth place.
“He’s just steady and a good kid who’s dedicated to both sports,” Schmidt said of the senior who also competes in track.
One of the golfers tied with Jumbeck was Arcadia’s Sid Halvorsen, who has been the Raiders’ most consistent player this season.
“He’s not going to miss the fairway, he’s not gonna miss many greens,” Mitch Sobotta said of Halvorsen. “And if he does he’s gonna be right around there and get a couple up-downs, and when his putter gets on, look out. He can beat just about anybody.”
Boden Bratberg added an 89 to finish ninth for G-E-T, which had the second best team score on the front nine on Thursday with 168 (BRF, 165). The bottom half of the lineup will be key for the Red Hawks, Schmidt said, adding that Bratberg and Jumbeck can help push the team forward.
Christopher Wagner shot a 91 for G-E-T to finish tenth, and top golfer Caleb Lightfoot came in with a 95. Arcadia got rounds of 97 from Joey Theis and 99 from Dustin Klonecki to round out their team score.
An extra focus on shots inside 100 yards has been a big part of Arcadia’s improvement, and Sobotta hopes that helps in the postseason now that the Raiders have a Coulee title.
“At the beginning of the year we have goals that we set on ‘Where do we want to go? What do we want to do?’ And we all had the same goal to win conference. That was our first start,” he said. “And then once the tournaments start up, we’ve got other goals too.”