Sports
Plainfield Central Boys Golf Remains Unbeaten
Nick Dylla and John Michalik fire 3-over-par rounds of 39 to lead the Wildcats past Plainfield South in dual at Wedgewood.
Plainfield South junior Matt Ward continued his assault on dual-match medalist performances.
But it was Plainfield Central that prevailed in the crosstown rivalry Monday afternoon at Wedgewood Golf Course in Joliet.
Ward, the Cougars' No. 1 player, converted a 15-foot birdie putt at the last to forge a 39 -- later duplicated by Central golfers Nick Dylla and John Michalik.
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Ward has captured low-round honors in three of the Cougars' matches, and Monday marked the fourth time he tied for low score.
Central remained undefeated, using four scores between 39 and 41 to defeat South 159-166 in Southwest Prairie golf action.
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"Obviously this is the position we wanted to be at, being 5-0 (in the conference) with two matches left (against Romeoville and Oswego)," said Central coach Darren Kobliska, whose squad is 6-0 overall.
Kobliska said the Wildcats have persevered to the challenges of its peculiar schedule.
All but one of the Wildcats' six dual wins -- against Plainfield East - -has come on the road.
"We're a little bit more focused on course management (on the road)," Kobliska said.
After a routine par at the first, Dylla suffered a double-bogey, bogey two-hole stretch at the treacherous par-5 second and No. 1-handicapped, par-4 third.
But the Wildcats' top senior steadied his round, playing his last six holes in level par.
Dylla birdied the seventh for his lone red-number score, and sophomore teammate Mitch Young, the Wildcats' top-ranked player, also overcame a slow start to post a 40.
Young saved his round with a brilliant par save out of the bunker at the par-5 sixth and later converted his sole birdie at No. 8 to flavor his 4-over round.
"We lost our No. 1 player (from last year, Lewis University freshman E.J. Luna), but I just knew how hard (the returning players) work at (refining their games)," Kobliska said. "I knew they would pick up where they left off from last year."
The Wildcats' 159 score, two shots off their season low, was completed with Mike Sims' 41.
Brothers Tom and Steven Catalano each fired a 42 for South, which received its final score courtesy of Jerry Estes' 43.
The Cougars fell to 4-7 and 3-4 with the loss.
But there was continued good news from Ward.
The junior started off with back-to-back bogeys; he then had quality looks for birdie at the next three holes but was unable to drain any of them.
"I didn't read the putts (correctly)," Ward said. "They didn't break like I thought, especially at three and four."