New Richmond was the champion of the American Division of the Southern Buckeye Conference Golf Tournament. Team members are, front row from left, Henry Heidlage, Austin Wells, and Chris Mazzaro; second row, Kyle Heidlage, Austin Skaggs, Evan McKinley, and head coach Phil Heflin.
New Richmond is the champion of the Southern Buckeye Conference American (SBC-A) Division Golf Tournament. The Lions were ahead almost completely throughout the four-nine hold rounds and one 18-hole round of the tourney.

Jake Brinker, Amelia junior, was the medalist of the five-round tournament with a total of 225 strokes.

The fifth and final round took place at Cedar Trace Golf Course, near Owensville.

“This was absolutely wonderful. I couldn’t ask for a better season,” said Phil Heflin, coach of the SBC-A champion Lions. His squad versus all opposition has amassed an extremely impressive record of 50-4 and the four losses come from a total of a mere four strokes. “The kids wanted to do very well this year and they kept working to continue to get better.”

His team consists of freshman Chris Mazzaro with a nine-hole round average of 38 strokes, junior Evan McKinley 39, junior Austin Wells 41, junior Henry Heidlage 41, freshman Kyle Heidlage 41, and senior Austin Skaggs, and the Red and Black’s only senior, 42.

“Next year we return five starters and we’ve got a junior and a couple of freshman ready to step up and play. The future is solid as a rock.”

FIVE ROUND TOTALS

American Division

Brinker 225, Jeremy Marsh of Amelia 233, Chris Mazzaro of New Richmond 241, Austin Skaggs of New Richmond 244, Henry Heidlage of New Richmond 247, Austin Wells of New Richmond 249, Evan McKinley of New Richmond 250, Robby Wagner of Bethel-Tate 251, Dakota Pack of Western Brown 264, Justin Nickell of Western Brown 265, Nathan Pyles of Bethel-Tate 269, Josh Sanft of Clermont Northeastern 271, Josh Adkins of Amelia 272, Brad Hamblen of Western Brown 272, Nick Nelson of Amelia 274, Kyle Heidlage of New Richmond 282, Ben Frazier of Clermont Northeastern 287, Trent Edwards of Amelia 289, Kiefer Cunningham of Clermont Northeastern 289, and Tyler Hauck of Bethel-Tate 289.

National Division

Michael Ledford of Blanchester 232, Grant Ledford of Blanchester 237, Travis Jackson of Blanchester 241, Garrett Woods of East Clinton 250, Trent Poe of Georgetown 261, Austin Conner of Batavia 262, Kyle Miller of East Clinton 265, Kindle Young of Williamsburg 266, Dylan Eltzroth of East Clinton 267, Paul Beebe of Blanchester 278, Clinton McElroy of Georgetown 279, Justin Kramer of Williamsburg 287, Kyle Grant of Batavia 299, Ben McDonough of Batavia 306, Houstin Highlander of Georgetown 312, Josh Wells of Williamsburg 327, Reilley Hopkins of Blanchester 334, Max Madsen of Williamsburg 348, and Eric Shinkle of Batavia 360.

ROUND FIVE

American Division

Team scores: Amelia 321, New Richmond 326, Bethel-Tate 365, Western Brown 386, Clermont Northeastern 404, and Goshen 510.

Individual scores: Brinker 72, Marsh 74, Skaggs 81, Wells 81, Mazzaro 82, McKinley 82, Wagner 85, Sanft 86, Adkins 87, Edwards 88, Heidlage 89, Nelson 89, Nickell 89, and Pack 89.

National Division

Michael Ledford 75, Grant Ledford 76, Woods 77, Jackson 81, Conner 83, Young 85, Beebe 88, McElroy 88, Miller 88, Eltzroth 89, McDonough 89, Poe 89, Williams 92, and Kramer 94.

ROUND FOUR

The American Division fourth round was played at White Oak Golf Course, Mt. Orab, on the par 35 front nine and the National Division was played on the par 35 front nine at Buttermilk Golf Course.

American Division

Team scores: New Richmond 162, Western Brown 176, Amelia 181, Bethel-Tate 191, Clermont Northeastern 200, and Goshen 223.

Individual scores: Brinker of Amelia 36, Heidlage of New Richmond 38, Marsh of Amelia 39, Nickell of Western Brown 39, Skaggs of New Richmond 40, Wells of New Richmond 41, Pack of Western Brown 42, Mazzaro of New Richmond 43, Pyles of Bethel-Tate 43, Wagner of Bethel-Tate 43, Hamblen of Western Brown 45, Heidlage of New Richmond 48, Sanft of Clermont Northeastern 48, and Kiefer Cunningham of Clermont Northeastern 49.

National Division

Team scores: East Clinton 170, Blanchester 171, Georgetown 193, Batavia 213, and Williamsburg 214.

Individual scores of Clermont countians and their place for the day: Michael Ledford of Blanchester was the medalist with a 38, Conner of Batavia was fifth, 43; Kramer of Williamsburg was 13th, 47; and Young of Williamsburg was 15th, 49.

ROUND THREE

New Richmond is many fewer strokes ahead of the rest of the pack in the American Division of the Southern Buckeye Conference (SBC-A) Golf Tournament following the third round.

American Division

The Lions made 471 shots, Amelia 499, Western Brown 547, Bethel-Tate 559, Clermont Northeastern 568, and Goshen 623.

The best scores earned on the Lindale Golf Course par 35 front nine were by Henry Heidlage of New Richmond 36, Mazzaro of New Richmond 37, McKinley of New Richmond 37, Brinker of Amelia 38, Ben Frazier of Clermont Northeastern 38, Wagner of Bethel-Tate 38, Skaggs of New Richmond 40, Marsh of Amelia 41, Pyles of Bethel-Tate 41, Wells of New Richmond 41, Pack of Western Brown 42, Kyle Heidlage of New Richmond 44, Nelson of Amelia 44, Sanft of Clermont Northeastern 44, Evan Tellup of Clermont Northeastern 44, Josh Adkins of Amelia 45, Hamblen of Western Brown 45, Tanner Stewart of Goshen 45, Steven Short of Goshen 47, and Josh Hargett of Bethel-Tate 47.

“I thought it would come down between us and Amelia,” said New Richmond head coach Phil Heflin in evaluating the SBC-A Division of the tournament.

Heflin is very proud of his tournament-leading squad and the level of competition and talent in the entire conference.

“Every team is playing well. A lot of the kids throughout the conference are very good and getting better each week.“

Creed Cornett, head coach of Amelia, said, “I thought the tournament would be a little closer. New Richmond is playing very well. This league has good players throughout.”

Both coaches agreed that the SBC is very underrated and unrecognized and unrespected despite having abundant talent.

National Division

The third round of the National Division was played on the par 35 front nine at Wilmington Elks.

Blanchester was the team leader taking 497 strokes, followed by, in order, East Clinton 516, Williamsburg 600, Georgetown 602, and Batavia 618. Felicity does not have a squad.

The best scores were made by Jackson of Blanchester 39, Grant Ledford of Blanchester 39, Williams of East Clinton 40, Michael Ledford of Blanchester 41, Luke Lapine of East Clinton 42, Woods of East Clinton 43, Conner of Batavia 44, Eltzroth of East Clinton 44, McElroy of Georgetown 44, Poe of Georgetown 44, Beebe of Blanchester 45, and Kramer of Williamsburg 45.

American Division All-Stars

First Team

Jake Brinker, Amelia junior; Jeremy Marsh, Amelia senior; Chris Mazzaro, New Richmond freshman; Austin Skaggs, New Richmond senior; Henry Heidlage, New Richmond junior; and Austin Wells, New Richmond junior.

Second team

Evan McKinley, New Richmond junior; Robby Wagner, Bethel-Tate senior; Dakota Pack, Western Brown senior; Justin Nickell, Western Brown senior; Nathan Pyles, Bethel-Tate senior; and Josh Sanft, Clermont Northeastern senior.

Coach of the Year

Phil Heflin, New Richmond.

National Division All-Stars (from Clermont County)

First Team

Austin Conner, Batavia sophomore.

Second team

Kindle Young, Williamsburg junior.