By Susan Jenior

Staff Writer

The Joe Eaton Boys Invitational at Tannenhauf Golf Club in Alliance had a decidedly Portage County feel at the Stark County golf course filled with golfers for both morning and afternoon waves.

MOGADORE’S BROCK THIRY

The annual event welcomes Division-I teams for the morning wave and Division II and III boys golf teams for the afternoon wave.

It is an important tournament for many Northeast Ohio teams to compete in the early season.

This season Kent Roosevelt participated in the morning flight and Mogadore, Rootstown, Southeast and Waterloo were on the roster in the afternoon.

In addition to the Portage County teams, golfers spotted Randy Wilburn of Deerfield riding around the course.

Wilburn, always near the top of the leaderboard in the Portage County Amateur and Portage County Senior Amateur is a ranger for Tannenhauf Golf Club and not only kept teams moving, but also had the opportunity to talk to many of the coaches and parents.

In the afternoon wave, the four Portage County teams competed against a total of 19 D-II and D-III teams.

Gilmour Academy head coach Spencer Crone, who was a two-time All-Portage County League golfer at Field High School.

A familiar face emerged as Spencer Crone, a former standout golfer from Field, offered he is in his first year as the coach of Gilmour Academy.

Crone earned his way to First Team All-Portage County League for two years in a row, his junior and senior years, before continuing his golf and education at Notre Dame College in South Euclid.

The Lancers of Gilmour Academy did very well in the tournament at Tannenhauf, finishing second in the afternoon wave behind Poland Seminary.

Portage County teams found reason to enjoy their success at the morning and afternoon events.

In the morning wave, Kent Roosevelt played well enough to land in the top five of the tournament, carding a team score of 329.

Rough Riders freshman Andrew VanDamme continued to impress, firing a 76, good for 11th place. Junior Jax Turner shot 79 to keep the team in contention, with Owen Puhalla and Anderson Liggett both adding 94s to the scoring.

In the afternoon wave, the Mogadore Wildcats earned fourth place behind solid scoring from junior Brock Thiry and senior Max Shannon, each carding 82s to lead the team. The pair of 82s landed Thiry and Shannon in 12th place. Rounding out the top-four scoring for the Wildcats was junior Max Simone (87) and senior Gavin Garner (92).

The Southeast Pirates earned ninth place, only four strokes out of sixth place led by senior Cole Bruno’s 82, also among the top-12 golfers in the tournament. Logan Blankenship fired a 90, Alex Peelish a 91 and Owen Dembroski a 92 to keep the Pirates in contention.

ROOTSTOWN’S DREW JUST

Southeast, and head coach Mike Jenior, played in the same pairing as Rootstown and head coach Keith Waesch.

It was an awesome time for both coaches since Jenior played for Waesch (now in his 30th season leading the Rovers) 22 years ago was, at that time, the second golfer to advance to the state tournament for the Rovers.

Rootstown earned 16th place in the tournament, just three strokes out of the 14th place occupied by the Waterloo Vikings.

Rootstown was led by Sam Klem’s 90, Drew Just’s 93, Nathan Waesch’s 96 and Liam Miller’s 99.

The Vikings’ Jayden Eichler, a sophomore, fired a 89 as the best on the fairways for Waterloo with Mason Long adding an 81, Kayne Smith a 97 and Trevor Flarida a 98.

The five Portage County teams competing represent four different conferences, but that will change in 2027 when Rootstown, Waterloo and Mogadore will all join the newly formed Greater Portage Athletic Conference.

The tournament is well run by the Snode family, owners of Tannenhauf Golf Course.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Many teams have already started league play and continue this week with matches in their respective conferences.

The Springfield Spartans welcome boys teams to the annual Northeast Ohio Invitational Golf Tournament at Good Park Golf Course in Akron under the direction of Springfield boys coach and tournament director Jack Morgan.

Among the 18 boys teams competing are the Field Falcons, Southeast Pirates and the Mogadore Wildcats.