By Susan Jenior

Staff Writer

I’m going to state.

Every high-school athlete would love to utter those four words before the end of their prep career.

The girls varsity golf team from Southeast and Southeast boys golfer James Morgan, also a Southeast Pirate advancing as an individual, are among the elite athletes in Ohio that can utter those words. All six athletes head to Firestone Country Club for the OHSAA Division II State Championship Tournaments on Sunday and conclude on Monday at the prestigious club in Akron.

Southeast local schools celebrated the success of their golfers on Thursday with a send-off as cheering students lined the hallways as the golfers prepared to leave for state.

A SUCCESSFUL SEASON

It has been a solid season for the Pirate teams.

The Southeast varsity girls won the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference championship in their first year in the league. And they are young.

Senior Taylor Blazek, and a state qualifier in 2023, takes her team with her this season after winning several tournaments, the MVAC title and earning Player of the Year honors.

It is a young Pirates team headed to state. Sammie Morgan and Jenni Mix are freshmen and Jessi Mix and Aubree Varga are both juniors. The girls not only qualified for state, but won the Division II district championship, the final step before the state tournament.

Coach of the Pirates, Cindy Fesemyer, knows the girls are ready.

“The girls had a good week of practice. They are focused and ready to play,” said the coach.

“Actually, we are treating this as another invitational, a chance to play on a popular course. Our goal is to play within ourselves, enjoy the moment and play golf.”

JAMES MORGAN

Southeast’s James Morgan walks through the hallways of Southeast High School during his sendoff on Friday.

James Morgan, a junior on the Pirates golf team, led the team to second place in the MVAC this season. Of the 16 teams at the MVAC tournament, Southeast was both second in the Gray Division and second overall.

Morgan earned his way to Player of the Year honors. In fact, he and Blazek repeated a Players of the Year, earning that coveted spot in the Portage Trail Conference in 2023 before Southeast jumped leagues.

Morgan has won several tournaments this season and won a five-way playoff to advance to the state tournament from the Division II District at Windmill Lakes Golf Club in Ravenna.

Morgan also has enjoyed great opportunities in golf including earning his way into national U.S. Kids tournament during the summer.

“When James plays, it becomes just him and the course and he is a master at navigating his way around the fairways,” said Jenior. “He has advanced as far as he can go this season in high-school golf as only a junior. At the state tournament, I expect him to compete and play the same solid golf he has played all season.”

“This is going to be fun,” said Jenior.

A FAMILY AFFAIR

Both the girls and boys team from Southeast are close.

After the send-off at Southeast schools, the girls and the boys teams returned to their home course, Olde Dutch Mill in Lake Milton, enjoyed a chicken tenders lunch courtesy of the course and then went out and played together, two girls against two boys in several scrambles.

James Morgan and his sister, Sammy Morgan as well as sisters Jenni and Jessi Mix will be competing for state honors at the same time at the same country club at the state championships.

But everyone feels like family as these kids have grown up in the Pirates Play Golf program, offered in the winter at Southeast Local Schools and continuing throughout the summer in junior leagues and teaching leagues at Olde Dutch Mill.

THE COAHES

Both coaches have experience at the state level.

Cindy Fesemyer was known for her excellence in coaching track and field, coached her own daughter, Jenna Fesemyer, who qualified for two Paralympic Games, Tokyo and Paris, and coached the girls track and field team from Southeast that won the state track championship in 1985.

Mike Jenior coached bowling at Rootstown prior to coaching golf at Southeast. Rover student-athlete Josh Flachbart advanced to the state bowling tournament from Rootstown in 2019. Jenior, the director of golf at Olde Dutch Mill, advanced to the OHSAA state golf tournament as an individual in 2003 for Rootstown coach Keith Waesch. He earned All-Ohio honors as seventh in the state at the tournament on the Ohio State University Scarlet Golf Course.

THE RIGHT COMBINATION

Coaches with experience, talented athletes with high expectations and experience, and an entire golf course community at Olde Dutch and Southeast Local Schools behind them.

Seems like a recipe for success and fun at the state level for these golfers.

FIRESTONE COUNTRY CLUB

Both the Southeast girls and James Morgan will be playing the historical fairways of Firestone Country Club.

The girls play the West Course, built in 1989 and redesigned by Tom Fazio Architects in 2021 to become the Fazio Course. Tee off times on Sunday for the girls are: Jenni Mix 8:30, Jessi Mix 8:40, Aubree Varga 8:50, Sammy Morgan 9:00 and Taylor Blazek 9:10, all on the first hole.

James Morgan plays Firestone’s North Course, designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. in 1969.

Morgan tees off on the 10th hole at 10:10 a.m. on Sunday.

It is an exciting Columbus day weekend for Southeast golf.