Middletown wins CMC South opener

Clear Lake squad opens North schedule at Little River

PETALUMA >>

The Middletown Mustangs were crowing at Rooster Run Golf Course on Wednesday after winning the six-team Coastal Mountain Conference South opener on the Par72 Petaluma course.

The favorite to end St. Vincent’s

string of nine straight South championships, Middletown was led by Austin Pritchard’s round of 84. Despite pleasant weather for the opener, the golfers struggled with Rooster Run’s fast greens, according to Kelseyville head coach John Berry.

“It was a beautiful day, the course was in great shape, but I heard a lot of talk about fast greens,” he said.

Prtichard and St. Helena’s Mason Ellis (98) were the only golfers to crack 100.

“Austin played decent,” Berry said. “He had a 44 on the front nine and a 4-over-par 40 on the back nine; by far the most solid round (of the day).”

Middletown finished with a team score of 417 (the combined total of its four lowest scorers) to beat St. Helena (428), Kelseyville (446), Credo (508), Technology (532) and St. Vincent, which had fewer than four golfers and was incomplete.

“Maybe the first time ever,” Berry said of St. Vincent’s 0-5 record after the first South match.

Kelseyville’s golfers struggled mightily, according to Berry. Gordo Ambriz had the low round at 108 followed by Cory Holt at 109, Cody Horning at 110 and Lalo Sepulveda at 119.

“I was disappointed,” Berry said. “With all the time we put in and how we played at Northwood (last week), I was expecting better. We had a lot of short game issues and took some penalties. We struggled and we’re capable of playing better.”

Andrew Martz followed Pritchard in the Middletown scoring column with 100, Joziah Pyzer had 114, and Alex Thompson finished at 119.

Lake County’s golfers did not have a single birdie during the day’s round.

The CMC South visits Foxtail South in Rohnert Park on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. St. Helena will not be taking part after the St. Helena Unified School District on Thursday suspended all high school practices and sporting events until April 1 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’m not sure what will happen or who will be playing,” Berry said. “We’re playing it by ear.”

In other golf action Thursday:

CMC North

At Mendocino, the five schools that make up the CMC North squared off at the par-72 Little River course and Fort Bragg won with a score of 426 to Mendocino’s 455, Clear Lake’s 468 and Willits’ 527. Point Arena was incomplete.

Low round of the day went to Fort Bragg’s Clay Anderson with a 93. Clear Lake’s Miles Mattina had the fourth lowest round overall at 101 and teammate Nathon Lopez tied for the fifth lowest with a 112.

Also for the Cardinals, Keara Alonso carded a 125, Peyton Ewing had a 130, Drake Chesebro finished at 135, and Nathan Pyorre was at 136.

The Cardinals are scheduled to return to Little River again next Thursday.