CLYDE — There’s still plenty to be determined in the race for the inaugural Northern Buckeye Conference
golf championship.
Woodmore claimed the boys’ tournament title Tuesday at Green Hills Golf Course by two strokes over
second-place Eastwood, but the league still has one of its four shootouts to complete before it can
officially name its league champion.
As a result, the NBC title will come down to one nine-hole round Wednesday at Birch Run in North
Baltimore in the final NBC Shootout of the season.
Eastwood holds a one-point lead in the overall standings over Woodmore, as the NBC combines the four
shootouts and the league tournament to determine its champion.
Put simply, whichever team finishes better Wednesday between Eastwood and Woodmore will win a league
title, although the Eagles can still clinch a share of the title by finishing no more than one spot
behind the Wildcats. Eastwood can win the title outright by finishing one spot ahead of Woodmore.
“That’s what we have to do, is show up and be prepared to play one more good nine holes to finish out the
league,” Eastwood coach Mike Gardner said. “We’ve put ourselves at least in a position to be champions.
So hopefully we can finish it off.”
Eastwood senior Tommy Blanchard took medalist honors, shooting an even-par 35 on the back nine in sloppy
conditions to cap off a solid 18-hole score of 74.
Blanchard birdied four holes and finished three shots ahead of the next closest competitor, Lake’s Nate
Yeager.
“I still felt like this was the most important tournament for me to win ,” Blanchard said. “I was
definitely really happy coming out on top.”
With the league tournament usually being the final league match of the season, this year’s tournament had
a sort of different feel, although it was still just as important to the final league standings.
“It is different going into it, but I think our team still has a good shot of winning it outright instead
of tying,” Blanchard said. “(Woodmore) just happened to nip us by two. Our scores were really solid
today. Everyone contributed. Everybody did their job.”
The Eagles finished with a team score of 324. Austin Speck shot an 82, and John Krock and Nathan
Schuessler each finished at 84 to complete the Eagles’ top four scores.
“I’m very happy with the team score,” Gardner said. “Some people had good front nines. Some people had
good back nines. Tommy had good both nines.
“They knew that this wasn’t it … They knew there was (Wednesday) yet, regardless of what happened. We
just did the best we could.”
Lake finished a solid third with a score of 329, seven strokes behind Woodmore. The Flyers can finish no
better than third overall, but hold a one-point lead in the standings over Genoa.
Casey Conine shot an 81, Ian Johnson had an 84, and Cole Brossia and Jake Materni each finished at 87 for
the Flyers to go with Yeager’s 77.
“I think it was a good number for us,” Lake coach Terry Tansel said. “A couple breaks here or there. It
was a very close match.”
Although Lake is out of the running for a league title, the Flyers and any of the other four teams can
still affect the league outcome by finishing better than the two teams battling for the championship.

If Woodmore finishes more than one spot ahead of Eastwood, the Wildcats would claim the league title
outright. Woodmore won the first shootout of the season and Eastwood won the second and third.
“It’s going to be exciting for those two teams playing for the one and two spots,” Tansel said. “They’re
kind of pulling for us or a Genoa or a Rossford to come in and maybe beat one of the other ones to
hopefully help them out.
“It’s almost like playoff scenarios in the NFL or anything like that, when they come down to the end and
they need to win and get help. I think it will be a fun day (Wednesday). Hopefully the weather
cooperates.”
Rossford finished in fourth place.
The top four scores for Rossford were: Alex Smith, 86; Mason Robinson, 88; Mark Miller, 90; and Ryan
Fairbanks, 95.
Elmwood finished sixth in the tournament at 364.
Kyle Smithey, last year’s league tournament winner, led the Royals with an 82. Kayleb Stuff, 93; Allen
Dyar, 96; and Jeff Vanscoder, 97; completed Elmwood’s top four.
Otsego did not have any golfers compete.
Also, the NBC Player of the Year and All-NBC teams won’t be announced until after the final shootout is
over.
“It all comes down to one day. The whole entire season,” Blanchard said. “Everybody needs to really focus
on their round and concentrate while they’re playing (Wednesday) and I think we’ll just as good as we
did (Tuesday) and I think we’ll come out on top.”
NORTHERN BUCKEYE CONFERENCE
GOLF TOURNAMENT
Tuesday
At Green Hills Golf Course
BOYS
Tournament standings: 1) Woodmore, 322; 2) Eastwood, 324; 3) Lake, 329; 4) Rossford, 359; 5) Genoa, 360;
6) Elmwood, 364; 7) Fostoria, 395.
INDIVIDUAL SCORES
(Par 36-35—71; Wood County schools only)
EASTWOOD
Tommy Blanchard, 39-35—74; Austin Speck, 43-39—82; John Krock, 40-44—84; Nathan Schuessler, 84; Cody
Jennings, 41-45—86; Steven Bruning, 47-42—89.
ELMWOOD
Kyle Smithey, 40-42—82; Kayleb Stuff, 44-49—93; Allen Dyar, 47-49—96; Jeff Vanscoder, 48-49—97; Marc Day,
50-55—105.
LAKE
Nate Yeager, 40-37—77; Casey Conine, 40-41—81; Ian Johnson, 41-43—84; Cole Brossia, 42-45—87; Jake
Materni, 46-41—87; Michael Krantz, 45-51—95.
ROSSFORD
Alex Smith, 44-42—86; Mason Robinson, 45-43—88; Mark Miller, 44-46—90; Ryan Fairbanks, 46-49—95; Bryan
Schaller, 56-53—109; Justin Robinson, 56-53—109.
Medalist: Blanchard, Eastwood.