At first blush, things may not seem that far out of line for the Cardinals, who finished the inaugural Central League season with an overall record of 2-8. In fact, they may seem somewhat normal.
DCC lost nearly half of its complement of players to graduation and replaced them with a bevy of sophomores as well as some first-year players. So, two wins may seem - if you'll pardon the pun - par for the course. But, in fact, that's been the least reflective aspect of their game.
The Cardinals have been paced by a quartet of players who, while their numbers or names may not leap from the page or shout like a Flintstones' vitamin commercial, are easily findable and growing all the time. The four, Jack Stevenson, Audie Benson, Gavin Hoover and Brevyn Martini, will all make their district championship debut at Punxsutawney Monday. While that, in-and-of-itself, may not seem to be a mammoth accomplishment, consider that none of them even whiffed the qualifications for the event last year with individual averages all over 52 per 9 holes and a combined average of 56.8. It also follows, and builds upon, a season where DCC placed its most-ever entrants into the District 9 tournament with - three.
Stevenson, who was the low scorer of the group with a 52.5 average, was the only one to see any varsity play last year while the others finished two (Martini), four (Hoover) and 14 strokes (Benson) back of that mark. The vast majority of those scores came via junior varsity or team qualifying play - the four combined for just 10 possible varsity-scoring opportunities last season. Some of those numbers came from languishing behind those that were in front of them - a trio of accomplished golfers that boasted a four-year district qualifier and a three-year "Day 2" District 9 Championship competitor as well as a three-time district qualifier and another that made the trip twice. That trio - Tristan Sedor, Trent Miller and Aiden Snowberger - certainly left a mark but...that was then.
This is now. Stevenson has taken over the mantle as the team's most reliable scorer despite being the antithesis of the stereotypical traditional No. 1 player. At just around 5-foot, 6-inches, Stevenson has been content to trade the long ball for the fairway in the short term and it's paid off to his advantage as he's averaging just over 43 per round and has scored varsity points in every single DCC match this season. His season-low 39 came Aug. 25 against Ridgway at Laurel Mill.
Meanwhile, the other three have had a hammer-lock on the other top spots throughout the year with all of them each missing just a single match. Not surprisingly, that has come with a downtick in their scoring average. Martini has also used a less-than-traditional method to advance to the district championship - trees, posts, roots, an overarching fade, not to mention some long putts - to post a 45.2 average.
Hoover, who appeared in just two JV matches as a freshman, has certainly thrived in the new-found spotlight, improving 11 strokes over last year to average a 46.5. His play, along with that of Stevenson and Martini, allowed the group to finish just five shots behind Sedor, Miller and Snowberger's team score at the Brockway Invitational last year.
Benson has been perhaps the biggest surprise, having never turned in a scorecard for anything other than a qualifying event. Despite having virtually zero varsity or JV experience, he's cobbled together a fantastic season to get in just under the wire for districts at 46.8. He also saved his best for the final regular-season match at Brockway where he finished just two strokes behind the match leader.
While an opportunity at Day 2 exists, only 16 of the 74 individual Class AA golfers will advance so the outcome is far from certain. However, what is certain is that the lower some numbers go for the Cardinals, the better their odds will be...both now and in the future.