WARSAW – It was a long night on the links for a shorthanded Lakeland Christian Academy team. The Cougars hosted Tippecanoe Valley but could only field three players allowing the visiting Vikings to take a win with its team score of 171 at Rozella Ford Golf Club.

“We were a little shorthanded tonight,” LCA head coach Mike Nixon quipped. “Jake (Strickland) is traveling Turkey with a group from Grace College and our No. 2, Evan (Bremer), has been out for over a week with a high fever. Our sixth guy, that would’ve given us four tonight, he missed school today. So, we were left with just  three guys.”

Valley, on the other hand, had more than enough to play and turned in a score that needs to be improved before the Vikings return to Rozella.

“This was not the score we wanted tonight,” stated Valley head coach Roger Moriarty. “We have too many big numbers. Way too many doubles. We can afford to give away one at a time on a par 35 course, but you can’t afford to be giving away two or three at a time like we did tonight.”

Bryce Zimpelman finished as medalist with a 38, but was three over on his final three holes. Zimpelman highlighted his night with a birdie on the fourth hole. Trevor Neeley also had a birdie, his came on the first hole, and he would sign for a 43. Cole Cumberland (44), Corey Carson (46) and Jeremy Julian (48) rounded out the scores for the Vikings.

Drew Nieveen led LCA with a 54 with a par on number five. Kyle Shuler had an up-and-down round and would finish with a 56 while Connor Blum shot a 70 for the home squad.

Missing its top two golfers certainly hurt LCA, but as far as this season has gone, things are looking up for Cougar golf.

“We are much improved this year,” Nixon said. “Our first tournament of the year was the Caston Invitational and we took 78 strokes off our score from last year to this year, almost 20 strokes for each player. We also beat Clinton this year, they thumped us twice last season. So, we’re improving, that’s what we’re looking for.”

Valley has its sites set on reaching the regional as a team and Moriarty knows just doing the little things can make that possible.

“We can shoot around 165 on this course,” Moriarty began. “It will still be tough to get out with a 330, but it will put us closer. It’s a tough sectional. We just can’t have guys at 44 and 43, those need to 41 and 40. We need to all play well together at the same time, that’s been our problem all year. But we got a good feel for the course today and hopefully we’ll be ready when sectional comes around.”