MIDDLEBURY — NorthWood may not be the favorite at the Northridge Sectional, but head coach Trevor Shields still likes his team’s odds.

The Panthers are playing some pretty good golf right now, and they’ll be in the hunt for one of the top three spots out to next Thursday’s Warsaw Regional, if not for a third-ever sectional title.

“I definitely think that Northridge and Fairfield are the favorites. Going in, they are both really good teams, both teams that have beaten us at some point in the year, and it’s their home course so I think people — including myself — would call them the favorites. But I really like our chances. It’s going to be a challenge,” said Shields.

“I’m excited for tomorrow. I think we have a great opportunity in front us, and I’m looking forward to seeing how we respond.”

It may not be NorthWood’s home course, but the Panthers are still pretty familiar with Meadow Valley, having played a round on the back nine and two different rounds on the front nine at the golf club in Middlebury this year. Shields doesn’t have a magic number circled on the board for his golfers, but he’s expecting a range of scores from the 320s on up to the 330s to get the job done, depending on the conditions, of course.

“It’s hard telling, to be honest, at Meadow Valley. It’s kind of a tough track, and it’s got some areas on that course that have some really tricky greens to read,” said Shields. “I don’t know if I have a magic number, but I definitely think somewhere in the 320s is probably what it’s going to take, maybe even the low 330s depending on the day and what the wind decides to do out there. No hard number, but it’s always a course that proves to be a challenge and a very good equalizer.”

NorthWood will be seeing some familiar faces at Friday’s sectional, most notably Northern Lakes Conference foes Northridge, Concord and Goshen. The Panthers placed better than both the Minutemen and the Red Hawks at the NLC Championships May 22, and Shields thinks his golfers have yet to reach their ceiling as they pursue a fifth straight regional berth.

The Panthers’ prospects will likely hinge on the ability of at least four of their top five of Caleb Lung, Sean Hogan, Taylor Wiegand, Nick Sherk and Jacob Falk to put together solid scores on the same day, something the team has sometimes struggled to do this season.

“I don’t think we’ve reached our full potential yet this year. We’ve really only had one or two matches where we’ve shown what we really can do in terms of putting four really good scores together,” Shields said. “I like the way our guys are swinging right now. I think we’re in a really good spot to hopefully peak in the next two weeks here.”