SYRACUSE – The Wawasee boys golf team seems to be finding its groove.

After playing 18 holes last night in the Joe Harris Invitational, the Warriors turned around and played nine more Wednesday night to claim a victory over Tippecanoe Valley in an inter-county clash. Wawasee was solid all night and outshot the Vikings 152-172 at South Shore Golf Club.

The Warriors could not have asked for a better night. Mother Nature provided a warm and breezy evening on the course and Wawasee took advantage of the great weather. Four of the five varsity golfers finished shooting in the 30’s while freshman Cal Heinisch shot a 43, improving by nine strokes from his last outing.

Leading the way for Wawasee was Luke Jackson, who finished with a 37 highlighted by birdies on the first, sixth and ninth holes.

Coming in just behind Jackson for the Warriors were Jeffrey Moore and Dylan Cousins, who both shot a 38. Cousins’ day also started off with a birdie on number one. Moore backed up his impressive showing at Tuesday’s Invitational where he led the team with a 79. The constant improvement from the freshman has caught the eye of his coach.

“Jeffrey has really improved. We knew he would be able to help us out this year and he has just been playing very well lately,” stated head coach Steve Coverstone.

Tristen Atwood also finished strong for the Warriors, parring three of his last four holes to finish with a 39.

There was nothing flashy about the Warriors performance tonight. Simply put, it was just an all-around good night of golf. Even the always entertaining Coverstone had little to say afterwards about his team’s performance.

“I thought we played good tonight,” stated Coverstone. “We played good last night (at the Joe Harris Invitational) the difference tonight was that we had a few scores that were just lower. Last night we had four scores around 80. 79, 81, 81, 82 last night. Tonight we had scores that would’ve put our guys in the mid 70’s. That makes a big difference. But we played well in both events.”

Perhaps Valley’s Roger Moriarity wrapped up Wawasee’s even better than Coverstone.

“Wawasee played excellent tonight, they played real strong,” Moriarity stated.

Valley had a rough night on the links, shooting an above average 172. A score that Moriarity knows could be better.

“172 is a little high for us,” stated the Viking coach. “We got good play from our one and two guys. That has been the story all season for us really. Our three through five players are where we need to see improvement. We need to knock about three strokes off of each of their scores and we would be pretty happy.”

Moriarity was certainly impressed with Bryce Zimpelman. The number two golfer for the Vikings led all players on the day by shooting an even 36.

Tanner Neeley golfed in the one spot and inked a 41 while his brother Trevor finished with a 48.

Josh Tucker and Corey Carson finished out the varsity lineup for the Vikings scoring a 47 and 48, respectively.

For the junior varsity golfers it was the Warriors Eric Doll claiming low score on the day with a 44 to help lead the Warrior JV to a 201-210 victory over the Vikings JV. Cole Cumberland was the low man for Valley finishing with a 46.

Valley (4-3) will have a few days to prep for its next match as it will take on Whitko on Tuesday. Play is set to begin at 4:30 at Round Barn GC in Rochester.

Wawasee (7-1) will take a short break after playing 27 holes in two days before teeing off at the Homestead Invitational this Saturday with play set to start at 8 a.m.