Centralia once again has competition within its boys golf program.

Mexico, Centralia at Arthur Hills Photo Gallery

The Panthers played their third match in three days on March 26 against Mexico and Hannibal at Arthur Hills Golf Course in Mexico. Centralia won the match with a score of 168 compared to Hannibal’s 175 and Mexico’s 211. 

Lyle Marty finished second overall with Centralia’s best score of 40, which was behind Hannibal’s Kyle Locke’s 38. Cameron Barnes and Brady Schultz each followed Marty with a 42, Travis Brooks had a 44 and Easton Dodge shot a 46. Braden Gaughan owned Centralia’s best junior varsity score of 47.

Head coach John Finlay said Centralia has three freshmen playing varsity this early in the season and has seen good things from them so far. Finlay said one of his two seniors couldn’t make it March 26 because of track and field commitments, but he liked how the team fared. 

“We’re very deep and excited for the season,” Finlay said. “It’s probably the most perfect day we’ve had for golf so far this year because it was a beautiful day. Arthur Hills’ greens were very firm and tough to put on as my guys aren’t used to that kind of speed.”

Finlay said he’s seen six kids score in the 30s in the rounds Centralia has played to prepare for the season. Carter Moss shot a 39 the previous day at Centralia’s home quad to tie for fourth overall and had a 40 on nine of the holes two days prior at the Columbia Classic at Father Tolton. The senior Moss finished with a 90 in the 18-hole tournament.

Dodge came close to the 30s on the front and back nine holes at Tolton by shooting a 41 and 42 for a team-best score of 83. He followed that with a nine-hole round of 41 the next day in Centralia to tie the senior Brooks’ score and help the Panthers have the runner-up score of 165 to Palmyra’s 151. Dodge is a freshman who is impressing Finlay so far, and Marty was Centralia’s best scorer in Mexico even though he is a freshman.

“We played at least nine of the 18 at Tolton pretty well,” Finlay said. “A couple guys played exceptionally well. Easton Dodge is a freshman and shot an 83, which I’m impressed with. I had a 39 yesterday (in Centralia) from JV kid (Schultz) and a 39 from Carter Moss, who is currently our No. 1.”

Finlay said Moss is a senior who has much consistency but said there is some good play across the board. Centralia anticipates “a lot of competition” for varsity spots already this season. 

“We have to be on our game every day,” Finlay said. “There can be a lot of movement otherwise.”