Lincoln Academy golf wins tight battle for KVAC B title, state bid - RAW CHILI

Lincoln Academy’s Brody Day watches his shot on the eighth hole during the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference goal qualifier Thursday at Rockland Golf Course. (Anna Chadwick/Staff Photographer)

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ROCKLAND — Considered the favorites to win the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B Shootout, the Lincoln Academy golf team had to work for it Thursday.

In the end, the Eagles did prevail, beating out Nokomis and Medomak Valley to win the conference title at Rockland Golf Club. The win secured Lincoln a spot in the Class B championships next Saturday at Natanis Golf Course in Vassalboro.

“Our boys have had a great season — they really have — and they did excellent today,” said Lincoln coach Todd Brackett. “Nokomis has a really good team, and they beat us in the regular season. Medomak, we have a good rivalry with them. We knew it was going to be close.”

Lincoln’s top-four players shot a combined nine-hole score of 162, beating out the Warriors (166) and the Panthers (167) in a tight battle for first. Belfast (181), Leavitt (183) and Erskine Academy (188) rounded out the team scoring.

Lincoln junior Drew Nichols (38) shot the second-best score of the day, finishing a stroke behind medalist Caden Chretien of Nokomis (37). Colin Mitchell shot a 39 for the Eagles to tie Medomak Valley’s Seb Mank and Joseph Wilcox for third.

“My short game was really solid,” Nichols said. “Off the tee, I was a little iffy — I actually topped my driver twice, so that was interesting — but with how good my short game was, I was able to get around the golf course. … I had a really rough go of it this season, so I’m glad I brought it around here.”

Max Blake added a 41 for Lincoln, while Dylan Lomas shot a 44. That was enough to outduel Nokomis, which also got a 42 from Atticus Haining, a 43 from Will Hayes and a 44 from Jake Paradis, and Medomak Valley, which got a 44 from Andrew Flanders and a 45 from Wyatt Hood.

“If anybody was going to steal it from us today, I thought it was going to be Medomak,” Brackett said. “Like I said, we just played great today. It was a good day for us out there.”

A warm October day that saw temperatures reach the upper 60s even on the coast made for an enjoyable round of golf. The winds from earlier in the week had largely subsided, though some stiffer gusts did arrive later into the afternoon.

Medomak Valley had the fortune of playing the round on its home course, though coach Kevin Richardson pointed out that changing greens throughout the week mitigated that advantage. Richardson, too, said the three-way race between Medomak Valley, Lincoln and Nokomis played out as expected.

“In all 10 regular-season matches that we played (until today), we had the medalist, which shows you that Lincoln and Nokomis both have some really good players,” Richardson said. “We played well all year, and I had a feeling we were going to play well today. We did, but it just wasn’t quite enough.”

Nokomis, Medomak Valley, Belfast, Leavitt and Erskine will still get chances to book berths at states at the KVAC qualifier Tuesday at Natanis. Lincoln can rest easy that its state championship participation is assured, though Nichols said the Eagles’ absence Tuesday will also have some drawbacks.

“We’d like to go to the qualifier to get that extra round in, but it’s also quite the plus that we get to have that auto-bid,” Nichols said. “We’re a good group of guys that play a lot and put the work in over the summer, so it feels great.”

Jason Thurston of Belfast tied for seventh individually, shooting a 42. James Brisson shot a 44 to lead Leavitt, while Blake Morrow and Nolan Pierce also shot 44s to lead Erskine.