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Falcons' Smith, Pappas, Eagle Eric Mehiel (who?) shine at district golf meet
Fortune cookies seemed to have more prognostic credibility than Greg Pappas as Monday’s Cedar Run District golf tournament approached.
But Pappas looked like Nostradamus post-meet after the Fauquier Falcons had finished third behind two of the state’s best teams and well ahead of the fifth-place Liberty Eagles.
Earlier this season, Pappas boldly predicted that Fauquier would beat Liberty in the season-ending meet, saying so even after the Falcons lost to the Eagles by 10 strokes in the Combs Cup tournament. Liberty later crushed Fauquier by 16 strokes at the Sept. 13 district mini tournament, too.
Nonetheless, the Falcons fulfilled Pappas’ prediction by posting a season-best score of 322 in Monday’s district finale at Loudoun Golf & Country Club. Liberty shot 337.
“We beat Liberty, like I said we would a long time ago,” Pappas said afterward. “That was our goal and we did it.”
Fauquier set its sights on finishing third ahead of Liberty because beating state title contenders Loudoun Valley and Battlefield was largely unrealistic for any team. Loudoun Valley won the tournament with a score of 300 while Battlefield finished second with a 307, earning the Cedar Run’s second Northwest Region bid. Loudoun Valley earned the first bid by winning the district regular season.
Fauquier and Liberty will also be represented at the Northwest tournament, though, as Fauquier County golfers claimed three of the six individual region bids (determined after excluding individuals from region qualifying teams). Pappas advanced by shooting a 78, while Drew Smith did so with a 76, which was good for fifth individually and a spot on the all-district team. Loudoun Valley's Zack Bosse beat Battlefield's Andrew Lister in a playoff to become the individual medalist with a 72.
“Our No. 1 and 2 [Smith and Pappas] played to their abilities for the first time on the same day,” Fauquier coach Mark Ott said. “I’m very happy with the way we played.”
Meanwhile, Liberty’s Eric Mehiel shot a surprising 82 to qualify, but that alone couldn’t help the Eagles keep pace with Fauquier as a team. Liberty’s dominance earlier this season was no psychological help, either.
“They knew that Liberty beat them pretty bad last time and I think their goal was to come out here and not lose to them today,” Ott said of his Falcons.
It took 15 days of rehab for Fauquier to recover from the beat down Liberty gave it at the last mini tournament, but they used the time well. The Falcons specifically spent it strengthening their approach shots in practice as well as playing three non-district meets and one district triangular.
“The last two weeks we’ve all been together practicing more than we ever have,” Pappas said. “We were a lot more prepared for this tournament.”
Meanwhile, Liberty only played a Sept. 16 meet since the last mini tournament...
See the Wednesday print edition of the Fauquier Times-Democrat for the complete story.
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