Charleston’s Cade Landrus tees off on No. 17 on Friday.
Mattoon sophomore Blaine Powers fired a 78 to lead the Green Wave to a second-place finish in the 11-team Stan Adkins Charleston boys golf invitational at Charleston Country Club on Friday afternoon – a precursor to Monday’s Apollo Conference tourney.
Mattoon came within a stroke of winning its fourth invitational of the season, finishing behind St. Anthony, which tallied 322 strokes. The Green Wave had finished ahead of the Bulldogs in Monday’s St. Anthony Match-Play event.
Charleston finished fourth Friday, playing without two players who have been quarantined.
Mattoon finished ahead of the three other Apollo Conference teams, and is the favorite heading into Monday. The team’s top four players continue to post team scores in the 320s, which no other Apollo team has matched.
Powers took fourth overall while teammate Meade Johnson shot 81 for seventh. Stewart Druin and Colton Romine each carded 82s to tie for eighth.
“Winning the conference tournament has been a goal for these guys since the beginning of the season,” Mattoon coach Bill Behrends said, “and I think we should have a lot of confidence based on our recent performances. As long as we can play loose and have fun, we should do well.”
Charleston’s Pierson Smith and Josh Will each shot 82s to tie for eighth overall while Preston Phillips carded an 88 and Jaksen Braun had a 91.
“Overall, we played average and a couple of our golfers stepped up to the challenge,” Charleston coach Scott Dow said. “Today showed us that we need to relax and play better if we’re going to compete at conference.”
TEAM SCORES
| School | Strokes |
| St. Anthony | 322 |
| Mattoon | 323 |
| Sullivan | 332 |
| Charleston | 343 |
| Paris | 347 |
| Mt. Zion | 348 |
| Lawrenceville | 348 |
| Monticello | 354 |
| Effingham | 368 |
| Richland | 371 |
| Bement | 420 |
INDIVIDUAL TOP 10
| Pl | Player | School | |
| 1 | Brent Hansen | Mt. Zion | 76 |
| 2 | Jon Willenborg | St. Anthony | 77 |
| 2 | Thomas Chojnicki | St. Anthony | 77 |
| 4 | Blaine Powers | Mattoon | 78 |
| 5 | Garrett Hulfachor | Lawrenceville | 79 |
| 5 | Logan Westjohn | Sullivan | 79 |
| 7 | Meade Johnson | Mattoon | 81 |
| 8 | Stewart Druin | Mattoon | 82 |
| 8 | Colton Romine | Mattoon | 82 |
| 8 | Luke Bradley | Paris | 82 |
| 8 | Josh Will | Charleston | 82 |
| 8 | Pierson Smith | Charleston | 82 |
| 8 | Chance Westerfield | Paris | 82 |
| 8 | Leyton Ellis | Sullivan | 82 |
Coles County Sports 