ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, August 22, 1996 TAG: 9608220049
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KEITH POMPEY STAFF WRITER
Mother Nature couldn't put a damper on the Northside High School golf team's parade.
After taking a seven-stroke lead Tuesday, it seemed the Vikings had the Bob McLelland Invitational Classic in the bag.
But instead of taking an early victory lap, Northside sat in the Blue Hills clubhouse during a 45-minute rain delay Wednesday. Then, with the tournament on the line, they saw the sun go down.
``I didn't think the thunderstorm was going to bother us,'' said Jim Wolfe, the Vikings' coach. ``Most of my kids have been playing golf for a long time and they can overcome the rain. What I was concerned about was running out of daylight. There were areas where you couldn't see the hole at all.''
Luckily for Wolfe, his team overcame the odds.
Northside won its third consecutive tournament title. Cave Spring and Andrew Lewis share the record of five straight victories.
Northside, the defending Group AA champion, shot a 301 on Wednesday for a two-day total of 604. Franklin County finished second, three shots back, and William Byrd was 15 strokes behind in third.
``It's great to win it,'' Wolfe said. ``It's really kind of funny that this is the second year in a row we finished third on the second day and still held on to win it. Franklin County played wonderful. We didn't play as well as we could today, but that's golf. Sometimes you do good and sometimes you don't. We are just fortunate to win this tournament.''
Northside's top scores came from Josh Mattox (150), Jacob Jarrett (151), Johnny Sink (151) and Jason Orlando (152).
``Johnny is the one that pulled it out for us,'' Mattox said. ``He went out there and proved a lot of people wrong. They said he wasn't a good golfer and that he was going to choke. But he went out there and played his best ever. He's the reason that we won it.''
Meanwhile, the individual title went to North Cross' Brandon LaCroix. However, the runaway leader in the McLelland points standings almost saw his title slip away.
LaCroix, who sat atop the leaderboard Tuesday, needed a playoff to pull off the victory. His inconsistent performance Wednesday opened the door for Lord Botetourt's Daryl Byrd.
LaCroix mixed five bogeys and two birdies, shooting a 3-over-par 74 at Blue Hills.
Byrd, who was four shots back, mixed four birdies and three bogeys, giving him a 1-under 70.
As a result, both were tied at 147 after 36 holes.
``I couldn't do anything right,'' LaCroix said of his second-day performance. ``I even hit two bogeys in a row during the back nine.''
But he made up for that in the playoff.
LaCroix dropped a 25-foot putt in total darkness to win it all.
``It kind of felt good to make that putt to win it,'' he said. ``This was my last invitational of the year and to make a shot like that is good.
``I have been in a slump lately. I didn't break out of it [Wednesday], but I did win. I'm relieved and I feel pretty good right now.''
LENGTH: Medium: 61 linesby CNB