THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 26, 1995 TAG: 9510240162
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 23 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Patti Walsh
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
SINCE THE INCEPTION of the Eastern Region playoffs, the Eastern District has yet to have a representative qualify for the Group AAA state golf tournament.
But with a little elbow grease, all that has changed as the Granby Comets debuted at the big dance this week.
``When people think of golf, they don't think of it as being hard work,'' Granby coach Marty Bechtol said. ``But these kids have put in a lot of time improving their games. I've been associated with several football and baseball teams over the last 17 years, and I've never seen a harder working group of kids.''
Spending virtually every day of their summer vacation on the Ocean View Golf Course fine-tuning their game helped the Comets roll to their second consecutive Eastern District title.
``The thing that has gotten us off the plateau is that not only do we have three good golfers in Gary Crutcher, Jason Copeland and Cameron Tenney, but the quick development of the other three has enabled us to be much more competitive.''
With Matt Hahne shooting a 79, Robert Boyd an 80 and Bryan Knight an 81, the Comets have extra insurance on their score card. Only four scores are used to tally the team total.
``We've been fortunate,'' Bechtol said. ``We only need either Robert, Matt or Bryan to be hot to be successful.''
And hot they were in last week's region tournament.
Granby nipped Bayside by a stroke in the region playoff at Red Wing Golf Course for the Eastern District's first team berth in the state competition behind champion Cox. Before the region playoff format, the Comets won state crowns in 1952 and 1969 and were the runners-up in 1966.
``I don't think there's been a better team to come out of Norfolk,'' Bechtol said.
Nor does he think there's been a more unselfish one.
The deciding factor in Granby's team trip to the state meet was Gary Crutcher's long putt on the 18th hole.
Rather than chance a second-place finish on his own ball, Crutcher opted to play it safe and bogeyed the five-par hole as Bayside looked on.
Crutcher instead finished with a two-day total of 151, good for a four-way share of second place. Salem's Kevin Miller took home the second place trophy with a birdie on the second hole in the playoff round.
``Gary beat (defending state champ) Matt Paulson straight up both days,'' Bechtol said. ``But he had 200 yards left on the last hole with water to carry and a 12-foot putt for par. He backed off and was very unselfish.
``When you win by one stroke, everybody played a part in it. They all counted.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN
From left, the Granby High golf team's leaders: 1994 Eastern
District champion Jason Copeland, 1994 runner-up Gary Crutcher and
1995 district champion Cameron Tenney.
by CNB