The Ellsworth and Prescott High School boys’ golf programs competed in their final nine-hole regular season conference match of the year on Friday afternoon in Hammond.

Baldwin-Woodville hosted at the Hammond Golf Club, which saw Ellsworth finish third and Prescott fourth with rounds of 162 and 169 respectively. Amery earned runner-up honors with its 157 while Saint Croix Central claimed victory with a 152.

Ellsworth’s third-place finish was in large part because of senior Ethan Oricchio and junior Trey Wittenberg, who have either won or been among the top finishers individually in the last three Middle Border Conference meets.

Oricchio’s one-under par round of 35 at the Hammond Golf Club earned co-medalist honors with Saint Croix Central senior Nicholas Mueller. Wittenberg’s 40 finished in a five-way tie for eighth place. Oricchio spoke about his medalist round and the shared success with Wittenberg lately.

“I’d say I’m probably swinging it the best I have all season,” Oricchio said after the meet. “It’s nice to see Trey do it too because we’re pretty close. Having him up there with me is awesome. He’s lowering our scores and that helps since we’re trying to get to state this year.”

Ellsworth’s other three scores at Hammond all came from seniors including Vinny Young’s round of 41, Carson Nugent shot a 46 and Oden Anderson rounded out the scoring with his 47. After the round, Ellsworth head coach Carson Huppert analyzed his team’s recent scores.

“Trey and Ethan are feeling good right now,” Huppert said. “They’re striking the ball well. We’re getting better and if we can get consistency out of our three, four and five, then we could do some damage.”

The Panthers weren’t the only local program that had a reason to smile after the final nine-hole match of the year. Prescott’s round of 169 was the second-best score the Cardinals have shot all season.

Prescott sophomore Tyler Reiter led the scoring with a level-par 36. Sophomore Sam Vesperman and senior Evan Radke both shot 43, sophomore Luke Kinneman posted a 47 and senior Benny Olson rounded out the scoring with a 51.

Prescott head coach Jay Bartsch, who has coached the Cardinals for nearly two decades, was encouraged by his team’s strong performance collectively.

“It was a really good day because we shot a 170, which is the second-best score we’ve shot this year,” Bartsch said. “A lot of kids played well. Evan Radke probably played his best round of the year and that was big for us.”

Despite Reiter posting a level-par round and Radke shooting one of his best scores this year, Prescott couldn't crack the top three at Hammond. Bartsch spoke about the strength of the conference and how it compares to previous seasons.

“The competition in the conference is unbelievable,” Bartsch said. “We’re shooting scores we haven’t shot before and we’re taking fifth and sixth place that in other years that would be second. Our kids have started to realize we’ve got to play better if we want to compete.”

Prescott will get one final chance to improve its standing in the league at the Middle Border Conference championship, which will be played at the Bristol Ridge Golf Course in Somerset on Monday, May 15.

The 18-hole league championship will be the second time Ellsworth and Prescott have played a competitive round at Bristol Ridge this season. The first was a nine-hole conference meet on Tuesday, May 2.

In that match, Ellsworth took third with a round of 173, trailing only Saint Croix Central (161) and Amery (159). Prescott finished seventh with a 183. Of the 40 golfers who competed that day, just one – Amery senior Blu Anderson – shot level par or better.

Bristol Ridge is a notoriously challenging course that features unforgivingly tight fairways and danger looming around every corner. It’s a course that favors smart, calculated players who will occasionally hit irons off of the tee and take their medicine when trouble inevitably comes.

“(Our players) have to be smart and realize that bad shots are going to happen there,” Bartsch said of Bristol Ridge. “You can’t try to hit miracle shots. You’ve got to take your medicine and punch out. The minute you try to make something out of a bad situation, you bring big numbers into play. If we’re going to compete, we’ve got to avoid those big numbers.”

Coaches throughout the Middle Border Conference continue preparing their athletes for Bristol Ridge’s challenges. Oricchio, who has been Ellsworth’s top golfer this season, spoke about navigating the course and a practice round he recently played there.

“I played there last week and shot a 75,” Oricchio said. “If you play safe, play confident and manage the course, you can shoot pretty low. You’ve just got to play smart.”

Ellsworth and Prescott are slated to tee off with the rest of the league teams at the Middle Border Conference championship in Somerset on Monday, May 15. The meet is slated to begin at 9 a.m.