Sep 25, 2009 3 min read

BELLE VERNON – John Curtis has coached golf and baseball for years at Jefferson-Morgan and he knows better than to put pressure of student-athletes when they are about to compete. Easy does it, has always been his approach. No sense bringing Rocket science (pun intended) into a discussion about driving a golf ball and you don’t have to split an atom to sink a putt.

That’s why Curtis kept it simple when coaching his golfers for Monday’s Division II, Section 8 qualifying round at Cedarbrook Golf Course. His advice paid dividends, as three Jefferson-Morgan golfers posted the three lowest scores of the day. Waynesburg Central will send two golfers to the WPIAL semifinals, as Greene County took five of the seven advancing spots. California had the other two.

Rockets senior Josh Kokoska shot a 5-over par 77 for medalist honors. His score was three strokes better than JM sophomore Zack Berkstresser, who came in at 80. Another JM sophomore, Alex Rush, was third with an 83.

Waynesburg Central senior Jackson Gardner carded an 87, one stroke better than three others who tied for the fifth and last available qualifying spot. In that group was Waynesburg Central freshman Loren Dukate and California’s Alex Roach, a junior, and Zac Edmiston, a senior.

The top five, plus ties, were earmarked for a trip to Champion Lakes for the semifinals on Wednesday, Sept. 30. None of the other 32 golfers advanced.

“Those three are the reason we are 9-2 in our matches,” Curtis said. “I couldn’t watch them today because I was with another group, but I told them over breakfast that if they shoot their game, they should be OK. Scores overall were up because of the weather (light rains fell off an and on all day). Those three worked hard all summer and through the season so far.”

“I’ve played this course the last six years, but this was the hardest I’ve ever played it,” Kokoska said. “There was a lot of rolling on the greens. They were pretty fast. Overall, it was a good day. My drives were strong again for me.”

“That’s a good score for me,” Berkstresser said of his 80. “I could have done better on the back nine, but some iron shots hurt. Once I was done, I was excited to see that I had made it.”

Berkstresser knew he had advanced before the rest of the field finished because all scores of 82 and under automatically qualified.

Rush made it this year after missing by three strokes last year. He played Cedarbrook on Sunday and shot a 91, so he took eight strokes off that number on Monday and advanced.

“I didn’t know whether that was going to be good enough until I saw the higher scores coming in,” Rush said. “It’s nice to be going to the next round with a couple of teammates.”

Waynesburg Central coach John Garber was pleased to see two of his golfers advance.

“Loren is a freshman, so it’s nice to see him advance,” Garber said. “Jackson is our seventh player, with Emily Rohanna in there as our sixth. Eighty-seven is a good score for him. He had a 4-over on the back nine, which is good.”

Maybe seven is Jackson’s lucky number, as he became one of the seven to advance from this qualifier.

As they advance to the semifinals, Curtis again stressed the most basic approach.

“Just play your game is what I’ll tell them,” he said. “You have to go out and beat the golf course, so you can’t worry about what numbers other golfers are putting up.”