By Cort Reynolds
Despite a solid team score, the Ada golf team finished fourth in a tough four-team Northwest Conference meet Tuesday at the Bluffton Golf Course.
Bluffton and Allen East tied with 179 strokes each, followed by Paulding (190) and Ada (209). The Pirates won the tiebreaker with AE after both teams' fifth man shot 51 since Pirate Wes Brauen shot a 64 in the sixth spot.
Senior Alex Morgan and junior Brevin Sizemore tied for Bulldog team honors as each carded a 47. Senior Ethan Hull tallied a 55, while junior Jacob Morgan shot 60 to round out the Bulldog scorers.
Sophomore Dexter Woods posted a 63 and classmate Kamron Wilkerson added a 68 to round out the six Ada scores.
The Ada record dropped to 3-6 overall and 1-5 in NWC play this season with the losses.
Drew Wilson paced the balanced Bluffton linksters with an overall third-place score of 43. Pirates Kenny Lovett and Jared Piercefield each shot 45, and Micah Minnig carded a 46. Jacob Boisvert shot 51 in the fifth spot.
Bluffton improved to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the NWC with the wins. Paulding is now 3-2 and AE stands at 2-1.
Mustang Zach Miller won match medalist honors with a 41, followed by teammate Carter Frey in second with a 42. Noah Brown and Elijah Lawrence each scored a 48, and Cameron Herick shot 51. But AE had no sixth man to combat Brauen.
The Bulldogs are slated to play at Spencerville with Lincolnview and Paulding Wednesday afternoon in another four-team league bout.
