SVC GOLF = League Match #7 & #8 A FOXFIRE FINISH! Team and Invidual Prizes to be decided Thursday

Unioto's Caleb Stidham and Huntington's Craig Magill enter final rounds with individual and team championships on the line!

Unioto's Caleb Stidham

Huntington's Craig Magill

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Thursday marks the showdown rounds for SVC Golf 2008. The eight league schools will tee it up at Foxfire Golf Course, and the league will count the front nine as SVC MATCH #7 and the back nine as SVC MATCH #8. In the team competition, Huntington enters the day leading Unioto by one-point in the standings. The two teams have finished one-two in all but one match this season – Unioto had a third-place finish in SVC MATCH #4 at Running Fox Golf Course. The current distance between Huntington and Unioto came as a result of last week’s nail biter. The two teams not only entered the day tied, but they even finished play tied, forcing the fifth-score, tie-breaker to play a role. The Huntsmen had the better score giving them the match and the top spot entering the final two rounds. Another race that is just as tight and that also has a Huntington versus Unioto theme is the race for SVC Player of the Year. Unioto’s Caleb Stidham has led throughout the year and is still the current leader; however, Huntington’s Craig Magill has been the league’s most consistent player. Even with Stidham holding a slight lead over Magill, the Huntington senior probably has a slight advantage when you look deep into the numbers. The league’s format allows a player who plays in all eight matches to drop his worst score. Currently, Stidham is dropping a 45 and he averages 38.25 while Magill is dropping a 39 and is averaging 38.75. This means any round of 40 or higher from Magill will be a mulligan so to speak and actually replaced with a 39; whereas, Stidham will be most likely forced to shoot two solid scores to take the title.  Other interesting side notes entering Thursday will be the races for other team and individual positioning. Zane Trace enters Thursday with a four-point advantage over Westfall and a five-point over Piketon in the race for third-place. Adena is in sixth place, and the Warriors would have to make up five points on Piketon within the two matches to move up. The final two spots will be determined by the head-to-head match-up of Paint Valley and Southeastern who both enter the final two rounds tied at 11-points apiece. Individually, the Piketon duo Jon Crace and Jake Nutt as well as Zane Trace’s Drew Davis are outside contenders to challenge Stidham and Magill for the top spot. Also, the last four of five all-league spots are more than wide-open as positions 11 through 20 enter Thursday with only a shot-and-a-half separating them. Again, you can checkout all the golf coverage here at svcsportszone.com by clicking on the golf icon on the front page. This will allow you to look at team standings, individual standings, and the League Match Coverage which shows each individual league match breakdown.