The first full week of school hasn’t yet been completed, but the KVAC regular season in golf is already at the halfway mark.

“I think the kids have been in school for two days,” Edward Little coach Chris Merrill said Tuesday night. “We got off to a pretty fast start and we’re halfway through the season already. We have four matches left and our last (regular season) match is in a couple weeks. The season will be over and we will be getting ready for the (KVAC) qualifier.”

Most teams have played four out of their eight matches so far.

Spruce Mountain has 10 matches on the schedule and has completed its fifth match.

“We actually had freshmen on the 28th of August so technically we were in school, but most schools have had anywhere from two to four matches, but this is our fifth one because we were in school so early,” Spruce Mountain coach Diane Fenlason said. “It’s a quick season, it’s about four weeks total and we have the playoffs obviously. It is what it is, and we are halfway done our season as of (Tuesday).”

Coaches in the KVAC have almost universally noticed one similar things about their teams through the first half of the year: Their teams needs to be more consistent.

“I think our six top players, I don’t think a lot of them have played their best,” Lewiston coach Tom LeBlond said. “I am hoping the second half of the season, we will see some improvement from the players. I am hoping for that in the second half of September and going forward into playoffs.”

Coaches also said one of the biggest issues for the players so far has been trying to eliminate big numbers that have plagued rounds.

Mt. Blue has just four golfers, so going into each match they face an uphill battle.

“We are going into every match basically we are giving up two points right away because we don’t have six players,” coach Mark Cyr said. “We only have four, so, we forfeit that fifth and sixth match and we are down two points from the get-go.”

Despite being down two golfers, the Cougars picked up a victory over Lawrence in their second match of the season.

At Oxford Hills, coach Mike Grace has a young squad trying to learn the game.

“I have four freshmen and none of them have played a lot of golf,” Grace said. “I have a couple of juniors coming back, but they are pretty raw. They can shoot in the low 40s but when I get them away from the home course, it’s a challenge.”

He has an experienced golfer in Mac Kim who hopes to qualify as an individual for the state championship.

After going 0-10 last season, Spruce Mountain’s goal for the second half the year is to get the first win of the season.

“Without a doubt, obviously we are looking for our first victory,” Fenlason said. “That’s what we always want. The problem with my team right now is we are very inconsistent. I could pull names out of a hat at times and that’s just young golfers. That’s the way it goes, one day you could shoot a 42 and the next time you are shooting a 62.”

Lewiston is 3-1, but LeBlond has seen there are some very good teams when the the KVAC and state tournaments roll around.

“There are some really good high school teams in the KVAC as well at the state (level),” LeBlond. “Looking at some of the scores some of these players have posted. I like our chances, as I said, I think we still have our best golf in front of us from many of our players.”

The KVAC qualifier is Oct. 6 at Natanis Golf Course in Vassalboro followed by the State Tournament on Oct. 10 and the Individual State Tournament on Oct. 17. Both state tournaments are also held at Natanis.

nfournier@sunjournal.com

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