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Another high school golf season is upon us, which must mean something else — another great Randolph-Henry High School season is underway. It’s like clockwork.

No matter what, it seems, Statesmen Head Coach Kelly Powell is going to have his team ready to compete at a high level in the James River District and the region.

Randolph-Henry is already off to a 6-0 start through three tri-matches.

The Statesmen entered this week fresh off of an impressive victory Thursday against their leading district rival — Central Lunenburg High School. Last year, the Chargers managed to snap Randolph-Henry’s 16-year-long winning streak against district opponents, but they had to shoot a 160-stroke team score to do it.

The Chargers have lost two key players due to graduation but continue to be strong. Nevertheless, the Statesmen are holding the high standard they always have, and the price to defeat them remains hitting in the low 160s. Central has not been able to get there yet in 2019.

On Thursday, Randolph-Henry produced a 163 team score. The Chargers placed second with a 175 and Prince Edward County High School was third with a 214.

The training that Charlotte County golfers receive from people like Coach Powell, Coach Michael Adams and Larry Dunn puts them on an excellent path, helping them reach certain heights earlier in their young golfing careers than their counterparts on other teams. Thursday’s individual scores for Randolph-Henry are a good illustration of this.
First of all, none of the top-four Statesmen scorers were seniors. Second, two of them were actually underclassmen.
Leading the way was junior Brenden Francisco with a 39. Junior Jordan Colbert was close behind with a 41. Powell expected both to be leaders this year.

But Colbert actually tied with another team member who has been standing out though he is only a freshman — Austin Queensberry.

The fourth-best score was a 42, generated by sophomore Thomas Johnson.

While some schools struggle to field a foursome, which is the minimum amount of players required to generate valid team scores, Powell always seems like he is able to draw a crowd for the Randolph-Henry squad.
The 2019 Statesmen team is comprised of 12 players. They are as follows: senior Winfield Layne, senior Matthew Taylor, Colbert, Francisco, junior Caden Hottle, junior Jenna Newcomb, junior Caleb Shook, Johnson, sophomore Sully Jones, sophomore Colton Pillow, Queensberry and freshman Lindsey Towery.

With the young side of the team contributing to its early success this year, it seems clear Randolph-Henry will continue to be outstanding on the links in the coming years — like clockwork.
Of course, we know the team’s success is hardly automatic. A great deal of hard work by the players and coaches makes it all possible.

I commend those players and coaches and thank them for making the late summer / early fall corridor so consistently exciting.

Titus Mohler is the sports editor for The Charlotte Gazette and Farmville Newsmedia LLC. His email address is Titus.Mohler@TheCharlotteGazette.com.