DEFIANCE — St. John’s had already secured a district boys golf berth as a team, finishing third at the Division III sectional tournament held on a beautiful Thursday at Auglaize Country Club.
All that was left was deciding who would be the fourth individual to advance to districts next Thursday.
When Jefferson junior Austin Clarkson sank a 10-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole, he beat out five others for that honor.
Fellow Wildcat Nik Moore, along with Ottoville’s Alex Odenweller and Tim Kramer, along with Horner and Germann of Wayne Trace, also were in that playoff.
Shortly after Clarkson and Moore completed their rounds of 84, Jefferson coach Chad Jostpille noted Clarkson’s disappointment.
“He didn’t golf well today. He left some strokes out there and I know he isn’t happy,” Jostpille said.
That was before all the scores came in and his 84 was good enough to get into the playoff.
How an hour can change things!
“I should have said he was disappointed in his first 18 holes,” Jostpille joked. “He handled the pressure well of that extra hole.”
With Chad Hoersten at 90, Matt Waldick at 93 and Dru Leach’s 100, the Wildcats finished with a respectable 351, good for sixth place.
“Much better than last week at the NWC meet. This was Nik’s best round of 18 by far,” Jostpille added. “The difference was how fast the greens were; they were firm and it was a challenge. We hadn’t played on greens like this. Most places we played at, you could land the ball at a certain spot and be all right; these greens today, you had to land 4-5 feet shorter.
“This whole year has been a learning one. I think the kids should be excited about what they did today and look forward to next year.”
The Blue Jays of first-year coach Jim Warnecke finished third, with Brad Wannemacher and Drew Fisher carding 75s.
“Brad has been consistent all season but Drew played an exceptional 18 today. It was a good time to come up with his best round of the season,” Warnecke began.
Brandon Hemker came in with an 83 and Ryan Fischer and Eric Bergfeld 93s.
“They just hung in today. I and my assistant coaches, John Klausing and Chip Kayser, talked with them about today,” he added. “We told them to not try to do what they weren’t capable of doing. We just told them to play their games and not try to do too much.”
The Ottoville team finished a crushing fourth, not advancing to district play.
“That was a disappointment. We had played so well all season and then come up short today,” Big Green coach Jim Brown explained. “Golf is a funny game that can teach you lessons like that. We won the PCL Monday and golfed well; today was a struggle. The course was set up well; the greens were just hard to adjust to.”
Jordan Schimmoeller did get out of sectionals with a 78. Troy Markward shot an 89 and Chris Rieger 91.
“Jordan has been playing very solid about the last month of the season. We also had the two that had the chance to get out in the playoff,” Brown added.
Kalida is making a return trip to districts after its second-place finish by one stroke (319-320) behind Archbold.
“We’ve had our two best rounds of the year as a team the last two meets: the 325 at the PCL and 320 today. I hope that means we’re peaking at the right time,” Kalida Coach Ken Schnipke said. “I think we really handled the course well today. It was OK not to try to blast through trees and such; it was better to put the ball in the fairway and go from there, to settle for a tap-in for bogey instead of running the ball by the hole a lot.”
Matt Warnecke and Kyle Hoffman put in rounds of 75, while Cody Buss had an 82, Tyler Verhoff 88 and Alex Vorst 95.
“Like Kyle Recker last year, Kyle (Hoffman) had his career-best round here today,” Schnipke added. “The only ones who didn’t golf on last year’s team were Tyler and Alex, so these guys have been here before. It was no surprise how well we golfed today.”
Fort Jennings had one player advance: Cody Warnecke with an 81.
“He was sitting in good shape when he finished up. That was an outstanding round by him; we had to wait around to see how he did,” Musketeer coach Todd Hoehn noted. “Overall,  we went from a 441 at the Tee-Off Classic in mid-August to a 382 today. That is almost a 10-hole improvement a week; I’m proud of them. If all of these young men we had today dedicate themselves on their own to getting better, the future looks bright for us.”
Zach Schuerman registered a 94, Drew Mesker 97, Tyler Dray 110 and Scott Wagner 144 to make up the Musketeer total.
The top three teams and top four individuals not on a qualifying team advance to Stony Ridge in Bowling Green starting 9 a.m. Thursday.

Archbold 319: Kinsman 74, Bernath 77, Bostleman 82, Nofziger 86, Yoder 91.
Kalida 320: Matt Warnecke 75, Kyle Hoffman 75, Cody Buss 82, Tyler Verhoff 88, Alex Vorst 88.
St. John’s 326: Brad Wannemacher 75, Drew Fisher 75, Brandon Hemker 83, Ryan Fischer 93, Eric Bergfeld 93.
Ottoville 335: Jordan Schimmoeller 78, Alex Odenweller 84, Tim Kramer 84, Troy Markward 89, Chris Rieger 91.
Wayne Trace 350:Germann 84, Horner 84, Snyder 88, Akkerman 94, Morehead 99.
Jefferson 351: Austin Clarkson 84, Nik Moore 84, Chad Hoersten 90, Matt Waldick 93, Dru Leach 100.
Antwerp 352: Yenser 85, Kobee 86, Reinhart 87, Short 94, Jones 96.
Ayersville 362: Wolfrum 76, Bauman 91, Schroeder 95, Ewers 100, Seifert 103.
Tinora 362: O’Donnell 85, Seibel 89, Meyer 93, Wonders 95, Yackee 97.
Crestview 372: Jamin Rager 87, Jarrett Upchurch 92, Tyler Cliffton 95, Chan Hurless 98, Jacob Wortman 98.
Leipsic 378: Meyer 88, Inkrott 95, Maag 97, Pothoff 98. Steffan 99.
Fort Jennings 382: Cody Warnecke 81,Zach Schuerman 94, Drew Mesker 97, Tyler Dray 110, Scott Wagner 144.
Fairview 415: Berry 99, Contey 101, Etchen 104, Yoder 111, Breininger 121.
Pettisville: Weirauch 108, McDermott 121.