The Montgomery County golf team ended its home season early on April 5.

The Wildcats played their third and final home match of the 2024 season after finishing third in a quadrangular contest against Fatima, Winfield and Hallsville at Wildcat Golf Course. MCHS shot a 182, while Winfield placed first with a 170 and Fatima came in second with a 181.

“For four varsity teams there and all four teams shooting under 190, that was a really competitive match,” MCHS coach Cody Hasekamp said. “The weather was awesome. We couldn’t have asked for a nicer day to begin April.”

MCHS also played a home match on April 4, taking on Missouri Military Academy, Wright City, South Callaway and Silex. The Wildcats won that match with a 174.

On March 19, MCHS began its season with a home match against Van-Far, Clopton, Mexico and North Callaway. The Wildcats placed second to Van-Far in that contest.

MCHS will now focus on turning in a strong showing in its second half of the season, which includes four tournaments and road matches against Warrenton and Silex.

“We’re really going to see how we finish out the year,” Hasekamp said. “We have some kids pushing and wanting to get some varsity playing time. I’m going to take a few different combinations of kids to these tournaments. So we’re going to see what they can do playing 18 holes instead of nine. It will be good competition and it will be good for me to help figure out where these kids are at and what group I can take to conference to be the most successful.”

The Wildcats are back in action at 4 p.m. on April 11, when they compete in the Hermann Triangular at Loutre Shore Golf Club.

“We know Hermann as a team is going to be very talented,” Hasekamp said. “They have arguably the best golfer in the state (Trigg Lindahl) on their team. He is very talented. So we’ll get to go see him up close and personal.”

MCHS will also compete in the 19-team Hannibal Golf Tournament on April 12. It will also participate in the Elsberry Invitational on April 15, the Missouri Military Academy Invitational on April 19 and the Eastern Missouri Conference Tournament on April 22 at Woods Fort Golf Course in Troy.

MCHS has a road match against Warrenton on April 18 and will compete in the Silex Quad on April 23.

The Wildcats took a 14-5 dual record into the North Callaway Quad on April 9. They had losses to Fatima, Winfield and Elsberry and lost to Van-Far twice.

“I’m happy with where we’re at, but I’m not satisfied with where we’re at,” Hasekamp said. “We’ve got a lot of ground to make up. I still think we’re chasing Van-Far for the conference title. I feel really good that we’re going to have three or four kids for sure who can be all-conference type performers for me when we get to the end of the season.”

Hasekamp, who is in his second year as MCHS coach, said he had some players who were not pleased with their results in the April 5 match.

“The fact they’re not totally happy with their scores tells me that they want to work hard to get better and do better,” he said. “A couple of boys loaded up some carts and played another 5-6 holes after we got done with the match because they were frustrated and wanted to work on some things. I don’t know if my group last year would have done that. I’m really happy to see that there are kids taking initiative to work harder to get better.”

In the April 5 match, senior Robby Rodgers shot a 43 and sophomore Wyatt March fired a 44 to lead the Wildcats.