SYRACUSE – NorthWood’s consistency was just a little better than Warsaw. In the game of golf, that can make all the difference.

The Panthers, led by the medalist round of 69 from Dylan Gessinger and a 75 from Payton Grubbs, outshot Warsaw 305-313 to take the team title at the Wawasee Boys Golf Invitational held Saturday at South Shore Golf Club.

No. 14 NorthWood added an 80 from Logan Kauffman and an 81 by Ryan Thompson to conclude its scoring, pulling off the mild upset of the Tigers, who were ranked No. 2 in the latest statewide coaches poll. Warsaw was led by a 74 from Tim Ahlersmeyer, 76 from Jonny Hollar, 79 from Jon Schram and 84 from Ryan Cultice.

Warsaw head coach Ben Barkey wasn’t surprised in the least from the result.

“We played really well on the front but didn’t put up the same scores on the back,” Barkey said. “NorthWood is a really good team and they put up some great numbers. They have some great guys so we are happy for them. Golf is a hard game, so when anyone plays really well, you are happy for them.”

Ahlersmeyer, who Barkey noted during the tournament has been up and down this spring, had five birdies on the afternoon, including a two on the par-three seventh. Ahlersmeyer ran into some trouble on the back nine, bogeying 11 and 13 and doubling 12, but rallied with two birdies in his final four holes.

Hollar recorded three birdies in his round and Schram had three as well, but fell into trouble with a triple bogey on nine and a double bogey on 12 to set him back a bit.

“Tim has gone through a major swing change in the past month, so we are really tracking his growth a lot,” Barkey said. “It was encouraging for us to see him come out here and be really consistent and shoot a 74. Jonny is wired really well. He had a few really tough holes but still came through to shoot a 76, which is great when a lot of times with young guys they shoot in the 80s or worse.”

The host Warriors had two teams in the 15-team field, but did not fare nearly as well as hoped. The varsity-laden Gold team shot a 334 while the Green team shot a 362. Thursday evening, Wawasee’s varsity carded a 149 on the front nine at South Shore in competition in a quad that included Whitko, but Saturday had a 168 to show for its Gold squad on the same front nine.

“We showed some nervousness, especially from our two freshmen out there,” said Wawasee head coach Steve Coverstone. “I kind of expected to see that from them to start. But what killed us were the double bogeys. Overall, we just have to cut down the doubles as a team. When we play good, we don’t have them. When we play poorly, we have them.”

Wawasee’s best effort came from Tristen Atwood, whose double bogey on the par-three fifth was the only thing keeping the sophomore from an even round on the front nine. Atwood had two birdies on the fourth and sixth holes, and showed some heady play on some really saturated fringes and roughs.

“Tristen and Luke are both doing a really job taking the lead for us in scoring,” Coverstone said. “Most nights they are our two consistent scores. We just aren’t getting that same consistency from the rest of our guys. We had some scores today that were much lower Thursday, and some scores today that just didn’t need to be as high.”

For the Gold team, Luke Jackson added an 84 and Dylan Cousins an 85 to go with the 87 from Jeffrey Moore. The Green team had an 83 from Mason Germonprez, 89 from Brandon Buss, 93 from Maclain Herr and 97 from Chase Jacobs.

Whitko, which had the benefit of playing the South Shore front nine Thursday as part of the quad with Wawasee, did not find much magic in its 358 team score. Daniel Zawlocki paced the Wildcats with an 84, followed by a 90 from Cole Bechtold and matching 92s from Will Peters and Colton LeTourneau.

“It just depends on the day with us,” said Whitko head coach Don Zawlocki. “We just didn’t play very well today. We have four guys who can score in the 80s consistently. We have played this course enough to know it. It just came down to going out and executing the golf game.”

Warsaw and Wawasee will come together again Tuesday as both teams will take part in the nine-team Joe Harris Invitational, an 18-hole sprint at Rozella Ford Golf Course in Warsaw. First tee will take place at 4:15 p.m. as the teams will race to finish before sundown. Warsaw hopes it can regain some of its majesty after a little bitter pill was swallowed in the runner-up finish Saturday.

“We are just trying to go out and be better than we were the last time,” Barkey said. “We will try to put this one behind us and move to the next thing. See what we can do at Rozella.”

Added Coverstone of the quick turnaround for Tuesday’s Invite, “We struggled around the greens today. It’s an away course. We struggled on our own course today, so we’ll see what happens on a course we really don’t know. I’m really hoping we can cut the double bogeys down.”

Wawasee Boys Golf Invitational at South Shore Golf Club (Par 72)

NorthWood 305
Warsaw 313
Fairfield 315
Homestead 316
Chesterton 316
Lakeland 326
Northridge 333
Plymouth 334
Wawasee Gold 334
Columbia City 337
Elkhart Central 344
Goshen 348
Whitko 358
Wawasee Green 362
Manchester 390

Top 10 Golfers:
Dylan Gessinger, NorthWood 69
Spencer Mortola, Lakeland 72
Brandon Martin, Chesterton 73
Tim Ahlersmeyer, Warsaw 74
Spencer Klimek, Columbia City 75
Payton Grubbs, NorthWood 75
Jonny Hollar, Warsaw 76
John Kelly, Chesterton 76
Gunner Smith, Homestead 77
John Stack, Fairfield 77

Warsaw (313)
Jon Schram 40-39 79
Jonny Hollar 39-37 76
Tim Ahlersmeyer 35-39 74
Ryan Cultice 43-41 84
Evan Cultice 40-44 84

Wawasee Gold (334)
Luke Jackson 42-42 84
Dylan Cousins 41-44 85
Tristen Atwood 38-40 78
Jeffrey Moore 47-40 87
Cal Heinisch 51-41 92

Wawasee Green (362)
Maclain Herr 42-51 93
Mason Germonprez 41-42 83
Brett Smith 52-60 112
Brandon Buss 46-43 89
Chase Jacobs 49-48 97

Whitko (358)
Will Peters 46-46 92
Daniel Zawlocki 41-43 84
Cole Bechtold 45-45 90
Colton LeTourneau 44-48 92
Matt Hathaway 54-54 108