By Karl Pearson...



Golfers have heard for ages that one drives for show and putts for dough, in other words, the true components of a good round.

But the Geneva boys golf team found out this year that every shot carries tremendous implications.

The Eagles might have thought coach Brad Ellis was just giving them the same old sermon when he got them together at the beginning of the year to talk about how they had to approach their business during the 2009 season. But they found out in a hurry that their coach knew exactly what he was talking about as they headed into their first brush with what turned out to be extremely tough Premier Athletic Conference competition.

“I knew it was going to be a very competitive league,” Ellis said. “I told the kids that each shot was going to be very important. I also tried to get them to understand that if they hit a bad shot, they had to forget it right away and try to do the best they could after that.

“Normally, you figure if you shoot 160, you’re going to be in the ball game. That’s four scores in the 40s. In the PAC, we shot 160 or more twice, and we lost both times. We were in the 150s in all our other matches.”

Even that didn’t produce any guarantees. Geneva finished 5-7 in its PAC dual matches this year.

“We lost to (eventual overall PAC champion) Chardon by one shot,” Ellis said. “We lost to Lakeside by one and to Riverside by two. We shot 153 in a match against North and won by one shot.

“We didn’t lose too many by more than five strokes. It was a tough league from top to bottom. Every single shot mattered.”

Because they were willing to listen to Ellis’ wise counsel, what he was saying took deeper root as they progressed farther into PAC competition. It finally paid huge dividends at the PAC Tournament at Stonewater Golf Club, because they ended up winning the tournament. That victory allowed the Eagles to finish second to Chardon in the final standings.

“It was a real feather in our cap to win the conference tournament,” Ellis said. “Chardon was 10-2 going into the conference tournament. The next week, they ran away in the (Division I) sectional (back at Stonewater) and we ended up just missing qualifying to district as a team because we were in fifth, five strokes out of qualifying.

“Our league was so tough this year. It was tough from top to bottom. Just to show you, Madison was in the bottom portion of the league, but had a great day at (the same sectional) and qualified to district as a team.”

For leading his team successfully through their first venture into a new frontier, Ellis has been chosen Star Beacon Ashtabula County Coach of the Year for the second straight year. He deflects the praise to his golfers.

“I just tried to do my own thing,” the 50-year-old Ellis said. “I owe it all to the kids for how they responded to the challenge. It was a good first year for us.

“I was blessed with a great group of kids. They were a lot of fun. They had a really good work ethic.”

The timing of the Eagles’ entry into the PAC was fortuitous, Ellis felt. His starting six was a constant all season. It was very experienced, including seniors Randy Jackson, Kyle Kapudjija, Chris Kelner, Derek Kovach and Joe Parker and junior Michael Schubert. Kapudjija, Kelner, Kovach and Schubert all earned All-PAC recognition. Kelner was the only Ashtabula County male golfer to qualify to the district tournament.

“It was a good year to have that kind of mix,” the 1977 Geneva High School graduate said. “It was great to see Chris get to the district, too. That was a real highlight to our season, too.”

The fact the Ohio High School Athletic Association now allows coaches to consult with their players on their transition from one green to the next tee also helped. It was one way for a coach to deal with his own tension level, and the golfers’. Ellis said he faced that a lot this year.

“Being able to talk to the kids helped a lot,” he said. “I spent a lot of time with the last group. Many times it came down to the last group on the last hole and even went down to the last shot.”

The challenge remains. It will be somewhat different in 2010, with Schubert the only seasoned Eagle returning. It will be a test of just how prepared the Geneva JVs are and, possibly even how players coming up from the junior-high level will respond.

“Michael will be the only one coming back, so he’ll have to be the leader,” Ellis said. “I think we have some good young guys coming up, but it all depends on how hard they work in the offseason.”

Ellis will lean heavily upon what his capable assistant, Justin Cafaro, who works with the Geneva JVs and junior high players, has built. Another thing he finds as a perk of moving into the PAC is that his JV team has had the chance to come up against tough competition at their level over the same courses the varsity team encounters.

“We were able to get 15 JV matches in this year instead of the nine or 10 we used to get,” Ellis said. “That really helps develop the kids.

“Our JVs were 6-6 this year in the PAC and those matches were pretty close, too. They had the opportunity to play the same courses the varsity plays, so they should be familiar with what they’re going to face and where they’re going to play. And I think Justin has some really good kids coming up from the junior high, too.”

Ellis has plenty of help off the course, too. His wife, the former Kim Koval, daughter of his old basketball coach Bill Koval, a fine golfer and mentor in his own right in addition to his status as a member of the Ashtabula County Basketball Hall of Fame, is always at the ready, along with mother-in-law June. The same has always held true for his parents, Janet and the late Ray Ellis.

It also goes for their three children — Elizabeth, a Mercyhurst College graduate, Stephen, who is in his senior year at Mount Union College, and Michael, a junior at Geneva. Somewhat amazingly, Ellis even was able to find time to fill in as coach of Michael’s cross country team this year at the Ashtabula County Championships.

“I couldn’t do anything without the support of my wife and our children,” he said. “I’ve also been so fortunate for the support from my parents and my in-laws.”

Now, the rebuilding, or as some coaches prefer to say, reloading process begins for the Geneva golfers. Ellis has always shown a knack for getting the most out of teams about which there is a degree of uncertainty. But he also knows the destiny of the 2010 Eagles is in the hands of the golfers, at least for the most part.

“We’ll be young, but we’ve got good kids, if they’re willing to put in the time,” Ellis said.

And if they embrace the philosophy that carried the 2009 Eagles so well this year.



Pearson is a sports writer for the Star Beacon. Reach him at kpearson@starbeacon.com.