Published: October 22, 2009 11:39 pm      

Hornets hoping for better effort at home

Huntsville Boys Fall Classic begins today at Raven Nest

The weather should be perfect: sunny skies, mild temperatures that top out in the low 70s, with a little wind.

Huntsville golf coach Marcus Evans hopes the Hornets respond to the ideal conditions by shooting some solid scores this weekend.

Two teams of Hornets will be competing at the Huntsville Boys Fall Classic, a 36-hole tournament that starts at Raven Nest at 8 this morning and moves to Elkins Lake on Saturday.

The Hornets are coming off a less-than-impressive showing in their first fall tournament. Huntsville’s No. 1 team shot a 329 team score in a tournament two weeks ago at Austin’s Jimmy Clay Golf Course, the site of the state tournament in the spring.

Evans hopes the Hornets make a much better showing on their home courses.

Playing in a 22-team field that includes The Woodlands, Montgomery, Kingwood, Lufkin, Klein Oak and Conroe, the Hornets will have to improve if they want to earn some hardware at their first home tournament of the new school year.

“We’ve had a real good couple of weeks of practice since the tournament in Austin,” Evans said Thursday. “This is a good group. They’ve got a lot of potential.

“This is probably one of my oldest teams ever. With three seniors and a junior in the top four spots, they are not lacking in experience.”

Four of the Hornets played at the state tournament in Austin earlier this spring.

Seniors Brent Baker, Tyler Belovsky and Ryan Bennett, plus junior Cody Sammons, all played important roles for the Huntsville team that made a second straight trip to the state tournament in 2009.

The newcomer on the Hornets’ top squad is freshman Cory Sammons. He will play in the fifth spot and tee off at 9:20 a.m. today.

Cory Sammons will be followed on the first tee by his older brother, Bennett, Belovsky and Baker.

“Cory is there because he has played very well in practice going into this tournament,” Evans said.

Huntsville will send out two freshmen, a sophomore and two juniors on its second team today.

Evans said he’ll be watching closely the play of freshmen Bryson O’Brien and Babe Mishler, sophomore Grant Nicholas and juniors Cody Signorin and Murray Gould this weekend.

“That’s a good group, too,” Evans said. “One thing I’m excited about this year is I see more depth. I want that depth to show itself so those second-team players can push for varsity number one positions.

“I believe this group is talented enough to give me that.”