BLOOMINGTON – Houston Corbin picked the best day to play his best.
Corbin, a recent Bedford North Lawrence graduate, extended his high school career with a career day during the IHSAA sectional at Cascades on Monday, joining BNL classmate Colton Staggs as qualifiers for the second stage of the state tournament series.
Staggs fired a 6-over 77 and Corbin posted a solid 78 while earning invitations to the regional on Thursday at Country Oaks. The top three teams, plus the top three individuals who are not members of qualifying teams, advanced to the next round.
BNL missed the team spot by seven shots, carding 317 in the 11-team field. Bloomington South, with two sensational scores at the top of the lineup, won the title with a team score of 1-under 283, followed by Bloomington North (309) and Brownstown (310).
Corbin played a great front nine, faltered during a four-hole stretch to start the back, then recovered to grab one of the three individual slots. He finished with four birdies – three on the front while making the turn in 1-under 34.
“My goal was to break 80, so after being 1-under after nine, it was upsetting to shoot 78,” Corbin said. “But if you had told me I would shoot 78 going into today, I would have been happy.
“I was just thinking about what was best for the team. I knew we had to pick up some strokes. It didn’t even cross my mind about the individual spot. So that was cool. It was tough, because we were hoping to get out as a team. Getting out as an individual is still an accomplishment, but it stung to not make it as a team. I am excited to move on and play in the regional.“
Corbin dove into red numbers with birdies on the first, sixth and ninth holes. Then he stumbled with three bogeys (and two shots that sailed out-of-bounds when he got over-aggressive on the 12th) and a damaging quad during the next four. But he bounced back with a birdie on 14 and made it home from there.
“I hit my driver really well, but I hit almost every putt I looked at on the front,” Corbin said. “It really saved me.”
Staggs had a reverse round, compared to Corbin’s day. Staggs started with a frustrating 41 on the front, then played the tougher back nine in even-par 36 (with back-to-back birdies on 14-15) to advance.
“It was a struggle,” Staggs said. “The front nine was bad, I couldn’t get anything to fall. Couldn’t get up and down, the driver was sporadic. Then on the back I calmed down and gutted it out. The putter heated up, finally started coming around.”
BNL’s Jett Jones, battling a back injury, finished with a 79 while Drew McKee capped the BNL scoring with 83.
“We shot 308 during our practice round, and we needed that again,” BNL coach Jeff Hein said. “We just didn’t have the numbers to get it done.”
South’s Nick Bellush was the medalist with a 5-under 66, while teammate Happy Gilmore carded a 69 and Connor Byon added an even-par 71, powering the Panthers to their eighth straight sectional championship (the event was cancelled in 2020). Edgewood’s Luke Garrett earned the other individual spot with a 75.
Staggs and Corbin will now look to earn a berth in the IHSAA state finals during the regional. That’s a tougher ticket. The top two individuals who are not members of qualifying teams will advance to the finals at Prairie View on June 13-14.
“I feel there is a lot less pressure,” Corbin said. “It’s one thing to play as a team, because my score mattered for the whole team. But now, as an individual, I can shoot whatever I can. I’m ready to go out there and play my best.”
