Ironton golf wins 2nd-straight OVC; Blankenship earns medalist honors
- Staff
- Sep 23
- 2 min read
PORTSMOUTH — Not bad for a rebuilding year.
After winning the Ohio Valley Conference last season and reaching the state tournament, Ironton lost three of its top five golfers.
Despite having only two returning players — one the team’s only senior — the Fighting Tigers were still able to win a second straight OVC golf title at the Portsmouth Elks Country Club last Friday.
“This is a new team. We don’t want to get complacent. We want to set our own goals,” said Ironton coach Nathan Kerns.
“We’re young but we’re certainly getting better. We had four plays on the all-conference first team and one honorable mention among our top five. That speaks well of having good depth. I’m very proud of this group.”
Ironton had a 314 team score with the runner-up Gallia Academy Blue Devils shooting a 329.
The Fairland Dragons were third at 344, the Coal Grove Hornets just one shot back at 345, the Rock Hill Redmen 388 and the South Point Pointers 460. The Chesapeake Panthers and Portsmouth Trojans did not have a complete team.
Ironton senior Carson Blankenship took medalist honors with a 74. Teammate Asher Keyes and Blue Devils’ Cash Jones both shot a 76 for the runner-up spot.
“He’s one of those guys who is always steady,” Kerns said of Blankenship’s effort. “He’s always playing his game. He’s a very good driver of the golf ball, but if he makes putts that day, you’re going to have trouble beating him. When he does make a mistake, he’s matured a lot and he just gets back in position and trusts his short game.”
Rounding out the All-OVC first team were Coal Grove’s Joel Beals and Ironton’s Silas Keyes with an 80, Gallia Academy's Braeden Caldwell 81, Coal Grove’s Jayden Webb and Fairland’s Kyan Page 82, Rock Hill’s Ben Simpson and Gallia Academy’s Christopher Conley 83, and Fairland’s Kyle Salyer and Ironton’s Graham Walters each carded an 84.
Honorable Mention were Chesapeake’s Greyson Diamond and Ironton’s Beckett Heighton.
“We had some good scores from our top three, and then our four and five men played their best rounds of the year in my opinion and they did it at a time we needed them to,” said Kerns.
“I think they grew up a lot. We’ve had some very tough learning experiences this season, but we had much needed learning experiences.”
The sectional tournament is Wednesday at the Elks Country Club.
Ohio Valley Conference
2025 Boys Golf Tournament
Boys’ Team Scores
Ironton 314
Gallipolis 329
Fairland 344
Coal Grove 345
Rock Hill 388
South Point 460
Portsmouth NS
Chesapeake NS
All-OVC First Team
Carson Blankenship, Ironton 74
Asher Keyes, Ironton 76
Cash Jones, Gallia Academy 76
Joel Beals, Coal Grove 80
Silas Keyes, Ironton 80
Braeden Caldwell, Gallia Academy 81
Jayden Webb, Coal Grove 82
Kyan Page, Fairland 82
Chris Conley, Gallia Academy 83
Ben Simpson, Rock Hill 83
Kyle Salyer, Fairland 84
Graham Walters, Ironton 84
Honorable Mention
Greyson Diamond, Chesapeake 85
Beckett Heighton, Ironton 86
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