Last year the Walker Valley girls defeated Soddy-Daisy by a stroke on the Chatata Valley course. It was the only loss for the Lady Trojans golfers on the way to the 2009 TSSAA state championship.

Monday the teams took to the local links again, and this time it was the reigning champs who claimed the one-stroke victory, 79-80.

“Our girls played right with them the whole way,” Walker Valley coach Bob Williams commented. “This gives us a lot of confidence going into the tournaments. The problem is the district and region are both at their (Soddy’s) home course (Valleybrook).”

The Lady Mustangs are now 8-3 in regular season matches this fall with all three losses coming to state championship teams. The Lady Trojans have edged Walker Valley twice, while Signal Mountain beat both teams in a three-way match at Valleybrook earlier this season.

The Walker Valley boys haven’t lost a regular season match in three years and pushed their record to 11-0 this year with a 151-154 victory over the Trojans.

While The Mustang and Trojan teams were playing the back nine Monday, Polk County was claiming a pair of victories on the front nine.

The Wildcats and Wildkittens both took easy victories over Sequoyah and Meigs County.

The Polk boys fired a 158 for a 27-stroke win over Sequoyah (185), while Meigs shot a 222. The ’Kittens purred to a 91, while Sequoyah carded a 96 and Meigs a 111.

Walker Valley and Polk County will square off Wednesday at Chatata Valley, along with Cleveland and Rhea County in a four-way match.

Lady Mustang junior Avery George matched Soddy’s Haley Cothran shot for shot Monday as they tied for low medalist honors with 3-over-par 39s.

Reportedly heading to play at Middle Tennessee next season, Cothran’s round included a chip in from off the green as the start of back-to-back birdies.

Lady Trojan Jessica Cathey was right on their heels with a 40, while Walker Valley freshman Katie Bishop was just a stroke back with a 41.

“We know we can play with them. We’ve been in the match each time we’ve played them this year,” proclaimed Coach Williams, whose ladies were just behind Soddy-Daisy at both the Coffee County Invitational (at the state tournament course in Manchester) and the City Prep last week.

In the boys match, lefty Clark Melton fired an even-par half round for low medalist honors to lead the Mustangs down the stretch.

Coey Evans and Duggan Cannon helped out with 2-over 38s, while senior Cody Godfrey rounded out the winning score with a 39.

“With four scores in the 30s, we got the consistency we’ve been looking for,” declared Williams. “That is key for us if we are going to make a run to the state tournament.”

“We’ve got just three more regular season matches before the tournaments, so what we need to do now is a little fine tuning,” he added.

The District 5-AAA Tournament will be held at Valleybrook on Sept. 27, with the region event the following Monday on Oct. 4.

Now 11-1-1 on the season, the Polk County girls were led by sophomore Lydia Triplett, who matched George and Cothran’s 39 for low medalist honors.

Alex Browder carded a 52 to cap the Wildkitten victory.

The Wildcats improved to 11-2 on the season with Keoni Vidrine leading the charge with a 1-over 37 for the low score of the match.

Brock Raper and Evan Ball helped out with 40s while Jake Burrows was right with them, carding a 41.

Wednesday’s match will be Polk County’s final regular season match, with the District 5 A-AA Tournament set for Sept. 20 at Bear Trace at Harrison Bay. Polk’s region event will be Sept. 23 at Valleybrook.