Nine holes were all the Stewart County boys golf team needed to make history.
Stewart County posted seven birdies as a team on the back nine, rallying from a three-stroke deficit to defeat Signal Mountain for the TSSAA golf Class A boys state championship on Tuesday at Sevierville Golf Club.
The Class AA and Division II-AA boys and girls state tournament will be Thursday and Friday in Sevierville.
Stewart County won its first team state championship in any sport with Ayden Smith leading a huge turnaround Tuesday. He made three birdies on the back as he finished at 2-over, 146, to finish as the individual state runner-up behind White House Heritage’s Greyson Koch (1-over 145).
Stewart County finished at 37-over 613 as a team and won by 13 strokes.
“It means a lot to them, but it means a lot to this community,” Stewart County golf coach Nicholas Wallace said. “We’ve probably got about 100 people here who drove from Dover to Sevierville just to see this. When those birdies were going in on the back, you should’ve heard this place.”
Stewart County’s Shelby Smith added to the celebration by becoming the school’s first individual golf state champion, birding the first playoff hole to defeat Westview’s Maddie Gray in a playoff for the Class A title.
Smith finished at 8-over, 148, including a season-best 71 in the final round.
“I started working my tail off right after October of last year because I didn’t play too well in state last year, and it was kind of embarrassing to be honest with you,” Smith said. “Our boys, we all work really hard. This is just a great year for our county. I know this is the first, but I hope there are many more to come.”
More: TSSAA golf state tournament what to know: Golfers to watch, storylines for 2024 championships
Stewart County was the Class A girls team runner-up by 10 strokes behind Cascade, which won the program’s first title with a 22-over, 302.
Tatyana Greene (9-over, 149) placed third and Anna Clanton (13-over 153) placed fourth to lead Cascade.
Providence Christian Academy senior and Tennessee commitment Isabella Johnson shot a 3-under, 137, for the tournament with rounds of 66 and 71 to capture the DII-A girls title.
Johnson’s performance was not enough to extend PCA’s streak of team championships to four — CAK claimed the title at 7-over, 287 — but it erased the disappointment of last year when she missed the state tournament’s second round with an illness. Johnson shot 67 in the first round before having to withdraw.
She joins Carolina Pardue (2021, 2023) as the PCA program’s only two individual state champions.
“My high school career has been five really good years with a really good team. This was a great way to cap it off,” Johnson said. “I’m excited to level up (at Tennessee) and play at a different level. It’s a good place to improve my game.”
Johnson made four birdies and a bogey in her 4-under 66 opening round. She held on for the title despite three bogeys in round two. Trinity Christian’s Tori Robinson needed to par the par-3 18th hole to force a playoff but made bogey.
CAK’s Isabella Coughlin led the Warriors to the program’s fourth team championship with rounds of 67 and 73 to finish even par at 140.
Houston Brasfield (1-under 143) tied for fourth and Nolan Smith (even 144) tied for eighth, leading Jackson Christian to its first boys state title with a 10-over 586 in the DII-A boys championship.
“Nolan Smith, this is his fourth year playing in the state tournament. The rest of the guys have all played two or three years,” Jackson Christian coach Jared Smith said. “We’ve been here as a team the past three years. All of that experience really paid off for us this week.”
CAK’s Bryson White (69-71) finished at 4-under 140 to win the individual title.
Franklin Road Academy finished five strokes back in second at 15-over 591, a school record. Walker Webb tied for fourth with rounds of 73 and 70 to finish 1-under, 143.
BGA’s Brady Ray was the individual runner-up at 3-under, 141.
Reach sports writer Tyler Palmateer at tpalmateer@tennessean.com and on the X platform, formerly Twitter, @tpalmateer83.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TSSAA golf: Stewart County rallies for school’s first championship
