Central High School’s varsity golf team entered this week with a 4-2 record for the 2019 season after producing a 175-stroke team score in Thursday’s tri-match at Briery Country Club.

“I think they did well,” Central Head Coach Richard McDaniel said of his Chargers. “It was our best team score so far. Of course, kind of like last year, we’re going to have to get into the 160s to beat Randolph-Henry.”

The host Statesmen shot a 163 Thursday for the win. Placing third was Prince Edward County High School with a 214.

Despite the team loss, Central senior Cole Williams was the low medalist with a 37. He has been the low medalist in all three of the Chargers’ tri-matches so far this year.

McDaniel said there was no one part of Williams’ game that he would highlight because it is working well altogether.

“I think overall he’s just playing real well,” the coach said. “He’s just not getting in trouble, and it’s easy to score low if you stay out of trouble.”

The particularly early start of the golf season conflicted with a family vacation for Central senior Mason Elliott, which meant that Thursday was his first match of the season, and he produced an impressive score of 43 — third-best on the team.

“I know he’s played some over the summer, but he’s been working and got a driver’s license,” McDaniel said. “I was hoping he’d be around 45, but he did better than that.”

The second-best scorer for Central on Thursday was junior Hogan Whitlow with a 40. Freshman Robert Hite hit a 55, and freshman Hunter Gary continued his improvement this year with a 57.

Gary opened the year with a 72 on Aug. 6, and then shot a 59 on Aug. 8 before Thursday’s 57.

After their match Tuesday in Farmville, the Chargers will host Goochland High School and Randolph-Henry at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday at Lunenburg Country Club.