SEARCY -- Wil Gibson entered the second round of the Class 6A boys golf state tournament with the same philosophy as he did the first day, and the result was nearly the same for the Jonesboro sophomore.
Gibson, who held a six-stroke advantage to start the second round, fired an even-par 71 on Wednesday and cruised to an easy victory at Searcy Country Club's 6,059-yard course.
"I just tried to play solid golf and try not to think about what was going on around me," said Gibson, whose two-day total of 141 was 13 strokes better than Texarkana's Ethan Eppinette. "I thought I was able to do that."
Jonesboro's team victory was just as convincing as Gibson's medalist honors. The Hurricane tallied a two-day score of 614. Searcy was the runner-up with a 642.
Kyle Covington of Jonesboro will join Gibson and Eppinette at the Overall tournament, which will be played Oct. 15 at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock. Covington, who tied El Dorado's Pete Carroll for third with a 155, birdied the first playoff hole to earn an Overall berth.
Gibson made five birdies Wednesday, giving him 11 birdies in the two-day event, but he was not immune to trouble. He three-putted on both the 376-yard No. 14 and the 362-yard No. 15 -- both par 4s -- causing him to fall back to 1 over for the round with three holes to play.
Gibson ended any notion he was faltering on No. 16 -- a 313-yard, par 4 -- when he hit his tee shot left and 45 yards to the green and then sent his approach shot to within 5 feet of the pin.
"Usually when I play that hole, I send my tee shot to the right and that's not really where you want to be," Gibson said. "Today I tried the left side and it really worked out for me."
Gibson finished his round with consecutive pars.
Eppinette's day started with three bogeys and a double bogey on his first five holes, but the Razorbacks sophomore was 1 under with three birdies during his final 13 holes.
"I struggled both days trying to get off to a quick start," Eppinette said. "I had a hard time trying to make birdies before the first nine holes both days, but I managed to hold it together. I was really proud of my mental attitude and being able to stay out on the golf course without doing too much damage."
Eppinette ended his day with a birdie on the 481-yard, par-5 No. 18.
"I felt like I needed to shoot a good round," Eppinette said. "I was shooting for a 75 or something close to that. I felt like I executed my plan pretty well. I left a few shots out there on both days, but overall I thought I did well."
Sports on 10/08/2015