New Coach, New District Rockbridge Golfers Boast Experience, Potential
With six returning players, new Rockbridge County High School head golf coach Garret Huffman is pleased with the experience and potential his team has.
Huffman, 22, was hired in May to replace the coach he played for, David Miller, 65, who stepped down after coaching the Wildcats for the last 13 years. Miller will continue to teach alternative education for another year before retiring. Huffman, a 2021 RC graduate, helped the Wildcats achieve their highest finish at the Class 3 state tournament when they placed second during his freshman year in 2017. Huffman competed at the state tournament three times and was the Valley District player of the year as a senior.
This spring, Huffman graduated from King University in Bristol, Tenn., playing third base for the Division II baseball team, after playing both golf and baseball in high school. In addition to coaching, Huffman is starting his career as a physical education teacher at Maury River Middle School.
From last year’s team, the Wildcats graduated two players, Andrew McCoy and Bryce Bell. McCoy led the Wildcats throughout the season and was the Valley District golfer of the year, Valley District player of the year and individual champion. He tied for second place at the Region 3C tournament before tying for 14th place at the Class 3 state tournament.
This fall, McCoy will enroll at Campbell University in North Carolina and will be in the school’s Professional Golfers’ Association of America (PGA) management program. With this program, he won’t be competing with the team, but he plans to continue playing golf for fun.
Despite the loss of McCoy, Huffman is confident about what the Wildcats can do this season. The Wildcats have seven players, with two seniors, one junior, three sophomores and one freshman.
One of the top returning players is sophomore Davis Welsh. As a team, the Wildcats did not earn one of the Valley District’s two regional-qualifying spots, but Welsh and McCoy qualified individually for the Region 3C tournament. Optimistic about Welsh, Huffman said, “Hopefully, to add a little bit of experience will help out.”
The Wildcats’ two co-captains are their two returning seniors, Dean Fafatas and Harrison Tanner. At the end of last season, Fafatas was RC’s third scorer, while Tanner was consistently in the top six.
As they were starting their fourth day of official practice last Thursday, Huffman said both Fafatas and Tanner “have been great so far. They help me make decisions. For instance, the little things, like what our polos are gonna be. I just think it’s cool to give them some responsibilities with the team, for them to have some ownership of the team.”
“I look to them as being leaders because they are seniors and have had the most experience here so far,” added Huffman.
The lone member of the junior class is returnee Fin Looney, who was the Wildcats’ fourth scorer at the end of last season.
In addition to Welsh, sophomores Parker Flint and Joe Vargas return after solid freshman seasons. Vargas was RC’s fifth scorer at the end of last season, and Flint got valuable experience.
New to the team is freshman Zoe Fafatas, Dean’s younger sister and RC’s lone female golfer this year. “She’s doing well,” said Huffman. “She seems excited and eager to learn more about golf each day.”
Huffman said the Wildcats’ main strengths are experience and camaraderie. “Everybody seems to get along really well,” he said. “They’re encouraging each other. They’re cheering for each other. I see them giving each other fist pumps and things like that. It’s really cool to see. Everybody wishes each other well because everybody has the same goal, and that’s to play well.”
The RC coach said the Wildcats also have great sportsmanship and integrity, qualities for which Miller often praised them. “I’m trying to carry on what Coach Miller always harped on,” said Huffman. “It’s more important than the scores even, to make sure you have an honest team.”
Huffman said the Wildcats were working on range, putting and “a little bit of everything.”
A new challenge for the Wildcats is that they are switching districts, from the Valley to the Shenandoah District, with shorter travel distances. Huffman has heard Wilson Memorial is tough and looks forward to finding out how the rest of the district teams are. Other teams in the district are Alleghany, Buffalo Gap, Fort Defiance, Riverheads, Staunton, Stuarts Draft and Waynesboro.
One of the Wildcats’ goals is to be one of the two district teams to advance to the Region 3C tournament. “Going to regions would be awesome,” said Huffman.
For the near future, the Wildcats will continue to practice at the Lexington Golf & Country Club, but, due to upcoming renovations, they’ll have no home competitions this season.
The Wildcats were scheduled to start the season with a Shenandoah District match on Monday at Orchard Creek Golf Course in Waynesboro. On Thursday, they’ll travel to Forest to play in the Heritage Invitational at London Downs Golf Course, starting at 1:30 p.m. They’ll return to district action with a match at The Homestead, with Alleghany playing host, on Monday at 2 p.m.
