Former Brookfield teammates Justin Atkinson and Conner Stevens to reunite with the Penguins
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YOUNGSTOWN -- During their years at Brookfield, Justin Atkinson and Conner Stevens were a force to be reckoned with on the golf course.
As juniors in 2018, the pair each earned first-team all-state honors, with Stevens finishing as the runner up at the Division III state tournament. The Warriors were state runner up as a team that year, as well. Then as seniors in 2019, the pair both finished in the top five at the Division III state tournament, with Atkinson this time earning runner-up honors and the pair again being named first-team all-state.
After high school however, they each went their separate ways. Atkinson continued on to the University of Findlay, a Division II school, while Stevens opted to stay closer to home and play for head coach Tony Joy at Youngstown State.
"(Findlay) is a really good program -- there's a lot of good players and the coaches are really good," Atkinson said. "It was really something that I felt was a good fit for me. I just wanted to see how it was there and I really enjoyed my first three years there."
Now, as they both head into their fourth year of college, the former Warriors teammates are reuniting as Atkinson is transferring to YSU to finish out his college career.
"I'm really excited to get the opportunity this year to do something good," Atkinson said. "We had some success in high school, but obviously college golf is a lot different. I'm really excited to see what we can do come fall and spring."
Stevens echoed Atkinson's sentiments, "I told him it's going to feel just like old times. The Brookfield team in general had a pretty dominant team. So hopefully it will bring back memories and hopefully it will be the same (at YSU)."
The pair have a bond that goes back to when they were kids.
Atkinson and Stevens were next-door neighbors in the Brookfield community and spent a lot of time together growing up. They also each picked up the game in a similar fashion.
Atkinson first started playing golf with his father as a child, then by the time he was 10 or 11, he started taking things more seriously -- getting lessons, playing in tournaments and consistently playing almost every day.
Stevens was introduced to the game when he was 4 years old. His father and grandfather took him to driving ranges and he'd hit balls with them.
"Once I got a little older, I started taking it more seriously," Stevens said. "Then when I found out how good I actually was, that's when I really started taking it seriously."
As a result of their common interest, golf ended up being a bonding point for the two as they got older.
"When we were little, we would always hang out, and then we did a lot of sports together like baseball," Stevens said. "But he was one of the few kids that I went to school with that actually liked golf. So when we were younger, it would always be me and him going off and playing by ourselves."
As for this upcoming 2023-2024 season, Stevens and Atkinson are hoping to help YSU chase its first-ever Horizon League championship. The Penguins have two conference runner-up finishes in program history.
"Talking to a lot of the guys on the team, I know that's a pretty big goal of ours," Atkinson said. "So I'd say that's probably the biggest thing on my mind."