After several years of lopsided results, the Vicksburg Country Club team finally has a fighting chance heading into the final day of the Warren County Cup. It’s still got a lot of work to do, though.

Clear Creek won both the 4-ball and alternate shot competitions in Saturday’s first round to open an 8 ½ to 5 ½ lead in the Ryder Cup style competition between Warren County’s two golf clubs.

The VCC team will need to win nine of the 14 matches in today’s match play round to win the Cup for the first time since 2008. Although Clear Creek is firmly in control, its team members weren’t taking anything for granted.

“All of us just come out here to play, and figuring out which shots you have to have is the worst thing you can do,” said Clear Creek’s Keith Ehrhardt, who split his two matches Saturday. “Most of us, every day is different. If it wasn’t, we’d be on the pro tour.”

Ehrhardt lost his 4-ball match to Matt Bell and Charles Waring, 2-and-1, but he rebounded with a dominating performance in the alternate shot round in the afternoon. Ehrhardt and partner Phillip Young beat Kacy Presley and John Duett 6-and-5.

“We hit some good shots. We played real good together,” Ehrhardt said of his pairing with Young. “The other team started off slow, and we got a good lead on them. After that, we played good. Made some pars and a few birdies.”

That was one of the few blowouts in either round. Five of the 14 matches were halved and four more were decided on the final hole.

The close score is in contrast to two years ago, when Clear Creek clinched the Cup by winning all 14 first-day matches, or several of its other victories during its current six-year winning streak when it had an insurmountable lead heading into the match play round.

“We’re hoping it’ll be close, and tomorrow means something. Some years it hasn’t been close. We hope we’re within shouting distance,” VCC team member Tom Kendall said as he waited in the clubhouse for the final alternate shot matches to finish up.

Kendall halved both his 4-ball and alternate shot matches Saturday.

“We are very aware Clear Creek has dominated the Cup matches, but we’re just trying to field the best team we can and be as competitive as we can, and hope we can pull one off soon,” Kendall added.