With its season on the line, Glenelg's boys finished like champions.
Through six holes Tuesday at Cattail Creek, the Gladiators found themselves trailing Centennial by five and tied with Marriotts Ridge in a tri-match they needed to sweep in order to secure an undefeated season and sole possession of this year's county title. As it turns out, though, Glenelg was just saving its best for last.
Glenelg's four golfers combined to play the final three holes in 2-under par to finish with a total of 94 points, which was just enough to edge both Centennial (92 points) and Marriotts Ridge (89).
"Never giving up, even in difficult situations, is the difference between good and great teams," Glenelg coach Chris Beil said. "We didn't have the best start, but we also limited the big mistakes and realized that bogey is OK sometimes. We kept ourselves in position to do what we did at the end."
The two wins secured the Gladiators a perfect 11-0 record and the county championship, one year after finishing second to Wilde Lake with a record of 8-2. Junior Matt Forester, who led the way Tuesday with an even-par round of 27 points, said last year's shortcomings made this year's title even sweeter.
"After coming up short by just one match last year, this means a lot," Forester said. "We knew we could do it, it was just a matter of coming out and playing well and today, for the most part, we did that."
Glenelg, which also got strong days from Adam Leake (26 points), Steven Segrist (21) and Charlie Harrison (20), wasn't the only one playing well, though.
Centennial ended up producing its highest total of the season to give the Gladiators all they could handle. Connor Flach led the Eagles with a one-under-par round of 28 points, while Matt McShane and Mike Humphrey chipped in with 22 points apiece. Sahil Mehta (20) rounded out the scoring to put Centennial over 90 for the first time in the last two years.
"I'm really, really proud of the guys," Centennial coach Rob Slopek said. "You shoot a 92 and get beat, there's not a lot you can do. We played our best golf and simply lost to a better team."
Marriotts Ridge, led by Chris Yoo (27 points) and Mike Dorsch (23), was right in the thick of things as well most of the day.
The Mustangs and Eagles simply couldn't keep up with Glenelg down the stretch.
Starting with the par 5 seventh hole and continuing through the par 5 ninth, the Gladiators made four birdies as a team and just two bogies. Leake had two of the birdies, while Forester and Segrist had the others.
"Those are three holes you can score on, with two par 5s. Nine, especially, should be a birdie almost every time," Forester said. "You just try to get through Nos. 5 and 6 without a big number and then finish strong."
Marriotts Ridge girls repeat
Just like their male counterparts, the Centennial girls nearly played spoiler on the final day of the regular season.
The Eagles, also playing a tri-match at Cattail Creek with Marriotts Ridge and Glenelg, got a match-high 24 points from Alex McShane and scored 50 points as a team. It wasn't quite enough, however, to knock off a Marriotts Ridge team that scored 53 points behind the efforts of Rachel Lee (19) and Marissa Davey (14).
The Mustangs, which also defeated Glenelg 53-43, finish the regular season 11-0 for the second straight year.
"They've all worked hard and they've really earned it, all the way up to the end here," Marriotts Ridge coach Mark Dubbs said. "It's a great group of girls."
Boys
Glenelg 94, Centennial 92, Marriotts Ridge 89
G (11-0): Forester 27, Leake 26, Segrist 21, Harrison 20.
C (8-3): Flach 28, McShane 22, Humphrey 22, Mehta 20.
MR (7-4): Yoo 27, M. Dorsch 23, Park 20, J. Dorsch 19.
Girls
Marriotts Ridge 53, Centennial 50, Glenelg 43
MR (11-0): Lee 19, Davey 14, Biegel 11, Kim 9.
C (7-4): McShane 24, Kuan 18, Wojanowski 6, Kim 2.
G (4-7): Frost 17, Hong 11, Castro 8, Cho 7.