Ultimately, Wilde Lake junior Tyler Silberberg's run at history fell one shot short.
His putt on the ninth hole at Hobbit's Glen Wednesday that would have tied him with Oakland Mills' Donnie Shin for the county's all-time regular-season scoring mark stopped inches from the cup.
But Silberberg's round, and efforts over the past five weeks, would hardly be classified as a failure.
After bogeying his first two holes in Wednesday's match against Atholton, Silberberg rebounded to make a pair of birdies, just missing another on No. 9, to shoot an even-par round of 27 points. His season scoring average finished at 28.0, just one tenth of a point behind Shin's 2005 mark.
It was only the second time since golf returned as a varsity sport in 2005 that a boys golfer has posted an average above 27.
"It sucks that it comes down to just one match and you don't start out well, but I'm still really happy with the average that I had," said Silberberg, who was coming off a county tournament championship the day before. "It's been a really good season."
Video highlights:
Behind Silberberg's round, Wilde Lake cruised to a comfortable 84-71 victory over Atholton in the team competition. David Yancich added 24 points and Rafey Iqbal had 20 for a Wildecats' team that improved to 10-1. Atholton was led by Garrett Wallace's 23-point day.
Silberberg, though, was front and center for much of the round. He entered the day knowing he needed 29 points to break Shin's record or 28 points to tie it.
In the early going, the pressure seemed to weigh on him, as he missed the green on each of his first two approach shots. The back-to-back bogeys put him in catch-up mode right away.
"I was a little bit nervous and a little bit excited at the beginning … it's always exciting to be going for a record," Silberberg said. "It probably affected me a little those first couple holes."
He settled in on the third hole, however, with a birdie to get back to one-over. Then, after three straight pars, he got another birdie on the par 5 seventh hole to pull back to even par.
"I started getting my confidence back as the round went on," Silberberg said. "I was really hitting it all over the place most of the day, but I was making putts and that kept me in it."
A clutch par putt on No. 8 set Silberberg up for a dramatic final hole, where he ended up having a down-hill 25-foot birdie putt to tie the record.
"It's kind of crazy how it all came down to one putt and I left it a little short," Silberberg said. "I was happy, though, with how I came back and was even in that position."
Bryana Nguyen shoots round of 30 points
As it turned out, Silberberg wasn't the only chasing records at Hobbit's Glen on Wednesday.
Atholton's Bryana Nguyen, playing a couple holes ahead, made a run at her own single-round record of 31 points. An eagle on No. 7 and a birdie on No. 9 got her close, but she ended up making pars on the other seven holes to shoot 30 points and miss the record by one.
Still, the three-under-par round was Nguyen's best of the season and tied Silberberg for the top round this fall by any county golfer. She still has one match left in the regular season, as Atholton will take on Reservoir next Wendesday at Fairway Hills.
Boys
Wilde Lake 84, Atholton 71
WL: Silberberg 27, Yancich 24, Iqbal 20, Boccher 13.
A: Wallace 23, Potter 21, Tarash 14, Biggins 13.
Girls
Atholton 55, Wilde Lake 10
A: Nguyen 30, Tae 13, McKenzie Fields 12.
WL: Teachman 10.