

In an Oct. 6 golf match against Silver Lake Regional High School, Duxbury High’s senior captain, Alex Jamieson, found himself in a familiar situation as his group approached the 9th and final hole at the Country Club of Halifax.
Jamieson, who will be playing golf at the University of Notre Dame next year, was again dueling with Dillon Brown, Silver Lake’s junior captain.
Jamieson and Brown have squared off in many United States Challenge Cups during the high school offseason, and as two of the top golfers in the Patriot League, they’ve fought in many memorable rounds the past three years.
Last year’s sectional final, which Duxbury won comfortably, saw Jamieson take first with a 70 at Easton Country Club, while Brown finished tied for second with a 74.
It was the second runner-up finish at sectionals in as many years for Brown.
The most recent match, the second meeting of the year for the teams, served as a preview of this year’s sectional final, set for Easton again, on Oct. 25.
Duxbury came into the Halifax match undefeated and at the top of the Patriot League standings, with Silver Lake, at 8-3, in second place. In their first meeting, held at the Duxbury Yackt Club, Duxbury had come away with a 234-249 victory.
Through the first 5 holes, Jamieson and Brown were each consistently landing tee shots in the center of the fairway, and were tied at 2-under par. On the par-4 sixth hole, Jamieson was able to fly his second shot within 15 feet of the hole.
Brown, on the other hand, hit his first sour shot of the day, from 150 yards out.
“Horrible,’’ he muttered as he watched his ball sail into a bunker left of the green and nestle next to teammate Kyle Maker’s second shot.
Maker, a senior captain who’s played in the number 2 spot behind Brown throughout his career, was in a tight duel against Duxbury’s number 2, senior captain Matt Daley.
A lanky lefty, Maker tried using his natural right-to-left ball flight to run his 3-wood off the tee along the right side of the curving fairway. He had strayed too far right, however, and due to a tough lie, struck a low-flying second that rolled into the sand trap.
Daley had gotten himself into trouble earlier on the second hole, a 486-yard par 5, when he blocked his drive into a thick group of trees to the right of the fairway. Forced to punch out below the branches with almost no forward progress, he had to tap in for a triple-bogey 8.
“With something like that,’’ said Daley, “I just tell myself that hole didn’t happen. Just play the next hole.’’ The strategy worked: He bounced back from the triple bogey with 3 pars in a row entering the 6th.
With Daley and Jamieson surveying their birdie putts, Maker cleanly escaped the sand, though he gave himself a long putt for par in the process, and would bogey the hole.
Brown, understanding that any stroke given to Jamieson at this point in the match could cost him the win, took an extra look at the slight downslope he was hoping would funnel his third shot toward the hole. Popping the ball out of the sand with a soft touch, he left himself a 10-foot putt for par. But then he wasn’t able to capitalize.
“I kind of struggled a little bit,’’ said Brown. “It was one of those days where you just didn’t know if it was going left or right.’’
Duxbury would go on to win the match, 239-245, the final scores of the first group indicative of the match as a whole.
Jamieson won the match outright with a 2-under 34. Brown was behind by a stroke with a 35. Daley turned in a very respectable round considering his 2nd-hole blunder, shooting a 40, one stroke worse than Maker.
Now, Duxbury stands 15-2, its only two losses coming against Division 1 programs Barnstable and Xaverian, both by single digits.
With 10 seniors, many of whom have been with the program for the full four years, the team appears experienced and motivated enough to win the state title this season, something they’ve yet to do as a unit. Such a win would solidify their place in Duxbury High history.
“They’re the most talented team I’ve had,’’ said coach Jack Stoddard, now in his 27th year guiding the team.
They’ve come close to winning it all before. Two years ago at Glen Ellen Country Club in Millis, Duxbury took second behind Wayland in the state final by a score of 308-306. Jamieson was 2 strokes away from winning it individually, as he took 3rd place with a 73.
Of course, to get to states the team will have to perform at sectionals, and Duxbury knows its Patriot League foes will be ready for them.
“It’s going to be tough,’’ said Stoddard, “and [in individuals], it’s going to come down to Alex or Dillon.’’
Sam Boyles can be reached at samuel.boyles@globe.com.