Great Oak beats Chaparral to remain undefeated in Southwestern League play

HIGH SCHOOL BOYS GOLF

Great Oak freshman Dominic Wilson putts during a Southwest League match against Chaparral in Murrieta on Thursday. Wilson shot a 1-under par 35. Photo by Nick Koon

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By Derryl Trujillo

CORRESPONDENT

MURRIETA — Great Oak and league championships in boys golf go together like ice cream on a summer day. However, the last two seasons ended with Murrieta Valley winning the Southwestern League team title.

On a cold and windy Thursday afternoon at the Golf Club of Rancho California, Great Oak took a big step toward winning the 16th title in program history with a 188-204 win against Chaparral.

Freshman Dominic Wilson shot a 1-under-par round of 35 to lead the Wolfpack, who remain undefeated in league play at 7-0 and 8-2 overall. The Pumas fell to 5-3 in league play and 7-5 overall.

“For a program that’s used to winning league titles, it’s been a different feeling these last couple of years staring up at someone else and we needed to get back on track,” Great Oak coach Jared Boyatt said. “Kyle (Yoda) and Dominic have really impressed me as freshmen and given us the scores that we’ve been missing to be in this position along with others stepping up and working hard to get better.”

Harrison Budz made nine consecutive pars in his round of 36 while Yoda shot a 38 as Great Oak took a four-shot lead with a group in. Yoda got to 1-under-par after five holes by sticking a short-iron approach from 140 yards out at No. 5 to within 3 feet and making the birdie putt. However, he made three straight bogeys to finish his round.

Defending Southwestern League individual champion Troy Song and freshman Oscar Sauber each shot rounds of 3-over-par 39 for Chaparral. Sauber started his day with a double bogey and made one lone bogey over the next eight holes for his 39. He made a 15-foot putt for par at the 160-yard, par-3 sixth hole.

Wilson missed a pair of short birdie putts at Nos. 1 and 2 before breaking through at No. 4, a 539-yard par-5 for his lone birdie of the day to go along with eight pars for Great Oak. Chaparral’s Cade Carpenter started with a pair of bogeys but recorded the match’s second birdie at No. 5 and posted a 1-over-par round of 37.

Sam Bruen finished his round of 44 with a birdie at the last hole, but the Pumas still found themselves trailing Great Oak by three strokes with two groups in.

“This program has had some really good freshmen come in and make immediate impacts, like Ryan Abuan and Nathan Sampson, and I want to be on that list when this year ends,” Wilson said. “But it’s not just me, our team is really hungry to improve and be mentioned with the Palm Deserts and elite programs of that nature even though we’re really young.”

In that last group, the Wolfpack’s Koa Baur made two birdies in his first four holes en route to a 4-over-par round of 40 that included a double bogey while Thomas Sandifer posted a 39 with three bogeys in his final five holes to give Great Oak a win.

Great Oak returns to Southwestern League action Tuesday with a match at Redhawk Golf Club against Temecula Valley, while Chaparral plays Murrieta Valley.