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STATE CHAMPS: Boys golf team wins Class 2A title for first time since 1992
by Julianne Jensen and Gregory Norfleet · News · May 28, 2021
Former Bears golf coach Jim Wheeler: “Congratulations to Barney and the Bears!”
For the first time since 1992, when Wheeler coached, West Branch High School’s boys’ golf team won the state title — and by the slimmest of margins.
Playing at Fort Dodge’s Lakeside Municipal Golf Course, the Bears edged out Grundy Center by a single stroke and Lake Mills by two strokes over 36 holes and two days to break the 29-year championship drought.
Under current Head Coach Randy “Barney” Sexton, West Branch qualified for state in all three of the past three seasons (no season in 2020) and the team said they almost could not believe they finally won it all at the May 27-28 meet.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” sophomore Will Bridges, who led the team in scoring, said Friday. “Going into it, we were pretty confident. We played good enough to win though neither were our best days.”
Senior Kaleb Sexton played on each of the last three state-qualifying teams and considered the 2021 win a breakthrough.
“I don’t even know — it hasn’t hit me yet,” he said. “It’s pretty exciting to be able to finally win the state championship.”
He recalled the 2019 attempt where the Bears stood only four strokes behind after Day One, then saw Day Two canceled due to rain and no chance to make it up on the second 18-hole round.
“It’s not hit any of us six that we won the state championship,” Sexton said Friday. “But it feels like a long-time coming.”
He remembered how excited it felt to make it to state during his freshman season.
“Sophomore year, we were expecting to come into state and do more than come and play,” he said. “It’s definitely pretty big that we just won.”
After Day One, Lake Mills led West Branch by two strokes, and West Branch led Grundy Center by one. But Lake Mills stumbled just enough to fall to third overall while West Branch and Grundy Center both moved up a notch.
Head Coach Randy Sexton said he almost liked trailing after Day One.
“To be perfectly honest, in a way it might have been a bit of a relief,” he said. “All year long, we’ve kind of been the hunted, but for once we got to be the hunters. We didn’t have pressure on our shoulders. We could just go play golf and play free, and it worked!”
Kaleb said the team felt good after Day One.
“All year, we haven’t had many teams to chase after because we were always out front,” the senior said. “Probably the most difficult (meet) was against Solon. We really had to push ourselves then.”
Bridges said Coach Sexton told them to “play smart” on Day Two.
“That was the first time ever we’d been behind after 18 holes,” Bridges said. “It was nice to have something to shoot for other than for people to shoot at us.”
Team scores: 1. West Branch 321-323 644, 2. Grundy Center 322-323 645, 3. Lake Mills 319-327 646, 4. Hudson 332-321 653, 5. Boyden-Hull 333-329 662, 6. Carroll-Kuemper Catholic 341-325 666, 7. Western Christian-Hull 343-325 668, 8. Dyersville-Beckman Catholic 342-332 674, 9. Emmetsburg 343-343 686.
Individual scores: 6. Sophomore Will Bridges 76-68 155, 20. (tied with one other) junior Dylan Countryman 79-86 165, 22. (tied with two others) junior Brady Knoop 83-83 166, 25. (tied with one other) junior Logan Highly 85-82 167, 27. (tied with one other) senior Kaleb Sexton 81-87 168, 31. (tied with one other) junior Gage Gingerich 89-81 170.
Bridges said the Bears needed high-quality opponents to push them to win.
“We hadn’t had a ton of competition” during the regular season, he said. “It was nice to play some good competition.”
Bridges said it felt “pretty nice” to lead the team as a sophomore. He talked to this reporter while the team stopped to eat dinner on the way back and his teammates could overhear him.
“We trash-talk to each other. I was able to back it up the most,” he said, prompting a round of mock jeering in the background.
Bridges said that, not playing at state before, he did not know what to expect about the pressure he would face.
“The other guys knew, but I had no clue,” the sophomore said Friday. “We had two rounds of golf once we got to state. We knew our season would end after today, whether we got first or not.”
Will follows his older brother, Ted, who played on the 2018 and 2019 state-qualifying teams.
“He was pretty disappointed when they fell short a couple of years ago,” Will said. “But he’s pretty happy for us this year.”
Contributing to the Day 1 score of 322: Will Bridges, Dylan Countryman, Kaleb Sexton and Brady Knoop. Contributing to the Day 2 scores: Will Bridges, Gage Gingerich, Logan Highly and Brady Knoop.
Kaleb said the win speaks to the strength of all of the players because all six — not just the top four — contributed to the victory.
“We definitely knew coming in that we probably had the most depth,” the senior said. “All six of us could score. I don’t think any other team could have had six kids potentially score. So we were all battling.”
As the team’s only senior, Kaleb said he felt like he needed to carry a bit more of the burden.
“At the past couple of meets, I’ve kind of held myself to a higher standard and pushed myself,” he said. “But I can’t really do that. Barney told me, ‘You’ve got to let the bad shots go, take a deep breath, and remember you’ve got five other brothers. This is not a one-person sport.’”
Other stats: West Branch had two birdies, two eagles, two pars and eight bogeys. They shot 156 on the front and 164 on the back on Day 1, then 159 on the front and 164 on the back on Day 2. The team averaged 157.5 on the front nine over both days and 164.5 on the back. They averaged 322 over both days on 18 holes.
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