Ramona High’s golf team won the Valley League and while fifth-year head coach Craig Powell celebrated, it simply meant the Bulldogs were given the opportunity to advance to the section “Play-in Matches.”
Win there and the next step would be to move on to the championship round.
Tough test. Rodney Dangerfield would be proud (the Bulldogs get no respect).
“Golf is a little different from other sports,” said Powell, whose club will battle Poway and Mira Mesa Monday, with the winner advancing. The losers’ season is over for the team.
Actually, Powell is looking forward to the sudden-death round at Maderas, but not why you’d suspect.
“The only loss we suffered this year was against Poway early in the season,” explained Powell. “With two holes remaining (at Maderas), it was so dark you couldn’t see, but we kept playing and lost 204-236. That wasn’t right to have to play in the dark.
“The next time we met them, at home (San Vicente), we beat them 226-231, so this is the rubber match. We’re coming off a great league season and I’m optimistic.”
After the section’s top 12 teams are byed into the three-division playoffs, those not given such lofty ratings are then challenged to win their way into the section championships.
In that championship round, contested at Steele Canyon, each team plays against teams in their division — Division 2 in Ramona’s case — for the title.
Welcome to team golf.
Individual golf is completely different and the top three Bulldogs players, seniors Alex Morgano and Christian Burton plus freshman Aaden Capacete, have already qualified.
But winning that league title was special.
“We swept San Pasqual to go 10-0, which makes us only the second Ramona High team to go undefeated in league,” said Powell. “That 2017 team was 8-0, so we have the best league record ever. I’m extremely happy with the way we battled back to go 16-1 overall after losing to Poway and this time we won’t play the last two holes in the dark.
“The thing about Poway is they have depth. Their bottom three might have the 7th, 8th and 9th best scores. It’s a lot like football (which Powell coached at both Poway and Mira Mesa) where depth is important, especially if you lose some of your top kids like (Ramona football) did this season.
“What I like about our team is the bottom three players have all gotten more and more consistent and are definitely capable of shooting 45s.”
Mind you, there was a time when league titles were a foregone conclusion and Powell says the Bulldogs are looking for this squad to the 2012 and 2017 clubs in the “play-in matches.”
The 2012 club beat Mt. Carmel but lost to La Jolla and the 2017 team topped Francis Parker but lost to Eastlake.
To get there, his top three players will need to be on their game and at least two of the three other players — senior Tanner Smith, sophomore Adrian Martinez and freshman Carson Moss — will have to continue playing at the high level they’ve shown recently.
In team golf, only the five best scores among the six players count. But Powell said that’s a strength of this group.
“Alex and Christian have been great with the others,” Powell said. “In fact, Morgan took Aaden under his wing and worked with him before the season. In the first match, Aaden beat Alex — his only loss of the season. Alex just smiled when he told me.
“Alex (ranked No. 11 in the section after being in the top 10 all season), leads by example. If he wants to explain something to one of the others, he’ll show them. I believe Alex will be involved in golf professionally the rest of his life in some way. He lives and breathes it.
“Christian took it upon himself to take the freshmen and sophomores to the range on Saturday and Sunday. He’s a great leader that way, but I can see him eventually going into engineering in some capacity.
“This is just a great group and we’re ready (to make history).”
