Dragons fly away with Stoddard title

Some strong numbers were put up on the scoreboard Wednesday during the opening round of the ninth annual Dick Stoddard Memorial/Carson High School Invitational golf tournament on Eagle Valley's East Course.

Even on the more challenging West Course, and with a stiff afternoon wind that kicked up, there were no visible signs of anybody letting up on Thursday.

That was especially true of the Bishop O'Dowd Dragons from Oakland, Calif., and Seth Cotter of McQueen, who emerged as the respective team and individual victors at the end of the two-day, 14-school tournament.

O'Dowd shot 383 to move from up from fifth place in the team standings, capturing its second Carson tournament championship in the last three years. The Dragons finished with a 760 team total, five shots better than McQueen's 765, while Acalanes (Lafayette, Calif.) took third at 768 and Carson was fourth at 772.

Cotter, a sophomore at McQueen, carded a 2-under par 70 for the tournament's best score of the day to finish as the individual champion with a 36-hole total of 143, one stroke better than Galena sophomore Bryson Young.

Carson finished with a 393 on the West course as the host-Senators moved up from sixth to fourth in the overall team standings. Not bad, but then again not all the Senators weren't satisfied.

"We could have played a little bit better today," said senior Toby Steele, who slipped to an 83 after opening with an even-par 72 on Wednesday. "We didn't come out too bad. It's just that, being on our home course where we play often, we felt we could have picked up a stroke here or there. I was a little disappointed myself."

The week was an overall success for the Senators, who also shot 376 on Eagle Valley East Monday to edge Sacramento area power Jesuit. Fourth best in their own tournament was nothing to be ashamed of, either.

"This was a good tournament, a quality field," Carson coach Paul Croghan said. "Eleven teams finishing so close and shooting good scores, yes, I'd say this probably was the best overall field we've had.

"I'm not disappointed," he added. "The objective is to bring in good competition and see what you can do, I'll tell you, it's got to pay dividends down the road."

The ultimate goal, of course, is the Northern 4A zone tournament May 8 at Ruby View Golf Course in Elko. Four teams from zone will advance to the 4A state tournament on May 15-16 in Las Vegas.

"As long as we're improving we're doing all right, " Steele said. "We have a lot of guys who can score pretty well. We have seven guys competing for six spots, and that keeps the competition up, and that helps make us a pretty solid team."

Even though Carson had no individual medalists, a mere two shots separated the team's five scoring players over 36 holes - John Chirila (153), Justin Bryant (154), Josh Bratzler (155), Steve Prehm (155) and Steele (155). Bryant led the Senators on Thursday with his 76.

"Justin had a very good week. Monday, he shoots 74 on the East, yesterday he shoots 78 and he shoots 76 today on a tougher course and under tougher conditions," Croghan said of the junior.

Young has risen as a standout on a Galena team that features two-time state champion and nationally ranked Travis Whisman, who was out of town this week. His 71 was the second best individual score on Thursday and helped Galena finish ninth in the team standings at 793.

"He's hitting the ball very well - he only missed two greens today and three in two days - and he could have had a better score today if he had made some putts," Galena assistant coach Ray Isernhagen said. "Seventy-one is not a bad score when you're not putting well."

On the other hand, a hot putter helped Cotter walk off with the individual trophy.

"I was just concentrating pretty hard, trying to keep my cool, and I was putting really good ... a couple of 30-foot putts saved me," Cotter said, adding that he dropped in a 30-foot putt for birdie on No. 16.

The McQueen Lancers have also jumped up to become a factor in the Northern 4A team picture.

"We started off a little slow but we're coming on. Zone is in two weeks, and we're looking forward to it and hope to go to state in Vegas. We got a young team with one senior, if we all come together we're going to be doing pretty good."

The final conference regular season match will be played on Tuesday, with a 1:30 p.m. shotgun start scheduled at Rosewood Lakes in Reno.