ALLENDALE — An extremely tight race the entire golf season between multiple teams was all tied up at 300 strokes after one round.
Northville on Saturday broke that tie with Brighton to win the two-day Division 1 state championship by two strokes, 605-607, over Rochester Adams at The Meadows at Grand Valley State.
The Mustangs nicked the Highlanders, who had the low round of Day 2 at 298. The Bulldogs, who won the Kensington Lakes league title ahead of Northville, took third at states at 609.
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“We’ve been going neck and neck with Brighton all year,” Mason Sokolowski, a Northville senior who finished third individually, said. “We got them a couple times and they got us a couple times during the season. We finally stopped them today playing our best golf, and we knew our best golf could win a state title. We’ll take this after missing out on the league title.”
Sokolowski said his team was very confident, and was playing smart golf, grinding out the final 6-7 holes to secure the title.
“When the wind picks up on this course it’s a tough track,” he said. “And if you miss it off the fairway you’re in the thick stuff, and you’re losing shots right there. These par 3s are crazy tough so you have to play really smart golf out there and stay away from big numbers.”
Northville coach Matt Lewicki, in his first season, leaned on Northville’s deep team of seniors. They wanted to improve on last year’s finish and were a stabilizing force, he said.
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“We knew it would be tight competition; it had been all year,” Lewicki said. “And just to be able to advance out of our region to get to this tournament was a feat in itself. There are teams that shot really good scores that could have had a chance to win this golf tournament who didn’t get a chance to come out here and play. So, we were happy to just be here for one, and maybe playing with a little bit of house money at that point.
“And like Mason said, we’ve known all year that if we go out and we play our best golf and keep it all in front of us, nobody can beat us. Golf is a tough game; rarely does anyone play their best golf. So, grinding, playing smart golf, playing confident golf, goes a long way.”
Adams junior Peter Roehl finished as medalist, scoring 72-68-140 to finish 2-under par on the par 71 setup, three strokes ahead of junior Drew Miller of East Lansing (74-69). Sokolowski shot 144, Mattawan’s Matthew Novak was fourth at 145, and three players tied for fifth at 146 — Winston Lerch of Brighton, McCoy Biagioli of Lakeland, and Gowtham Nalluri of Novi.
“I was hitting a lot of greens, I was making some putts,” Roehl said. “I made a few three putts but I hit the ball well. But the greens are tough, the course was in great condition, so I’m happy to come away with the win.”
His team placing runner-up by two shots, “that stings a little bit,” Roehl said.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Northville boys golf wins D1 state title in tough battle