The Madras White Buffalos finished one spot out of state tournament berth at the Special District 1 Golf Tournament, held May 6-7 at Quail Valley Golf Course in Banks.
Madras shot a team 740, falling six shots behind Tillamook’s 734. Seaside and Scappoose tied for the team title with 692. Crook County was third at 718.
Molalla’s Massimo Cereghino, a junior, was the medalist going away. He shot a 150, including a 71 on the first day. He cooled to a 79 on the second day. No other golfer shot a round under 80.
Sophomore Tate Alire had the best tournament for Madras, shooting a 87-92-179, good enough to tie for 14th overall. Freshman Reagan McCabe was next in for Madras, taking 16th with a 90-91-181.
Senior Mason Lee took took third for Madras with a 98-89-187, while junior Eli Boyle carded the last counting score for Madras with a 98-95-193. Senior Maikel Poland shot a 114-104-218. A team’s top four cards count for their team total.
Rainy weather made day one was tough for the golfers. Alire and McCabe, the two youngest players on the team, played well on the day, though, with an 87 and a 90, keeping the Buffs within shouting distance of that fourth place spot.
But after day one, the Buffs were back in seventh place, 21 shots out of fourth. But MHS coach John Wilson said he felt both Tillamook and Molalla, in second and fourth after the first day, had played better than typical, and he figured they might drop some. They did, but unfortunately, along with the Buffs, Scappoose had a hot day two, coming from out of the top four to tie Seaside for the team title.
Day two featured less rain but more wind and some tricky pin placement. The field scoring average went way up. The Buffs combined for a 367, the third best score of the second day behind Seaside and Scappoose.
The Buffs nearly chased down Tillamook for the final state tournament berth, but came up just short. Just as the coach thought, Tillamook and Molalla came tumbling backward on day two. Tillamook went from a 346 to 388 and Molalla from 352 to 408. But the tough first day kept the Buffs from out of the top four as the Cheesemakers did just enough to top Madras by six strokes.
“We all left the course disappointed,” said Wilson, “but I was so proud of the comeback effort we made. We fired one of the best rounds of the year when we absolutely had to, and it was a gritty performance with a lot to be proud of.”
The coach also noted that this year’s team total was 30 strokes better than last year’s team tally at district, played on the same course.
“We will return four of our six golfers from this year, so we have a really solid foundation to build on,” said Wilson.
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