Eagles' Golfers Remain in Hunt for State Team Title

Beau Hossler said the Eagles got lucky.

Santa Margarita coach Chuck Morales bristled some imaginary chin whiskers and commented that it was by that thin a margin the Eagles snuck through.

Nevertheless, Santa Margarita is in and so is Servite, so the surprises were few and far between Thursday at Mission Lakes Country Club in sun-drenched Desert Hot Springs, the site of the 2011 CIF Southern Section Regional Tournament.

Both the Eagles and Friars -- Trinity League rivals and the unquestioned Orange County heavyweights -- punched their tickets to the CIF/SCGA Southern California High School Championships, May 31 at Brookside Golf Club in Pasadena, with showings of 376 and 371, respectively, good for fourth and first overall.

Servite's regional title is the third straight for the Friars, and a bit of payback for the boys from Anaheim, who had to stomach a third-place finish last week in the Trinity League Finals, coming in behind both the Eagles and the surprise champions, Mater Dei.

Santa Margarita, meanwhile, has stood atop the O.C. Register's county-wide top 10 poll for much of the season, and for good reason. 

Pepperdine-bound junior Kevin DeHuff, who is currently attempting to qualify for the U.S. Open, played third on the Eagles' card Thursday and scored accordingly, turning in a two-over-par 74, one stroke behind team leaders Hossler and Andrew Levitt, who both carded 73.

"We're very lucky to get out of here," Hossler said. "Pretty much everyone on the team struggled throughout the day and I kind of blew up coming in, which wasn't good. But a couple of guys clutched up at the end, and we're lucky to be moving on. I think we have a good chance from here on."

Hossler managed to eagle Hole 10 Thursday after ripping out of the tee box, but the picturesque drive was the exception to the rule as Hossler struggled to find fairways all afternoon.

With 21 teams and more than 32 groups on the 18-hole course for an 8 a.m. shotgun start, the round dragged on for more than six hours, and as the sun rose in the cloudless sky, the heat began to take its toll.

To a man, the Eagles all reported that the back nine was unforgiving.

"The course is pretty simple, but there's a few tough holes coming in -- they're pretty long," Hossler said. "It's doable if you're playing well, but if you're not hitting it straight, you're going to be in trouble."

As has been their strength all season, it was the Eagles' depth that ultimately earned them a trip to Pasadena. Santa Margarita finished tied for fourth with Loyola, but Troy Ditzler's sixth-man score of 79 was four strokes better than Steven Lopez's 83 for Loyola, which meant the Eagles won the tiebreaker, and Loyola was sent home for the summer.

Both Jefferey Cheung and Dan McCarthy turned in rounds of 78 as no Eagle breached 80 strokes, a feat shared by only one other team Thursday, Mater Dei, which finished eighth overall (380).

"We were shooting for the top four," Morales said. "There are a lot of good schools here, and that 68 for Westlake kind of turned things around."

Morales referred to round medalist Brock Drogosch, Westlake's No. 3, who finished the round five strokes under par, shocking many, and vaulting Westlake into second place (374).

Righetti of Santa Maria claimed third, finishing 14 strokes over par as a team with a 374, and losing out on second because of its higher sixth-man offering.

"We're happy," Morales said. "We achieved what we wanted to do, and now it's on to the next step."

Hossler said he's played Brookside before, and that it's a course where low scoring will be the key.

"We just have to take it one step at a time," he said.

Said Morales of Brookside: "It's a tough course, a pretty well-played course. Guys have played it in junior events. Half the team has played it, but we're going to go and play a round there to see what it's like."

While the Eagles gear up for Southern California Championships, the team seasons for Los Alamitos, San Juan Hills and Corona del Mar came to end in Desert Hot Springs.

Led by Mike Moorhead's even-par 72, Corona del Mar finished just out of the money with a 378, two strokes back of Santa Margarita, but only good for seventh overall in an extremely talented and tightly-packed field of competitors.

San Juan Hills, the up-and-comers and first-time winners of the South Coast Divisional on Tuesday, showed extremely well Thursday, finishing ninth with a 381. Mike Page and Owen Taylor paced the Stallions with identical rounds of 73, a result that should please coach Jim Tinker, who was looking for Page to play well heading into the round.

Los Alamitos finished one spot behind San Juan Hills, turning in a 384, good for 10th overall. The Griffins were led by Shane Wathanasaynee, who carded a two-over 74.

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Results of 2011 CIF Southern Section Boys Golf Team Regional Tournament

May 12 at Mission Lakes Country Club, Par 72

Top four teams move on to the CIF/SCGA Southern California High School Championships, May 31 at Brookside Golf Club in Pasadena.

1. Servite -- 371 -- Preston Valder, 72. Tyler Little, 71. Tyler Smith, 83. Michael Bonicatto, 74. Martin Manalo, 77. Court Lewis, 77.

2. Westlake -- 374 -- Brandon Kelley, 83. Sean Crocker, 74. Brock Drogosch, 68. Kris Hopkins, 73. Tyler Soosman, 81. Tim Snyder, 78.

3. Righetti -- 374 -- Reilly McMahon, 70. MacGregor Hoobery, 76. Landon Brown, 76. Steve Reyburn, 76. Logan Walberg, 76. Josh Ramirez, 91.

4. Santa Margarita -- 376 -- Beau Hossler, 73. Andrew Levitt, 73. Kevin DeHuff, 74. Jeffrey Cheung, 78. Dan McCarthy, 78. Troy Ditzler, 79.

5. Loyola -- 376 -- Dylan Francis, 72. Blake Fierro, 75. Blake Meek, 76. Pat Blay, 78. Steven Lopez, 83. Jacob Lopez, 75.

6. Sunny Hills -- 377 -- Mike Hong, 80. Luke Park, 72. Chris Chu, 75. Jack Chung, 79. Kristen Park, 74. Chris Choi, 77.

7. Corona del Mar -- 378 -- Mike Moorhead, 72. Brian Mull, 73. John Davenport, 79. Chase Wheatley, 77. Karick Brown, 85. Ryan Grable, 77.

8. Mater Dei -- 380 -- Brian Campbell, 77. Camden Price, 79. Nico Mendoza, 77. Michael Haeri, 73. Matt Cwalina, 74. Joey Caucas, 79.

9. San Juan Hills -- 381 -- Eric Taylor, 75. Owen Taylor, 73. Grant Prescott, 80. Mike Page, 73. Dane Walker, 93. Parker Smith, 80.

10. Los Alamitos -- 384 -- John Lee, 77. Connor Campbell, 78. Shane Wathanasaynee, 74. Jonathan Young, 79. Daniel Gregory, 86. Chris Lang, 79.

11. Poly/Riverside -- David Gazzolo, 72. Eric Cross, 75. Greg Gonzalez, 77. Agostino Milasso, 82. CLay Hjulberg, 83. Tae Hyun Lim, 79.

12. Ventura -- 385 -- Gregory Robarge, 72. Erik Thorbecke, 79. Christian Short, 84. Matt Thomas, 78. Jared King, 81. Anthony Wagner, 80.

13. Brea -- 386 --  Rak Cho, 75. Michael Choe, 74. Louis Kim, 76. Matt Shaw, 90. Trevor Polverini, 82. Jeremy Verone, 79. 

14. Canyon/Anaheim -- 388 -- Zach Alcock, 74. Tyler Chavous, 81. Zach Chavous, 77. Steven Meyer, 79. Chang Rhee, 90. Alex Takada, 79.

15. Santiago/Corona -- 390 -- Aaron Wise, 73. Taylor Hood, 80. John Swierczeck, 81. Ryan Odom, 76, Jared Nepomuceno, 76. Dominick Tecson, 81.

16. West Ranch -- 390 -- JJ Holen, 71. CJ Espino, 82. Joey Downey, 79. Kyle Blatchford, 84. Isaac Kim, 79. Brandon Dooley, 79.

17. Dos Pueblos -- 393 -- Carson Curtis, 77. Brett Patton, 80. Lone Fuller, 74. Michael Yi, 87. Nick Detteras, 84. Grant Amerson, 78.

18. Mira Costa -- 394 -- David Kim, 73. JP Harper, 76. Lorenzo Gillenwater, 84. Evan Westerberg, 79. James Houston, 83. Kyle Cohen, 81.

19. Diamond Bar -- 396 -- Jason Chen, 76. Dean Sakata, 71. Brian Fong, 76. Ben Koyano, 87. Kevin Liang, 87. Keith Sakata, 86.

20. Palm Desert -- 398 -- Beau McDermid, 79. Conner Mog, 79. Alec Demetre, 78. Kacey Hammond, 80. Brendan Regan, 82. Niko Seltz, 82.

21. Saugus -- 405 -- Andrew Moore, 78. Zack Leonard, 77. Kevin Holzer, 82. Tyler Larinto, 86. Braden Lewis, 82. Connor Morris, 89.