Osland’s 73 Lifts St. Charles East to Regional Win; North’s Nathan Clark Fires a 72

St. Charles East sixth man Stephen Osland came through with a late-inning 73—the golf version of a walk-off home run—to move the Saints past Bartlett and a regional victory Tuesday at Bartlett Hills.

East shot 305 as a team, edging Bartlett's 308. St. Charles North's Nathan Clark was medalist with a 72, leading the North Stars to a third-place finish at 314 and knocking Geneva (320) out of state-tournament competition. The top three teams advanced to Monday's sectional hosted by Naperville Central at Naperbrook golf course.

"We've been at Bartlett Hills a lot," St. Charles East coach John Stock said. "We won here last year, but Bartlett Hills plays tough. The greens are tough; I knew the scores would be higher. The three guys from Bartlett played well, but everyone contributed and Stephan came through for us at the end."

Bartlett posted three super scores early in the day—a 73 by Mike Marciniak, and twin 74s by Ryan Wolfe and Ryan Starks—and looked like they were going to run away with first place.

East's top three scores were Jordan Wetsch's 75, Nick Maze's 78 and Jon Woods' 79—a whopping 9-stroke deficit to make up with the fourth score.

Enter Osland, East's sixth man and one of the final foursomes of the day. He shot a sweet little 34 on the front nine, and was still at even par after 15 holes.

"On No. 7, I stuck a wedge like 3 feet and made a putt, and everything got going for me then," Osland said.

Bartlett's sixth man, Cody Wadlin, turned in his team's fourth-best score, an 89, which opened the door for Osland's heroics. He held on by his fingertips in the final three, bogeying 16 and 17 but parring the 18^th for a 73, co-second-place individual honors and East's fourth tournament victory in a row.

"Coming in, I was shaking a little bit, yeah. I was getting nervous," Osland said. "But I knew I could do it, and today I did. I was happy could do that for the team."

Clark's 72 for the North Stars was the best of a terrific field. St. Charles North senior Kris Davidson added a 77 and Stephen Gow an 82. Sophomore Dan Shepherd and freshman Raghav Cherala each carded 83s for the fourth score.

Ten teams competed in the regional. Geneva was fourth at 320, DeKalb fifth at 339, Batavia sixth at 341, South Elgin seventh at 349, Larkin eighth at 367, Streamwood ninth at 374 and Elgin 10^th at 421.

East's depth has paid off in recent weeks and bodes well for the Monday sectional competition in Naperville.

After the round, East players posed for a team photo on the 18^th green, where teammates had welcomed Osland with high fives and hugs when he had finished a half-hour earlier and where coach Stock was still answering questions.

"Stephan was doing fine. I played with him in a practice round last night," he said. "We had fun, and he was ready today. Weren't you, Stephan?"

Osland was too busy celebrating with his teammates to hear. But one of them, carrying the regional trophy, had an answer for his coach.

"He was, baby!" he said.

And with that, it's on to Naperbrook.