FOUNTAIN VALLEY – Wilson High senior Ryder Epson knew Los Alamitos was a threat at the CIF-SS Southern Division team championships, but the scores on the board led him to believe he and his teammates had their friendly rivals beat.
And then came the missing scores of sophomore Ellis Tirado, who shot a 3-under-par 69, and senior Jon Young, who fired a 2-under 70 on Monday at the Mile Square Classic golf course. Just like that, Los Alamitos’ five-man team score dropped to a 5-over 365, two shots better than runner-up Wilson, which was led by sophomore Hunter Epson’s 1-under 71 and senior brother Ryder’s even-par 72.
“I thought we had it,” Ryder Epson said, shaking his head, “but I guess Jon and Ellis played really well. Those two guys are really good, so I’m not really surprised they played so well.”
The good news for Moore League champion Wilson, which also got solid scoring rounds from seniors Harold Calubid, (74), Nick Gregor (74) and Austin Orkin (76), was that 367 was three shots better than third-place Marina. Only the top two teams advance to the CIF-Southern Section team championships, which also act as a qualifier for the state regional and will take place May 27 at Mission Lakes Country Club.
For the Sunset League champion Griffins, the victory capped a year of steady improvement for a team that featured three freshmen and three juniors a year ago. Sophomore Chris Kim (74), sophomore Tim Ham (75) and senior Clarence DeVera (77) rounded out the team’s top five scorers.
“This year we made huge improvement,” Young said. “It feels awesome to win this.”
Tirado, the Sunset League MVP, shot his best round under tournament conditions.
“I’ve shot better but not in a tournament,” Tirado said. “I didn’t know if we would win this coming in. I thought we’d be close. It feels pretty good it turned out the way it did.”
After an even-par front nine, Tirado got hot on his back nine, firing three birdies to make the difference. In a tournament involving two evenly matched teams that split two dual matches during the regular season, that back nine made the difference in Los Al’s second division championship in six years.
“Everyone picked it up today,” Los Al coach John Haygood said. “This is a really good deal for these boys. They’ve really improved a lot since last year.”
The victory was made sweeter by the fact many of the Griffins had played junior golf with a number of the Bruins.
“We grew up playing golf together,” DeVera said. “That’s why we’re such rivals.”
And so well-prepared.
“Our kids know each other fairly well, and we play them in dual matches,” Haygood said. “Quality competition prepares you pretty well for these kind of tournaments.”
Hunter Epson played a solid round in leading Wilson, including a birdie on his final hole that could have made the difference had Tirado not finished so well.
“I’m not happy they beat us,” Hunter Epson said, smiling, “but I’m happy they made it through. I’m glad we get to keep playing as a team, too.”
For both teams, the dream of doing well at state is still very much alive.
“It feels good to get past this tournament,” Gregor said. “We didn’t make it last year and I really wanted to advance this time.
“We can definitely advance to state, and it’s good to keep that going. We have the individual and team skill to pull it off. We just need a lot of decent rounds on the same day, which we can do.”
Neither Poly nor Lakewood came close to advancing, but each school had a couple of solid rounds from its individuals.
Senior Brooks Venuti shot a 76, Tyler Kedis a 78 and junior Justin Collins a 79 to lead Lakewood, which finished eighth overall at 397. Jericho Betts shot a 1-over 73 and Evan Zytowski a 77 for Poly, which finished 12th at 414.
“Obviously, we would have liked to have won this thing,” Wilson coach Jeff Evans said. “But being able to continue to play is a big deal. It’s good to qualify and keep the season alive.”
Contact the writer: jimthomas@lbregister.com
