South River senior Josh Eure watches his drive off the first tee in Thursday's final round of the state golf championship. Eure shot a final-round 71 for a two-day 147 to win the boys individual championship by five strokes.
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By Andy States
Content Manager, DigitalSports.com

Josh Eure was on a mission.

The South River senior already had a state golf championship to his credit, coming in his sophomore season two years ago. But as he took to Potomac Ridge Golf Course on Thursday morning, Eure was determined to end his high school career on top.

Eure, who entered Thursday's final round of the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association golf tournament one stroke behind La Plata's Jay Dove, shot a blistering two-under 71 in Thursday's final round to win his second state championship by five strokes.

"I was pretty comfortable because I know one stroke can be made up pretty easily, can be made up in one hole," Eure said. "I just knew that if I stayed focused and played my game I'd be all right."

Eure, who will golf for the University of Arkansas, was steady throughout the final round to produce his winning two-round total of 147. Both Dove and Parkside's Will Wiseman pushed Eure at times, but were unable to remain close down the stretch and finished five and six strokes behind, respectively, as Eure made a return appearance to the winner's circle.

Another familiar name returning to the top of the state's golf heap was Winston Churchill. The Bulldogs, state champions five straight seasons from 2002-06, climbed back on top of the 4A/3A crowd with an aggregate 662 to win the 4A/3A team championship by 12 strokes over North Harford.

While Churchill certainly has been accustomed to taking home the state-championship hardware, this year's title was not exactly expected. The Bulldogs were not even the dominant team in their own county this year, as that honor belonged to Wootton High.

"Our goal was to improve each week and each week we improved and got closer and closer to our county's best at the time, Wootton," Churchill coach Michael Fisher said. "They still have a strong team, but we just kept getting better and better and our goal this week was to play our best golf."

Churchill had just one player, senior Gary Raizon, finish in the individual top 10. But the Bulldogs overall consistency was something the rest of the field just could not match, as the squad marched to the program's sixth 4A/3A title in the past seven years.

"It feels good," said Raizon, who finished sixth with a two-day 156. "Last year we were the favorite and Whitman took it from us, so it felt good to take it from Wootton this year."

While Eure and Churchill provided a carbon copy of the champions list from the 2006 tournament, the North Point Eagles and Smithsburg's Haeun Lee prevented this year's tournament from being an exact duplicate. Lee entered Thursday's round three strokes behind Arundel's Lauren Smith, who won the girls championship two years ago. Lee denied Smith a second championship, however, by firing a final-round 75 for a two-day 156 and a four-stroke victory over Smith. There was not nearly as much drama in the 2A/1A team race.

North Point ended the first day of the tournament with an 18-stroke lead over Glenelg, which was the 2006 2A/1A champion. The Eagles, in just the fourth year in school history, came back with a combined 329 on Thursday for a tournament-best total of 659. The Eagles comfortably won their first state championship by 36 strokes over runner-up Glenelg.

With the tournament venue Potomac Ridge, the Eagles had a certain advantage before the first ball was struck. The surroundings and general routine was no different for North Point than it had been all season, as Potomac Ridge is the course the Eagles call home.

"It's a big advantage to have it at your home course," junior Michael Barnas said. "I know we've all played here a lot. We all knew the greens and everything. I know everyone else was real surprised when they were this fast, but we know they can get this fast."

"The good thing about this is it shows that we can compete, even when we get pushed to the 3A/4A next year," said North Point coach Tony Jones, referring to the fact that his team's winning score was three strokes lower than that of the 4A/3A champ. "We're still going to be able to compete at that level, too."

The championship was not just the first for the Eagles' golf program, but the first for Jones, who has had several near misses in a long career coaching softball. 

"It means a lot to me. This is my first state championship in any event, so for me this is large," he said. "I've been close in softball a couple, three times, but finally I got one. It's exciting to do this. We won it all. We won SMAC, districts, state, all of it. It's nice to finish out with a good number and for them to finally get a state trophy."

One state championship under their collective belt, the Eagles have reason to remain optimistic about the future, too, regardless of reclassification. Of the starters on North Point's team this year, not one was a senior. But even so, the goal was never to shoot for a state championship next year when the team was experienced. The Eagles, who missed the cut a year ago in their first state appearance, wanted it all now.

"I'm not going to lie, we got here last year and didn't get to the second day," Jones said. "This year our goal was to get to that second day and make a good hard run at it. We knew we were going up next year and you never know if you're going to this kind of opportunity again.

"They set their goals high and their hard work paid off."

4A/3A team scores: Churchill 662, North Harford 674, North Carroll 680, La Plata 681, South River 683
2A/1A team scores: North Point 659, Glenelg 695, Easton 715

Boys
1. Josh Eure (South River) 147
2.  Jay Dove (La Plata) 152
T-3. Will Wiseman (Parkside) 153
T-3. Ryan Triller (North Harford) 153
5. Matthew Philie (Glenelg) 155
6. Gary Raizon (Churchill) 156
7. Evan Hughes (Quince Orchard) 157
T-8. Andrew Stine (Wooton) 158
T-8. Chris Bushey (Smithsburg) 158
10. Spencer Bowling (La Plata) 159

Girls
1. Haeun Lee (Smithsburg) 156
2. Lauren Smith (Arundel) 160
3. Diana Brown (Churchill) 163
4. Mckenzie Cutter (North Point) 166
5. Nicole West (C.H. Flowers) 167