EVERGREEN — All Silver Creek golf coach Mike Maydew could do was shake his head.
He knew the golf gods weren’t on his or his Raptors’ side on Tuesday at the Class 4A state championships at Hiwan Country Club.
After opening a five-shot lead in the team race over Valor Christian on Monday, Silver Creek was humbled by Hiwan and its unforgiving greens on Tuesday and ended up finishing second to the Eagles by a mere three shots.
“As it has always been with this group of guys, it’s always been about the team,” Maydew said. “They are not really worried about themselves, they are more worried about letting their teammates down.
“You can see the emotion in them.”
First round leader Andrew Rademacher-Howe was cruising along early in his second round, and after a birdie on the par-5 second hole, he was three shots clear of his playing partners Isaac Petersilie of Coronado and Glenn Workman of Pueblo West.
Even after a four-putt double bogey on the fifth, Rademacher-Howe was still in the lead and should have turned for home with the lead, but the flat stick let him down on No. 9. His second four-putt of the round, this one from inside 10 feet, resulted in a triple bogey and his one shot lead turned into a two shot deficit.
“It’s hard to overcome that when it gets in your head, especially on the greens,” said Maydew of the aspect of the golf course that plagued his whole team. “I talked to Andrew after 15 and told him where we were and he hung in there and played strong the rest of the way. I’m really proud of him for finishing strong.”
Freshman Jackson Solem backed up his opening round 76 with a 78 and finished tied for ninth. The Raptors No. 1, Todd Millard, bounced back from what was for him a disastrous opening-round 80 with a stellar 75 to finish tied for 11th.
“I hit the ball not as well as I usually do and to past 75 with how I hit it was really good, I got a lot out of my round today,” Millard said. “I just hung in there and I grinded every shot, I made every shot count.”
Silver Creek’s Dalton Haase who opened with a 78 on Monday couldn’t find the same magic on Tuesday and finished with a 98.
The Raptors lose three seniors, but Maydew is hopeful that his team will be right back in the mix in 2014.
“We might have a little bit of a rebuilding year next year, but we do have Jackson back,” he said. “We’ll see how hard the JV kids work and we’ll see where we will be.”
Valor Christian, lead by top-10 performances from Jake Staiano, Ross MacDonald and Josh Seiple, finished with a two-day score of 253. Silver Creek was second at 456 and Cheyenne Mountain was third at 463.
The medallist honors went to Petersilie. The Coronado sophomore dueled with Workman and Cheyenne Mountain’s Wilson Belk down the stretch and after Belk bogeyed the 17th in the second to last group, Petersilie knew all he had to do was make par on the last to win by a shot. He two-putted from 25 feet and secured the first-ever state title for the Colorado Springs school.
Elsewhere from BoCoPreps.com-area teams, Niwot’s Luke Toillion carded a second round 78 and his two-day total of 158 was good enough for a top-15 finish. His Cougars teammate Forrest Weaver finished with a two-day total of 178, while Erie’s Harrison Wagnaar edged into the top 50 with a 172.
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Class 4A state tournament
At Hiwan C.C., par 70-70 — 140
Team scores — Valor Christian 228-225 — 453, Silver Creek 223-233 — 456; Cheyenne Mountain 230-233 — 463, Coronado 234-239 — 473, Durango 239-235 — 474, Pueblo South 241-236 — 477; D’Evelyn 243-235 — 478, Evergreen 249-242 — 491, Steamboat Springs 251-247 — 498, Windsor 258-246 — 504, Thompson Valley 260-261 — 521, Ponderosa 274-268 — 542.
Top 10 individuals — 1. Isaac Petersilie, Coronado, 144; 2. Wilson Belk, Cheyenne Mountain, 145; 3. Glenn Workman, Pueblo West, 147; 4. Jake Staiano, Valor Christian, 148; T5. Andrew Rademacher-Howe, Silver Creek, 149; T5. Jakob Rudosky, Montezuma-Cortez, 149; 7. Ross MacDonald, Valor Christian 152; 8. Trevor Bogus, Durango, 153; T9. Jackson Solem, Silver Creek, 154; T9. Josh Seiple, Valor Christian, 154.
Other Silver Creek results — Todd Millard 155; Dalton Haase 176.
Broomfield results — Alex Gorman 161; Bridger Ryan 168.
Erie result — Harrison Wagnaar 172.
Skyline result — Adam Reigle 188.
Niwot results — Luke Toillion 158; Forrest Weaver 178.
Centaurus result — Nick Inslee 192.
