The North Augusta boys’ golf team has been waiting all year to check some items off of their to-do list.
The latest came Monday, and with it came some sweet revenge. The Yellow Jackets won the Region 5-AAAA championship at The Aiken Golf Club by 13 shots over South Aiken, continuing a strong stretch of play that gives them more momentum heading into the Lower State qualifier and state championship tournament.
“It’s been a long time coming,” North Augusta head coach Travis Spears said. “This is my fifth year coaching, and we’ve been close. We lost by one shot last year, and we lost Lower State by one shot last year. We’ve been really good, and I knew we had the ability to do it. It was just putting it all together all at one time.”
Those losses last year at region and Lower State were even more bitter because both were against South Aiken, and the Jackets initially thought they were in a playoff with the T-Breds for the region title - but the scores weren’t added correctly, leaving them a shot behind and rendering the playoff moot.
This year they made sure no playoff would be necessary.
The Jackets placed four players on the All-Region team, led by medalist Andrew Baxley with a 71. Davis Neal shot 72, Matthew Baxley shot 73 and Mitchell McNeill had a 77 for a team score of 293.
The All-Region 5-AAAAA Boys' Golf Team includes Zion Sampson (from left,) Richard Anaclerio, Cameron Biddle, Jake Shuford, Davis Neal, medalist Andrew Baxley, Mitchell McNeill, and Matthew Baxley.