BROOKSVILLE – So far for Springstead, the boys golf season has shown great promise. The Eagles had already won more matches than they had all of last season, and added to that total on Thursday.
Taking on Hernando at Brooksville Country Club, Springstead survived a stiff challenge from the host Leopards, pulling out a 199-202 victory.
“Been going really good,” Springstead head coach Tim Etzel said. “We caught a lot of good breaks, especially early on. Now we’ve kind of been slipping a little. I think some of the rainouts kind of got us out of rhythm, too. We started off really good, and we’re looking to close well and then do well in the districts.”
The Eagles, just 4-8 in 2015, are now 7-3 on the year. As expected, brothers Ryan and Brett Maharaj paced the team with two of the three lowest scores of the match. Ryan Maharaj, a sophomore, carded the finest round with a 41 over nine holes.
“It was good. Just my irons were a bit off. Just couldn’t save anything,” Ryan Maharaj said. “The course is not in the best shape. There’s dry spots near the greens. But the greens were rolling, though. So that was good.
“I haven’t played too well. My lowest score is a 40. My highest is a 49. So it’s been in between there.”
The senior Brett Maharaj posted a 47, with junior Bradley Pearce (55) and sophomore Brice Doskoez (56) rounding out the team scoring.
“I think our threes and fours have come through this year. Last year they were shooting in the 60s. Now they’re shooting in the low 50s and sometimes in the high 40s,” Ryan Maharaj said. “I think we can win districts. I think we can beat any team.”
“These two (Maharaj) boys had a lot of weight put on them last year and this year,” Etzel said. “Bradley Pearce has really stepped up his game, too, it’s been great. It’s been one of the highlights of the year. He traditionally shot in the 60s and now he’s always low 50s or so. So it’s really helped us.
“Like a game like today was a perfect example. If he’d had blew up the score, we could have easily lost today.”
Hernando (1-4) had senior Zayne Vasquez atop the lineup shooting a 43. Pierson Miller chipped in a 49, Steven Taylor tallied a 52 and Zack Thompson notched a 58.
“We did pretty good. Came surprisingly closer to these guys than I anticipated. We had some kids that shot pretty decent,” Hernando head coach Rodney Byrd said. “My young kids are coming on. I’ve got four freshmen, one senior, a first-year junior. So we did OK.”
It was a definite improvement for the Leopards from a 187-205 loss to the Eagles on the same course exactly one week earlier.
“I was really happy for Coach Byrd’s kids, cause he was expecting not to do well and they really came through,” Etzel said. “And they’ve got some really good players, like (Vasquez), and they kept it close. So it was fun.”
Follow Chris Bernhardt Jr. on Twitter @cpbernhardtjr.