Bradley Tate usually trusts his gut feelings.
But after two days of competition at Diamondhead’s Cardinal Course, Tate just might want to re-assess how much faith he puts into his intestinal instincts because the Caledonia High School boys golf team proved them to be a little off.
Buoyed by a second-place finish by Hunter Logan, Caledonia dethroned reigning champion St. Stanislaus on its home course Thursday to win the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 4A State Championship.
Logan shot rounds of 82 and 76 Wednesday and Thursday to lead the Confederates with a total of 158. Dylan Darling (83-90–173), Eli Hemphill (87-93–180), Eli Taylor (85-89–174), and Parker Humber (92-87–179) rounded out Caledonia’s scorers to help the program win its first title in Tate’s 10 seasons as its coach.
“I guess I need to not trust my gut feeling,” Tate said. “Golf is crazy.”
The veteran coach never would have thought Caledonia’s 337 on the first day of competition would have put it in the lead. He also didn’t have a good feeling about his team’s round Thursday as it tried to hold on to its lead against St. Stanislaus, East Central, and Pontotoc.
But Tate said Logan, who was playing out of the No. 4 position in the lineup, gave the team a sense of confidence when word spread that he was beating his St. Stanislaus playing partner by 19 strokes. Tate said all of the Confederates started to play better once they heard their teammate had such a big lead. The boost enabled Caledonia to have an edge against the windy conditions and a challenging course.
“I think the kids were just as shocked as I was (Wednesday) and (Thursday), too,” Tate said. “Some of my players figured based on the score they shooting there was no way we going to hold on to the lead we had. We didn’t factor in the other teams and how they were playing.”
Caledonia’s 337 gave it a 13-stroke lead against St. Stanislaus, the 2014 and 2015 champion, after the first day. The Rockachaws matched the Confederates’ 337 on the second day, but they still were eight strokes shy of the lead. After a second-place finish last season, Tate said the victory was even more satisfying because it came on the road.
“I was very, very pleased,” Tate said. “This is my 10th year as golf coach and we have come in sixth a bunch, we have come in fifth, we have come in second, and this is the first time we have won. I am tickled to death. I was really in shock the first couple of minutes because I didn’t think we would win it.”
Tate was cautiously optimistic last week when he talked about the team’s chances of winning a state title. He believed the Confederates had the ability to do it, but he didn’t want the players to be overconfident. Despite the challenges of the course, Tate said the team had fun and played well enough — even if his gut tried to tell him otherwise — to win a title.
“When they made the turn going from 9 to 10 on the back side, I got them before they teed off and told them to start aiming for the big part of the green and quit going for the pin and try to get par,” Tate said. “If you go for par, some birdies will fall. If you’re trying for birdie, you’re playing too risky and you’re setting yourself up for destruction. Our scores on the back side were lower. Everybody played better on the back.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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