The Prescott Cardinals won their fourth consecutive state championship at University Ridge Golf Course in Madison last Tuesday.

The event offered two days of golf that couldn’t have been more different from one another in almost every way for the Cardinals.

The first day was cold and windy, but Prescott put up good numbers on the front nine where they pulled out to an early 10-stroke lead over the second-ranked team in the state, the Notre Dame Academy Tritons. The back nine was a different story though as Notre Dame turned it on and played almost even with Prescott the rest of the day, only losing one more stroke.

Thus, Prescott entered Day 2 with a comfortable 11-stroke lead, or so they thought.

The round started poorly for Prescott’s golfers as they began on the back nine where they were five strokes worse over that same span than they were the day before. Meanwhile, the Tritons finished seven strokes better, gaining back all 11 strokes and tying it up. So, the two frontrunners went into the back nine in a dead heat.

Then the Tritons took the lead.

On Hole 1 of the back nine, Prescott collectively ran into a wall putting up three bogeys and a double bogey for a score of +5 while Notre Dame went +1 and jumped out to a four-stroke lead. Prescott was able to take a stroke back on Hole 2 before a huge Hole 3 where the Cardinals put up four pars to the Tritons +3, tying it back up with only six holes remaining to determine who would become the 2023 state champions.

Unfortunately, the Cardinals gave it all back and then some on the next hole as they put up a single, double and triple bogey, and Notre Dame jumped back out to a three-stroke lead. This continued stress and drama was for everyone except the players, as none of them knew what the score was. That was probably for the best as Prescott put up a fantastic team effort on Hole 5 and jumped back out to a two-stroke lead, gaining five strokes in one fell swoop.

A masterful performance by Layla Salay and Jeanne Rohl on Hole 6 putting up back-to-back birdies gained Prescott another stroke. The two teams stayed even on Hole 7, but the Tritons gained two strokes back on Hole 8, sending it to a final, one-hole sudden death with Prescott clinging to a one-stroke lead.

Macy Reiter came onto the green first putting for par but ending up with a bogey. Luckily her pairing from Notre Dame did the same. Next was Rohl who did everything right, hitting her spots and putting for par, while her pairing missed her putt and bogeyed, giving Prescott a little more cushion as the number 1’s and 2’s teed off on the final hole.

Salay, Prescott’s number 2 who played a great game of golf all day and led her team in score by four strokes, teed off first. She did her part as well, coming up just short on a birdie putt, but tapping it in for par. That’s when the Cardinals’ fourth consecutive championship got a lot closer, as Salay’s opponent put up a bogey.

Thus, with the championship on the line and a three-stroke lead – all this unbeknownst to her – Prescott’s top golfer Gabbi Matzek teed off.

Her pairing played perfectly, hitting all her spots and getting on the green with a good shot at par. Meanwhile, Matzek got a little off track, landing out in the deep rough and staring up a good sized hill at the final green. A missed shot right here could easily have started a domino effect that ate up Prescott’s entire cushion and put the win in jeopardy.

Matzek did not miss.

A pitch and a putt later and Prescott, their coaches and all the fans that turned out erupted as one. They had done it again.

A bystander was heard to say, “Why do you guys always have to make it so close!” referencing last year when the teams were tied after the second round of golf, and they had to go to a one-hole playoff, which Prescott won behind two excellent performances by Matzek and Rohl.

An interesting wrinkle to all of this is that Notre Dame’s number one player was actually playing against Rohl on Tuesday, Prescott’s number three.

“I'm not sure why they did that. Maybe she plays better or feels less pressure or something. I'm not sure, but she was lights out today. I mean, just sinking putts,” Rohl said. “My coach told me like, she's the one, so just keep that in your mind. So, I was like, okay, well, this is the one, so this is what we have to beat. I knew my one and two were behind me, and I knew like they had my back.”

Junior Lydia Feran didn’t even expect to make the cut, so to be at state competing and winning a championship is a dream come true.

“I did better than I thought. I didn’t even think I was going to play at state or be on varsity, really. I was hoping for the sixth spot that I had all the way through the conference season, but then I got the five spot,” Feran said. “We have playoffs and your scoring averages are what determines who makes it on the postseason roster. It's hard to compete against your own teammates, but we know that we all want the best for each other, and we want the best for our team.”

Freshman Layla Salay recognizes the value of the experience that this kind of tournament has given her.

“I was so nervous coming into the last hole. Hopefully next year, or on the next one, I'm a little less nervous, but I think the adrenaline helped,” Salay said. “I think I played really good today. I had a rough Hole 8, so I think that's what happened on Hole 9, like it kind of got in my head. After that, I got myself together. I need to work on that a little bit, but I definitely did better than yesterday. Yesterday when that happened, it affected a lot more than one hole, but it only affected one today, which was a lot better.”

Chad Salay, head coach of the Cardinals, knows how big of a win this was for his team.

“Notre Dame gave us everything they had and took us all the way to the finish. They're a senior-laden team, and we're young, so I didn't know how we were going to react to that when we were down at the turn,” Salay said. “I mean, we had nine holes to play in a state tournament for the state championship against a veteran team, so I'm just proud of them for coming through and being able to handle that pressure and perform.”

Prescott’s number one, Matzek, says not looking at the scoreboard was a good thing for her, particularly going into Hole 18.

“I thought we were ahead by more, so not knowing definitely helped me. Especially because my first putt hit off the inside of my putter, flared left and only went halfway there,” Matzek said. “This is awesome. What we just did after losing three starters from last year…it's just awesome.”

Congratulations Cardinals, you’ve earned every bit of your success.