First-Ever Sac-Joaquin Section Championship, GEL Title Highlight Dixon Golf Team's Season

It’s been an exceptional season for the Golf Team. Not only did they win the Golden Empire League Championship for the third time in four years, but shot their way to a first-ever Sac-Joaquin Section Title.

“It’s a huge deal to win a Section Championship,” said DHS Coach Matthew Haines, who along with David Dwyer coaches the team. “Everything that we put together, it’s pretty neat to see this happen. Winning by one stroke, it’s pretty crazy.”

At the Division 5 Section Championship, Dixon traveled to Greenhorn Creek Golf Course in Angels Camp on May 7 and squared off against 19, Division 5 Schools, in the Golden Empire, Mother Load and Trans Valley leagues. The Sac-Joaquin Section stretches from Sacramento down beyond Stockton and into the foothills.

Rams golfers won the tournament by one stroke, beating out Ripon High School (based in Ripon) for the title, 447-448.

Dixon’s Team Captain Garrett Beal – who has been on the teams that won Dixon’s two GEL Championships, and one CVC Championship within the past four years – shot lowest overall with an 85 during the section championship.

“I think we did pretty good as a team,” said Beal, 18, a senior at DHS. “It was more of like a team effort, more consistent. When one guy doesn’t shoot good, the 5^th player can help them out.”

By winning the Section Title, Dixon qualified for the Master's Tournament, in which they were thrown in the mix with schools from all the divisions within the section Coach Haines said.

Dixon had never-before qualified as a team to participate in the Master's Tournament, which is a qualifier for the Nor Cal Tournament and subsequent State Championships, Haines said.

“We have only had two individuals in the past 20 years qualify for the Master's round,” Haines said. “Tim Tipton in 1994, and Garrett Rasmussen last year. We lost the top two scorers from last year, so we weren’t expecting this level of success.”

Dixon did not get past the Master's Tournament, but did have a highlight.

“The highlight for DHS at the Master’s Tournament was sophomore Tyler Fullerton’s round,” Haines said. “He shot a 75 for 18 in this very competitive tournament. The lowest score on the day was a 65. That is pro status. There were a couple of 65’s and 67’s, and amazing day of golf for sure.”

For Fullerton, who only joined the Golf Team this year after friends urged him to play, playing golf for Dixon has awakened him to the possibility of switching sports from baseball to golf.

“It was a lot of fun, I liked it more than baseball because baseball was a lot of the same thing every day,” he said.

“The Master’s Tournament consists of the top Division 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 schools,” Haines said. “It is heavily represented by six Division 1 and six Division 2 schools. It is quite difficult to move on past this round for a small school such as ours.”

Aside from winning its first-ever Sac-Joaquin Section Title and playing in the Master’s Tournament, Dixon won the Golden Empire League Championship Title, and earned four out of the five possible seven all-league honors and Darren Freitas was awarded league MVP.

“He is only our second league MVP in the past 20 years,” Haines said.

Asked about his game this season, Freitas said, “It was cool, considering that it was 20 years when we last got (League MVP).”

Most of the six-member Golf Team said their game has improved this year.

For sophomore Andrew Cauchi, 16, the season started out a bit slow, he said.

“Toward the middle, I started to do better,” he said. “I got lessons from this guy.  In the off-season I’m going practice. I’m going to guarantee a GEL Championship again.”

“I think that my game has definitely improved this year, I scored better this year,” said Blake Sanders, 17, a junior at DHS. “My highlight was a hole-in-one in one of the practices.”

“I felt it went pretty good,” said 15-year-old Seth Clay. “I shot pretty low in all the tournaments. I practice at least two times a week.”

Clay played during the May 7 Divisional Tournament with an injured knee. While playing golf at a Vallejo golf course, Clay was involved in a golf car accident that left his knee badly bruised. The golf cart that he was riding in went up a hill, rolled over and landed on his knee.

An injured Clay however, toughed it out during the Division 5 Championship tournament and shot an 88.

A key skill to improve your game Team Captain Beal said was to overcome the mental challenge that comes with the sport. Beal was awarded all-league honors this year.

“If you hit a bad shot, you have to be able to be able to forget about it,” he said.

Since Dixon has no golf course, another challenge for the players is driving to Davis’ Wildhorse Golf Club to get some practice in.

The Dixon Golf Team is a humble group of players who hope to repeat the success of their 2012 season.

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