Lake Oconee Academy is a golf factory.
Recently, the Titans won their second straight GHSA Class A-Public state championship.
Also, senior Rylan Black, who is signed to play golf collegiately at Kennesaw State next year, won his second consecutive low-medalist trophy.
Lake Oconee Academy defeated second-place finisher Drew Charter by 51 strokes.
Black told the Lake Oconee News that the past few seasons have been fun while playing at such a high level.
“We had six great guys this year, and all of them were competitive,” Black said. “The order got flopped around all season but everybody contributed. It was a good season.”
Black shot a tournament-low score of 148 at the state championship. Colby Bennett (151), Drew Williams (152) and Rhett Smith (153) were close behind. Also, Halsey Bosart, Maddox Cantrell and Tyler Urrutia added to the Titans’ total of 604.
Black said that every one of his teammates wanted to ‘oneup’ each other on the course this season, which really helped the team compete down the stretch.
“We had our No. 3 and No. 4 guys place higher than our No. 1 and No. 2 guys at times throughout this season,” Black said. “That mentality drove us to the top.”
Bennett, who placed first at the region tournament, said the grind this season was ‘tough’.
“We put a lot of hard work in and it paid off in the end,” Bennett said. “It showed for us at the state tournament this year and got us to be back-to-back champs.”
He said he hopes that LOA can pick up where it left off in 2023.
“I’d like a 3-peat,” Bennett added.
In terms of leadership, losing Black is a huge loss for the Titans. However, Bennett believes he can fill that void heading into next season.
“Rylan’s been a great leader,” Bennett said. “I’m hoping to follow in his footsteps and be a team leader as a rising senior. So, I am looking forward to that.”
Bennett’s message to his younger teammates is to ‘never get discouraged.’
“We have a great core group of guys,” he said. “Next year, we just have to keep fighting.”