GOSHEN - After losing to rival Wawasee by one stroke in regular season Northern Lakes Conference play, Warsaw's varsity boys golf team did what it needed to do Saturday to come away with a share of the NLC championship.

The Tigers, behind a record-setting performance from senior Jake Brodhead, shot 292 as a team and won Saturday's NLC Match at Maplecrest Country Club in Goshen.

The Warriors, who went through the regular season undefeated, shot 297 to finish second and share the NLC championship with Warsaw.

"It feels good," said third-year Warsaw coach Ben Barkey of beating Wawasee this time around. "I know the boys didn't like losing to them by one stroke. This was a little redemption. The guys can feel good about this. They did what they had to do today."

Following Warsaw and Wawasee in the eight-team field were Concord (302), Goshen (306), Northridge (309), NorthWood (315), Plymouth (321) and Elkhart Memorial (341).

Leading the way for the 10th-ranked Tigers was Brodhead, who will play Division I golf for Troy State.

As the match played out, Brodhead's play became more and more a topic of conversation among those in attendance.

The talented senior garnered medalist honors by shooting a 7-under score of 64. His sparkling 18-hole round tied the ameteur record at the course and was just two strokes off the professional record at Maplecrest.

Brodhead shot a 1-under score of 34 on the front nine and shot a 6-under score of 30 on the back nine.

"I knew it was only a matter of time before he had a really great round," Barkey said of Brodhead. "He's a really good player and has a really good short game. I knew it was only a matter of time before he'd start believing how good of a player he really is."

Brodhead's round of 64 set a new school record for WCHS, breaking his brother Ben Brodhead's record of 67 at Stonehenge last year. His score of 30 on the back nine also broke his brother's score 9-hole score of 32 at Stonehenge.

"I knew I was hitting the ball good," said Brodhead. "I missed a couple short putts, but I thought I played pretty good overall."

Brodhead said he missed short putts on holes 4, 7 and 12.

It didn't turn out to matter, he was clearly the class of the field.

Goshen's Chase King turned in the second-best individual score of the day, carding a 71.

Other scores for Warsaw included Grant Slater's 73, Chris Hanson's 76, Jon Clevenger's 79 and Tad Nieter's 81.

Slater, a sophomore, shot 38 on the front nine and 35 on the back nine.

"He was struggling a couple weeks ago," Barkey said of Slater. "Now he's playing solid. I was proud of all the guys today, they did what they had to do to get at least a share of the NLC championship. The guys wanted to win it outright, but they did what they had to do."

After the first nine holes, Wawasee led Warsaw by three strokes, shooting a 148.

For Wawasee, freshman Jordan Dawes and junior Andy Wolf shot 72, while seniors Darrin Cripe and Tyler Rondeau shot 75 and 78, respectively. Junior Andy Custer, who was assessed a two-stroke penalty for breaking his driver, shot an 83.

The Tigers are in action again Wednesday when they host Bishop Luers and Bishop Dwenger. Wawasee hosts Columbia City Tuesday.

NLC GOLF MATCH

Team scores - Warsaw 292, Wawasee 297, Concord 302, Goshen 306, Northridge 309, NorthWood 315, Plymouth 321, Elkhart Memorial 341

Warsaw scores - Jake Brodhead (medalist) 64, Chris Hanson 76, Jon Clevenger 79, Grant Slater 73, Tad Nieter 81

Wawasee scores - Darrin Cripe 75, Andy Custer 83, Jordan Dawes 72, Tyler Rondeau 78, Andy Wolf 72 [[In-content Ad]]