Much like during its first local competition, the Sedona Red Rock High School golf team battled windy conditions, but this time took first place during a four-team, nine-hole match at Oakcreek Country Club on Thursday, March 22.

As a team, the Scorpions finished at a 59-over 213, beating second place River Valley High School by nearly 50 strokes. The win came over three Arizona Interscholastic Association Division III, Section V opponents in River Valley, Camp Verde High School and Bagdad High School.

“The wind was definitely a factor for us. In some instances it was a two-club difference, and some of the kids didn’t take that into consideration as well as they should’ve,” Red Rock coach Mike Webster said. “A continuing theme for us is our short game let us down, even though we’re consistently practicing it.”

River Valley finished at +105, Camp Verde was +115 and Bagdad +132.

Scorpions freshman Gavin Bruce shot a 12-over 48, including one par and six single bogeys, to take first overall. Senior teammate Justin Travaglia came in just behind Bruce with a 13-over 49. Travaglia also had just one par along with four single bogeys.

Webster said at a practice round during the weekend prior to the match, on the same nine holes, Bruce shot between a two- and four-over. A lack of experience playing in the windy conditions was a factor — even for an experienced player like Travaglia, it proved to be about a seven to eight shot difference.

Senior Cole Mace, playing as the No. 4, tied for third overall [16-over +52] while 12th-grader Justin Wassell, the No. 3, placed fourth [18-over +54]. Wassell did score more par holes than any other Scorpion with two, on the sixth and eighth holes. Senior Charlie Parrella was the No. 5 golfer, carding a 33-over 69.

It was Red Rock’s third match of the season. It sits in third place in Section V, behind Northland Preparatory Academy and Kingman Academy High School, which have each played one more match.

With the departure of junior Ryan Farmer, who returned to the baseball team, and his brother Seth, a senior, who is not playing, the Scorpions are short on experience. Travaglia is the only member of the Scorpions’ top five who played on last year’s team that took third at last season’s state tournament.

“I’m going to say we’re probably not going to go to the state tournament as a team this year,” Webster said. “But we should have Gavin and Julian place individually.”

While the overall level of the team has gone down, so too has the competition’s. As of Monday, March 26, on the iWanamaker website, which creates every team’s score and ranking, the Scorpions sit in 28th overall in Division III, but Northland Prep [24] and Kingman Academy [26] are not much further ahead.

“I think we’re 7-1 so far, so I look forward to our match [Tuesday, March 27] at Seven Canyons, then the Kingman Invite,” Webster said. “It’s going to be challenging for us because the No. 5/6 player can’t go. Now we’re taking our seventh player and putting him in sixth and moving our six to fifth. Quite frankly we’re going to struggle — it’s the first time a lot of these players have been to an invite like this, where they play 18 holes both days. It should be interesting.”

On the AIA website, the Scorpions are 14th, but in order to qualify for the state tournament, the team needs to either win the section or grab one of the eight at-large bids. The at-large bids are given out based on a calculation through iWanamaker, to which results are submitted and team rankings are formulated. The last time the Scorpions did not qualify for the state tournament was 2013.

Red Rock faced off head-to-head with Northland Prep on Tuesday, March 27, at Seven Canyons, but results were unavailable at press time. Heading into the match, it was 1-1 against the Spartans on the year, beating them at Oakcreek on March 6 after losing in the season opener on March 1. It next plays at the Kingman Invite at Cerbat Cliffs Golf Course on Friday and Saturday, March 20 and 21.