Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 9, 1995 TAG: 9511090011
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: E-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Teams that are perennial state powers but never seem to win the championship are ``bridesmaids.''
Until this season, Northside's golf team may have fit that description.
The 1994 season, when the Vikings were upposed to win it all, might have been the biggest letdown. Northside didn't even make it out of the Region III tournament.
This year's team was supposed to be good, but not in a class like the one from last year. Brian Hill and Brian Agee, the top two golfers from 1994, were gone. So what happened? The Vikings not only made the Group AA tournament this year, they won it.
The golf title is the first for the school since the wrestling program that went all the way twice in the 1960s.
With Hill and Agee gone from a year ago, Justin Young, Jason Orlando, Jacob Jarrett and Josh Mattox, Nos. 3-6, returned along with Anthony Romano.
Anthony who?
``I played my freshman year and did well in the district tournament. My sophomore and junior years I slacked off. I got my license,'' said Romano.
This year he came back strong to alternate with Mattox at fourth and fifth spots, giving Northside the depth it needed to be a state champion. The Vikings lost only one match - a nine-hole affair against Jefferson Forest when coach James Wolfe used some of his younger players.
Northside reached its peak during the tournaments. It won the Blue Ridge District by 10 strokes and the Region III title by four strokes over Martinsville. Last year, the Vikings were fourth in the Region III, 24 strokes behind champion Amherst County.
``I don't think we were mentally prepared. We went down there thinking we were the team to beat and we didn't concentrate,'' recalled Young.
It was different for Wolfe. He took over as coach eight years ago when Northside basketball coach Billy Pope gave up the links to spend more time with his family.
Wolfe, an assistant basketball coach, is not used to a team doing badly in the tournament. Northside's basketball team has reached the state final twice and the semifinals on another occasion despite not always having the best material.
``We had our worst day at the regionals. We played very poorly. It was pretty low,'' said Wolfe. ``Going into the year, I knew we'd be pretty good if we caught a few breaks and stayed focused. We didn't have quite the depth we had last year, so we didn't have much room for error to get this far.''
Always, though, the specter of last year loomed over this year's team. ``It was hard to believe all of us played that badly,'' Mattox recalled. ``We went into it with the wrong attitude. When we didn't win or were even second, we were kind of shocked.
``Losing last year helped us this year. We went into the regionals knowing what to expect and how big it was. Last year, we had so much talent, we took it as a given that we'd win. You can't do that.''
To a man, players and coach agree that last year's team was much more talented. Attitude was the difference.
``A lot of people told us before the state this year, `Don't choke and don't hack it up like last year,''' said Jarrett. ``That can hurt. I tried to block it out. It was a matter of winning the mental battle.''
There was always a danger, though, that Northside would go the other way and have too little faith.
``The main thing is that we had to play confident, but not cocky,'' said Wolfe. ``Last year, we got away from that. If you don't play confident, you don't play well. It's a very fine edge for being on your game.''
Of course, no one thinks about how the coach feels. Especially after his team had blown it the year before.
Wolfe is another in the long line of basketball coaches who have been at the helm of the golf program. Before Pope, there was Al Johnson and Jerry English, who were head basketball coaches.
Northside probably should have won a state title in either 1976 or 1977. David Tolley, later the Virginia State Amateur champion who was beaten in the finals of the national, was at Northside but was ineligible one year during this run for having won some gift certificates in a summer tournament.
He is the most famous of Northside's golf alumni that also includes Jason Perdue, Frankie Moore, Sonny Kirkwood and Jake Allison, among others, who have had success in various local and state or regional tournaments.
``I was a nervous wreck [during the tournament],'' said Wolfe. ``The biggest reason was that I couldn't do anything. I couldn't call a timeout or change a defense [like I can in basketball]. If you coach, your team is penalized.''
Many coaches shoot a round of golf while their teams are playing, though that doesn't happen as much in state competition as it does in lower level play.
``You just stand there and hope. You don't really know how the match is going,'' said Wolfe.
Young had more pressure than just a team championship riding on the outcome. He finished second by five strokes behind Mike Gooden of R.E. Lee-Staunton. He had been tied after the first day with Gooden at 72.
Young beat Nottoway's Cameron Yancey in a sudden death playoff for second. ``One thing that helped is I wasn't worried during the playoff, we had won the state [as a team],'' said Young. ``I felt I was on a roll.''
Young recalled the reaction of the team as well as his own after the first day when it was apparent that Northside had a shot at both the individual and team state titles.
``We were excited. We were confident we'd go out the next day and put the scores together to win the state title.''
Which is exactly what the Vikings did to shake off that old cliche.
by CNB