WINONA LAKE \u2013 No team from northeast Indiana has won the IHSAA boys state golf championship since Warsaw in 2005 and no team from Fort Wayne has hoisted the trophy since Northrop did so in 1984.<\/p>\n
This week, Homestead has arguably the best opportunity to end those droughts since they began.<\/p>\n
The Spartans are familiar with the state finals stage, having finished second to Westfield last season for the first top-2 showing from an area group since those \u201805 Tigers. They return three players from that team, all of whom placed in the top 40 in the 2025 state finals at Prairie View Golf Club, and are hungry to take the final step of their climb into the ranks of the state\u2019s elite programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no surprises out there,\u201d Homestead coach Mickey Mazock said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been in this before, they know what the environment is going to be. These kids know what that course is.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat it will take for us to get over the top and win the whole thing is we need to hit good golf shots, be in the right spot, be smart, put ourselves below the hole, all that stuff. It\u2019s just golf and execute the plan, that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Homestead, ranked second in the final coaches poll in late May, has prepared for its chance at the trophy with a strong postseason that began with a scintillating 278 at the Canterbury Sectional at Chestnut Hills, the fourth-lowest sectional score in IHSAA history.<\/p>\n
Holden Orofino and Caden Baker each shot 4-under 68 in that tournament to finish in a tie for second and then Orofino won individual medalist honors at the Warsaw Regional at Stonehenge with a 3-under 68 that was three strokes clear of anyone else in the field.<\/p>\n
As a team, the Spartans finished second at the regional, one shot back of champion Plymouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s another chance at the championship,\u201d Orofino said of Homestead qualifying for the state finals for the fourth year in a row. \u201c(The regional) was definitely the hardest part of the year and getting out with probably seven schools in contention was very helpful.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat gives us some confidence. We didn\u2019t play our best and we still were right there. If we put some stuff together, we can get it done (this week).\u201d<\/p>\n
Orofino, who will play for Marquette in the fall, is Homestead\u2019s top returning finisher from last year\u2019s state finals, when he shot 75-76 to finish 7 over and notched a tie for 28th.<\/p>\n
Junior Landon Snyder, who is committed to play for Indiana, finished tied for 31st at the state finals in 2025 and sixth among all freshmen and sophomores at 8 over. Baker, who will play for Purdue Fort Wayne next season, was tied for 39th at 11 over.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a strong foundation and it helps that the Spartans now have a better idea of how to attack Prairie View, the 7,073-yard, par-72 pride of Carmel.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to play pretty conservative,\u201d Orofino said. \u201cThere are a couple holes you can attack, but you have to have that par mentality and if just don\u2019t make the big number you\u2019re going to sit pretty well.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, we were probably 8 under as a team on the front nine both days and we ended up shooting (22 over) because the back nine really got us. If we can just play a little more conservative, I think we\u2019ll figure it out and eliminate the big numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Spartans will have plenty of competition at the top, most notably from Westfield, which also brings back three players from last year\u2019s state championship team, was ranked No. 1 in the final coaches poll, and has finished in the top two four years in a row.<\/p>\n
Also in the mix is likely to be No. 4 Guerin Catholic, which bested Westfield to win sectional and regional championships and is looking to reach the summit again after winning consecutive titles in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n
Out of northeast Indiana, the Spartans are joined by Warsaw, which finished one stroke behind Homestead at Stonehenge to qualify for the finals for the 25th time and fourth since 2019. Tigers standout Breckin Christner is back at Prairie View after finishing tied for 18th at 8 over as a sophomore in 2024.<\/p>\n
Qualifying as an individual for the state tournament was Leo\u2019s Caden Matthias, the Northeast 8 conference champion and the medalist at the East Noble Sectional at Noble Hawk with a 3-under 68.<\/p>\n
Matthias shot a 2-over 73 at Stonehenge to finish third in the individual standings and secure his fourth straight trip to the state finals. He is one of fewer than 10 players in the senior class that have been to Prairie View in each season of their careers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just love the competition there,\u201d said Matthias, a future University of Indianapolis golfer. \u201cIt\u2019s the best players in Indiana so it\u2019s just great to play such a beautiful course.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew I wanted to get to state one last time. I know it\u2019s going to be a little sad just being the last tournament, but I\u2019m just going to take it all in, enjoy this whole next week and enjoy the end of high school golf.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WINONA LAKE \u2013 No team from northeast Indiana has won the IHSAA boys state golf championship since Warsaw…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8761,7011,7330,8440,1529,8439,8762,8441,8437,8444,45],"class_list":["post-12028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-warsaw","tag-caden-baker","tag-caden-matthias","tag-golf","tag-holden-orofino","tag-homestead","tag-ihsaa","tag-landon-snyder","tag-mickey-mazock","tag-spartans","tag-tigers","tag-warsaw"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}