By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

ALEXANDRIA – Riverside’s Brett Lamonte finished 21st and St. Charles’ Lance Perrilloux finished 31st to highlight the region’s local players at the Class 2A boys state golf championship on Monday and Tuesday at Oak Wing golf course..

Episcopal’s Landon Lyons won the individual state title with a two day score of 136 (68, 68). Calvary Baptist won the team crown, led by Hunter Gauntlett’s 145 (73,72).

Lamonte shot 80 on the first day and 87 on the second to finish with a score of 167.

“The course sets up real well for Brett’s game,” said Riverside coach Roy Aubert. “He can set up his drive, right to left. He had a great practice round, and he carried it into his first day. He was second among the individual medalists and ninth overall after that.”

The second day didn’t go as smoothly, Aubert noted.

“He really struggled on the front nine. Everything that could go wrong, did,” Aubert said. “He hit some drives into some fairway bunkers. He went 47 on the front nine, but he regrouped and shot 40 on the back.”

Aubert said that his senior made an impact all season for the Rebel team.

“He was our team leader and captain. Some guys playing with him were amazed at how far he hit the ball,” said Aubert. “He’s got such an easy swing, you don’t even figure it’ll go that far, but it does.”

He was Riverside’s lone competitor, as the senior finished fourth at last week’s regional to medal and qualify.

Perrilloux, meanwhile, shot a 90 on day one and an 84 on day two to finish with a score of 174.

The Comets finished last among the competing teams in an extremely competitive classification, shooting 754.

“I knew we couldn’t compete with the top five,” said SCC coach Gary Zeringue. “I think those teams can compete with any team in any classification. But I thought we’d perform better. I’m disappointed that we didn’t play our usual game. We left a lot of putts out there.”

Matt Autin shot 183 (99, 84), Jesse Coleman shot 190 (100, 90), and Ryan St. Pierre shot 207 (103, 104).

“The positive thing was seeing the competitive nature of the guys,” said Zeringue. “As a team, we shot much better on the second day. Nobody wanted to finish up like we did on that first day. Matt Autin shot one of his worst games, then one of his best a day later. Everyone played much better on day two.”

He said that while he was disappointed, the season can’t be characterized as anything but a success.

“Anytime you make it to state, you’re reaching one of your goals,” said Zeringue. “Especially in Class 2A. Of the last 10 years, we’ve gone as a team six times. Maybe we made our big push at regionals and had nothing left mentally. I don’t know.

“But to me, it’s a successful season. It just ended on a bit of a disappointing note.”