By Brittany Bowyer
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LAVEEN — For the third consecutive year, the Brophy Broncos claimed the Division I Boys Golf State Championship. It was a special moment for Brophy as it marked the program’s 12th title, giving them the most prep golf championships in state history.

“It means everything,” senior Asher Nelson said. “All my best buddies are on this team. All my favorite memories are with this team, so being able to make history with these guys is just a blessing.”

The Broncos shot 22-under-par 554 over the course of the two-day competition, finishing in front of second-place Tucson Catalina Foothills by seven strokes.

“I’m grateful that I get to coach these kids and be a part of the Brophy program,” Coach Jon Shores said. “We’ve got obviously a lot of great players, and a lot of good families that commit to what we’re doing ... I’m thrilled for the kids, thrilled for our school. It’s just a special accomplishment.”

Things were neck and neck going into the second day of competition, with Brophy only leading by one stroke. Shores said his message to the boys was just to be confident in what they’ve done all year to reach that point.

“They had a lot of confidence going into this tournament because we’ve played really well,” Shores said. “We didn’t particularly play our best yesterday, but we obviously put ourselves in the position to be successful today. And I told them to just play free and not be bogged down by the worry of messing up, and they did that today. They just went out and played a really solid round of golf.”

Despite competition being close, the Broncos were able to stay calm to close out day two and work their way out to a big lead.

“What helped us was we played the front end really, really good,” Shores said. “It gave us a cushion on the back and allowed us to play a little more free on the back.”

In the individual competition, Brophy had three golfers finish in the top 10. Senior Jack Langbein, who is committed to GCU, finished in ninth place by shooting a five-under-par 139.

Another senior, Texas A&M commit Evan Tyree, shot eight-under-par 136 to finish in fourth place.

Nelson, an Oklahoma State commit, won the individual competition by shooting a 10-under-par 134 to finish in first place. Nelson edged out the second-place finisher by one stroke to claim gold.

“It feels awesome,” Nelson said. “There’s really nowhere else I’d rather get my first individual win for high school. This is just the best day, it’s awesome.”

Nelson said he feels his putting was definitely the factor that pushed him over the edge to victory.

“I didn’t really miss anything from under eight feet on both days,” Nelson said. “That was definitely my biggest strength.”

He was able to clinch the victory on the 17th hole, but he was unaware of where he stood going into hole 18.

“I didn’t really know it,” Nelson said. “I knew that my one-shot lead wasn’t necessarily going to hold up, so I was fighting until the end.”

Brophy's state championship team also included juniors Hank Miller and Luke Staples, who will be essential to building next year’s team.

Brittany Bowyer is a Report for America corps member, covering sports for Independent Newsmedia in Arizona. Report for America places talented journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and regions.