First-rate performance
Royal golf team caps remarkable season with a second-place finish at state championships
By Stephen Dorman sdorman@theacorn.com

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers PIN SEEKER- Royal High senior Paul Misko hits a drive at Tierra Rejada Golf Club in preparation for Wednesday's CIF State Golf Championships at Poppy Hills. Misko fired a 77 to help guide the Highlanders to a second-place finish behind Edison High.

The most successful season in Royal High boys' golf history came to an end on a windy Wednesday afternoon at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach.

Competing in the State CIF Golf Championships, the Highlanders battled 25 to 35mileper-hour wind gusts to finish in second place behind Edison High. Six teams- three from Southern California and three from Northern California- participated in the tournament.

Led by Paul Misko's 77, five Royal golfers combined for a team score of 400, finishing five strokes behind Edison's 395.

"It was one of the toughest days on the golf course in recent memory," RHS head coach Bob Misko said. "It was windy. It was cold. Poppy Hills is a very, very difficult course to begin with, so all the scores were very high. But we're still happy with the result."

Matt Hoffenberg posted a 78, with Danny Katz and Kyle Holden both shooting 79s. Shane Blanchard chipped in with an 87.

"With the wind whipping down the peninsula, it was brutal out there," Coach Misko said.

Even before qualifying for the state championship, the Highlanders had already exceeded their seasonlong expectations.

Royal won the Marmonte League title, the CIF Northern Team Divisional, was third at the CIF-Southern Section Finals and lost a first-place tiebreaker at the CIF SCGA Southern California tournament. In addition, Katz won the CIF-SS Individual crown.

With the constant travel during the past few weeks, Coach Misko said he was amazed his players could maintain their focus on the links and in the classroom.

"The kids have prom, graduation, finals; there are so many distractions on and off the golf course," he said. "They handled it well."

For Paul Misko, one of three seniors along with Hoffenberg and Matt Minae, being able to share the experience with his father made his final season at RHS one to remember.

"It's not just one of us who was impacted by things; we both were," Paul Misko said. "He's probably been my biggest motivator this year, for sure. It's not every day that a father-son combo gets to coach and play golf together."

Holden, a junior, said the chance to play at some of California's finest golf courses week after week was amazing.

"This was the first time I'd ever done this," Holden said. "Playing all these courses for the first time was a totally new opportunity."

The reason for the team's success, Holden said, was because any golfer could step up on any given day, making the Highlanders far from a one-man show.

"That's what made us so threatening and a dynamic team," Holden said.

Blanchard, whose father Richard won a state and individual championship while attending Thousand Oaks High in 1978, said the sharp shooting of Hoffenberg and Katz served as a motivator all year.

"The more you play with them, the better you get," Blanchard said. "It really helps your game by having them on the team."

With a whole bunch of new hardware to place in the trophy case at RHS, Coach Misko said it was the greatest ride of his 16year coaching career.

"It's like a jockey having a great horse," he said. "You just kind of enjoy the scenery."