The myth that seniority equals talent has been shattered– at least on the golf team. Regular season golf favorites Spotswood were deposed by a youthful Harrisonburg force led by the freshman duo of Kyle Templeton and Matthew Shifflett.

Over the course of six tournaments, scores are tallied from each of the district schools, taking the four lowest scores from each school.

“The fourth tournament was the one when we pulled ahead,” Shifflett said. “Before that it was pretty close.”

In the fourth tournament Templeton shot his 69 and Shifflet shot a 74.

“It’s a little weird to lead the team as a freshman but all the practices are really fun and I’m having a good time with the team,” Shiflett said.

Both Shifflett and Templeton are relative rookies. “I started playing when I was eight but I stopped for a while and I’ve just gotten back into it about a year and a half ago,” Templeton said.

“The first time I’d played was two years ago,” Shifflett said. “And I was terrible at first, it’s practicing that made me and Kyle good. We practice a lot outside of school practice.”

Shifflett estimates that he practices 15 or more hours a week.

Templeton holds the district season low score at 69, with all his scores below 80 giving him the number position on the team followed by friend and teammate Shifflett.

“We were basically expecting to win from the beginning even though Spotswood were the favorites,” Shifflett said.

After the district Championship tournament, the team is looking ahead to the Regional tournament on September 21.