Fifteen years can be a lifetime in coaching years, but for Coach Sunil Patel every season has had its reward. Golf is a sport that requires patience, good vision, honesty and determination. The Trojans golfers, and their coaches, know that better than anyone else.

Patel with his two co-coaches, Mario Aguiar and Young Park, looked forward to this season. This year the coaches were focused improving the team’s scores, individual’s skills, and individual scores over last year.

Expectations were high with five returning players and three new players. “Hector Mojica has played with me for 3 years and since he started playing he has shown great improvement every year. I am pleased to have Jesus Vasquez on the team, he is tenacious and is eager to prove that he can play with the best. Chris Oseguera, my go to player, has been playing for 3 years, I can call him to fill in as a substitute. Ricardo Ivich is another go to player, he goes to every practice, and is committed to improving his game. Gerardo Flores is a sophomore who has been playing in varsity for 2 years. He is very dedicated, and when he is playing well, he is top 3 in league. Robert Aguayo is a very talented golfer who has great skills and the lowest score (on the team). He’s a freshman and he is one of my top 2 players. Luis Canseco and Austin Schreiber are my freshman who are good too,” said Patel, who feels this is his best team.  

In their first match they finished in 3rd place, which made them work harder. Their second match they were against three schools: Gilroy, Alvarez and North Monterey County and they won by 20 points. “We took first place for the first time ever,” said Patel. “North Monterey County was our biggest rivals because they are at the same level in golfing as us.” But in Park’s opinion, Everett Alvarez are their biggest rivals because they have players that are really good, who used to belong to upper league. “I know we have a bright future because we have a couple of good freshmen players,” said Park

Over the first three matches the team was tied for first for the first time in 15 years, according to Patel. But they finished second in their fourth match, which dropped them into a tie for second with 9.5 total points to North County’s 7.5 points, with two matches to go. “I am very please with the growth our players have shown. We are stilling fighting to get back to 1st,” said Patel.

Mojica, a junior and a returning player, has enjoyed every moment on the golf course. “Our season so far is great because we are in second place. I have improved a lot since last year. I feel more confident when I play now and plan on playing again.” Freshman Robert Aguayo has also enjoyed playing golf this year. “The hardest part of perfecting my swing is that I come over the top to much which means that I slice the ball.” He enjoys hitting drives the most. “I can drive anyone.”

While the success is appreciated, Patel has always known this was an uphill battle. “Golf is not a traditional sport for most our students. But, I am very pleased that we are breaking down stereotypes and proving that we can compete and hold our own,” he said. “They are determined and committed to spend the years needed to become competitive golfers. If this whole team comes back next year we can become better.”  

The hard work the boys put in during the season showed during the matches, but it especially showed when they played at league championship. The team came in first by two points, the best score from Alisal coming from sophomore Jerry Flores, 82, and second place going to Watsonville even though the best score of the day, 76, came from Watsonville’s Max Ramirez. Junior Jesus Vasquez said, “Honestly I wasn’t surprised but I was really happy because North Monterey county was our main competition and we’ve beat them before.” Vasquez claimed a reason to the boys having a good season and winning at league championships was Patel. Patel kept driving around being really supportive, he’d calm them down after a bad shot, and he gave words of encouragement the whole time. Vasquez said, “Mr. Patel is a really good coach he’s stupendous at working with us with our strokes, he said it doesn’t matter how good you are it matters how well you can handle you success and failure in the game of golf and no one’s going to perfect the game so as long as you do your best and are happy with your outcome, you’ll become a great golfer.”

The team had a close win with a score of 500-502 which caused Patel to feel “awesome”. Patel said, “What surprised me the most was basically how well our players were able to handle the pressure, it was a high stakes match we had over 72 players and coaches from other teams and I’m glad they were able to hold up.” Although this was their first championship, Patel doesn’t just see it as a championship for this year’s team but as a championship towards our program ever since the beginning in 2001. Patel thought his team was phenomenal and because they played a lot of players he was proud of that.

Due to their win all coaches voted to move them up in league, where some players have fewer than 60 strokes, but because Alisal feels like they aren’t ready they decided to stay in the Pacific division for another year. Vasquez predicts that if they stay down they can win another championship pretty easily especially considering four of their starters are underclassmen and they still won. “We’re only going to get better, I mean our second best player is only a freshman.”  

Overall Patel’s plan for the future is, “I want my players to improve, better their own scores, I want them to have better personal best records and that’s what life is about, getting up everyday and moving forward just a little more than you did the day before.”