On Saturday, Oct. 11, the New Trier High School Boy’s Golf team won against the other eight schools that qualified for the second day of the state tournament, bringing home its third state championship in the last four years. The win came down to a fifth player tiebreak between the Trevs and Evanston Township High School after both teams shot a 589 through the weekend at the Den at Fox Creek in Bloomington, Illinois.

Two of the Trevs earned medals: junior Liam Kelly and sophomore Jack Gill, who earned third and eighth place, respectively.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” head coach Pete Drevline said. “Waking up Sunday morning, [and] knowing you’re a state champion is a feeling you cannot take away.”

The Trevs came into the tournament with a chip on their shoulder after losing the previous year by a single stroke to ETHS and Hinsdale Central High School. 

“Last year was a wake up call and this year was more of a revenge tour,” senior captain Elias Weidemanis said. “We were trying to get back what we lost last year. We knew what we had to do, and we knew that we had the skill to do it; it was just a matter of bringing it to the course.”

After the first day of the tournament, the Trevs were sitting in second place and needed to make up five strokes in order to take first place from the Wildkits. 

That they did, coming out Saturday morning firing. Weidemanis birdied his first three holes and the teams were knotted in first place. Scores bounced around into the afternoon until Wildkit sophomore Lester Low missed a birdie putt on the final hole, giving the Trevs the victory. 

“After such a long day on the course, you don’t really think about winning,” Kelly said. “You just think about staying in the moment. But once Lester missed this putt, we all just started hugging and celebrating, even Drev was crying. It meant everything to us.”

After a long season, Weidemanis was in disbelief at the moment.

“After that whole year of work paid off…we got that revenge,” Weidemanis said.

This year meant more than a title for the Trevs. It was Drevline’s last year as head coach, and the team wanted him to go out with a bang.

“You could just feel it from everyone on the team how much Drev cared about us,” Kelly said. “That morning before the final round, after his pregame speech on that bus, there was no way we weren’t going to win. He really showed all of his heart and we wanted to make sure we sent him off with the one.”

With Drevline’s retirement and the team losing three senior golfers out of the starting lineup, the team’s future is uncertain. However, Kelly has nothing but confidence for next year. 

“I feel just as good about next year as this year,” Kelly said. “We have so many young kids who can still get it done, even though we’re losing seniors like Elias and Logan Keeter. I think Evanston just can’t beat us, so I’m not worried.”