Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

Dealing with the realities of competitive balance as well as the normal pattern of having good years and down years, most coaches try to target that ideal season where they have experience and youth, ability and determination.

It’s called The Window, where the team has the opportunity to take advantage of all of those key elements and go far in the playoffs. And the way the Forest Lake boys golf team stacks up, their window might be wide open for a long time.

Kyle Lewis, the lone senior and captain, is back after finishing 17th at the state tournament. Joining him this spring are the other 11 golfers who filled out the 2006 varsity and junior varsity rosters.

After coming in fourth in the Suburban East Conference team standings last season, Rangers head coach John Buck thinks his line-up is ready to leapfrog a few of Minnesota’s top programs in ‘07.

“I just expect us to challenge for the championship this year,” he says.

Taking a step back, that means Buck believes the Rangers have the ability to pass schools like Woodbury and White Bear Lake.

Sure, the Royals and Bears may have lost their top players to graduation, but he’s still talking about a Woodbury team that took third in state last spring as well as a White Bear squad that finished in sixth.

“I would expect it’s going to be kind of a dogfight this year between White Bear and Woodbury,” he starts. “Park is good and so is Roseville, so it will be five teams.”

The Ranger coach then points to the personnel losses suffered by the Royals and Bears before recognizing his team’s superior depth when compared to Park and Roseville.

Now that we’re on the subject of depth, we might as well take the opportunity to introduce the boys in the band:

On lead, there is the aforementioned Lewis, who only has five state golfers returning that finished in front of him last June.

“He has the talent and the potential to really be one of the better players in the state,” Buck shares.

Backing up the team captain are junior Andrew Kelly and freshman Douger Jeans.

As the season approaches, Buck really likes this trio; the names will stay the same but the places might change.

Who’s No. 2?

“He just loves to play — he’s a course rat,” says an admiring Buck about Jeans.

With the older Kelly (another course rat in a line-up full of them) currently in the second slot, it does make for a powerful triple-headed monster.

More juniors, like Peter Follese, Joe Pelton and Jeremy Tetrault, who are all capable of shooting in the 70s, make a return appearance and solidify Buck’s comments about depth, but there’s still a few sophomores to mention.

Also expected to contribute is John Young, who as a freshman had a terrific sectional tournament. Or perhaps Paul Moberg or Ryan Hanson will make a move.

To wrap up those possible list of performers, that’s one senior, four juniors, four sophomores and a freshman. That group of experience and youth will battle it out for six varsity spots.

Outside of the top three, Buck isn’t sure who will complete the roster, but he can already tell it’s going to be extremely competitive for positions six, seven and eight.

Consistency might be where one golfer edges out the others, because that’s where the Rangers faltered in the Section 7AA tournament a year ago.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to get into their heads is that they’re all good enough that even when they’re not playing well they should still be able to break 80,” Buck says.

Just like in the SEC, Forest Lake ended sections in fourth place. But just as he felt about taking the conference, Buck believes his boys can also take this one.

“There’s no reason why we can’t compete for the championship there,” he states.

“I’m always optimistic and always have high expectations, so I never think that we can’t do something,” he says. “I don’t have to worry about them putting in the time. They’re a fun group and a really nice bunch of guys.”

And there it is: ability and determination. Keep that window open a while.

Top of Page