CANTERBURY – The Concord Crimson Tide golf team traveled to Canterbury Woods Country Club to defend its Division I team golf title, but fell short and finished sixth in the team championship on a very cold and windy morning on the course.

During the regular season, Concord dominated its opponents and finished second in the standings with 24 wins and only two losses, one to Exeter and one to Bedford, and it was Bedford that took home the team title, carding a 35-over 395.

“Unfortunately for the eight players that we sent out, some of them struggled at certain times throughout the round and weren’t able to pull it together, and that’s what you need. You need consistent play,” said Concord’s head coach, Mark McDonough.

Dover (415), Londonderry (415), Windham (416), Keene (419), Concord (422), Exeter (435) and Salem (440) were the other team scores.

The graduation of Concord’s 2023 individual champion, Gavin Richardson, was a big loss for the team. However, two of Concord’s starters in the 2024 championship placed in the top 10 individually last season, senior David Bourgeois and sophomore Zach Nelson, and had the experience to lead their team.

Despite losing Richardson, the Tide performed well in the regular season and had six different medalists in their 10 matches.

Sophomore Zach Nelson was one of those six (he earned medalist honors twice this fall) and also shot well on Tuesday, carding a 7-over 79, good for 11th place and a spot in Saturday’s final round of the individual championship at Concord’s Beaver Meadow Golf Course.

“Zach is a tournament-tested player. He plays in the New Hampshire Golf Association series of tournaments throughout the year. So he’s a battle-tested player, and I’m honestly not surprised that he had a good day today,” said McDonough. “He’s going to look to have a good follow-up round and maybe better than what he shot today in an effort to try and get in the top place and finish and follow his teammate Gavin Richardson.”

Nelson was the only Tide golfer that made the cut (top 16). Seniors Keller Ramshaw (21st, 12-over 84) and Bobby Rochford (29th, 14-over 86), and sophomore Jaden Haas (26th, 13-over 85) were close to the cutoff, which ended up being 10-over 82.

Senior Holden Martin (43rd, 16-over 88) was Concord’s fifth scorer, and seniors Bourgeois (50th, 17-over 89) and Carl Sirrianna (51st, 18-over 90), and freshman Parker Lamb (55th, 19-over 91) also represented the Crimson Tide.

Concord’s junior varsity team won the state championships and coach McDonough hopes that some players on the wings could step in for the six graduating seniors moving forward. He also expressed that he was happy with the team’s regular season performance, and believes the day at Canterbury was unusually tough.

“I’m super proud of these kids. We’ve got some young players, like Parker, who had a great season,” he said. “I’m optimistic about the future. It’s a little disappointing today to finish. It would have been nice to finish in the top three.”

Alexander Rapp can be reached at arapp@cmonitor.com.