43rd Virginias-Carolinas Junior Boys' Matches

Championship website | Scoring | Record book

Dates: Saturday, August 9 and Sunday, August 10

Format: Eight player teams with the Virginias side featuring players from Virginia and West Virginia and the Carolinas team featuring players from North and South Carolina. Four-ball and alternate shot matches on Saturday, with eight singles matches scheduled for Sunday morning.

Host site: Boonsboro Country Club

Day 2: Team Virginias retains Vinny Giles trophy

(Ethan Evans, right, clinched the winning half-point for Team Virginias on Sunday at Boonsboro CC. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)

Photo gallery

By Chris Lang

LYNCHBURG -- The future of golf in both Virginia and West Virginia looks bright. Look no further than the impressive display by Team Virginias younger players in its 9.5-6.5 victory in the 43rd Virginias-Carolinas Junior Boys Matches at Boonsboro Country Club.

The Virginias team said goodbye on Sunday to three players set to begin their college careers in the coming weeks -- Talon Dingledine (William & Mary), Josh Cummins (Longwood), and Jack Michael (West Virginia). The Virginias' two best players this weekend, however, were a pair of Class of 2027 players -- Jake Lopes and Tommy Evans -- both of whom recorded perfect 3-0 records that included impressive singles victories.

Lopes teamed with Ethan Evans on Saturday to win a pair of partner matches, then broke open a tight match late and topped the Carolinas' Lane Wilson 3 and 1 on Sunday, using a deft up-and-down from the greenside bunker on the par-3 17th to seal the win.

"My expectation was to have fun and see what I could do against these good Carolinas players," Lopes said. "I ended up going 3-0, which is always good."

Tommy Evans, one of two West Virginians on the roster (Michael was the other), teamed with Colton Rodgers on Saturday for two partner wins before rolling to a 3-and-2 win over Jude Carper on Sunday.

"I hit a lot of fairways and hit a lot of greens, and in match play, that's what you have to do," Tommy Evans said. "I'm glad I hit the ball really well this week, and I'm glad we did well as a team."

The Virginias came into Sunday needing just three points to retain the Giles Trophy and 3.5 to win it outright. Luca Rinaldi, Lopes and Evans put wins on the board to get the Virginias to eight points, and Ethan Evans secured a tie on the 18th hole in his match with Bennett Scalletta to seal the victory. Michael then put an emphatic cap on the weekend by holing out from a greenside bunker on 15 to win his match 4 and 3 and close the scoring.

The Virginias won for the second year in a row and for the first time at Boonsboro since 2019. Rinaldi, Lopes, and Tommy Evans are all Class of 2027 players, and Rodgers and Ethan Evans are Class of 2028. Expect to see plenty of them in the next couple of years.

"It feels really good," Lopes said. "It was a lot of fun. It makes this weekend even better knowing we won."

Added Tommy Evans: "It was awesome. We had a great week as a team. It was more having fun than playing golf this week. It was great."

Day 1: Team Virginias takes 5-3 lead

(Colton Rodgers and Tommy Evans were one of two Virginias sides to go 2-0 on Saturday. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)

Photo gallery

By Chris Lang

LYNCHBURG -- Colton Rodgers and Tommy Evans go way back, relatively speaking. "We used to play U.S. Kids golf together a lot back in the day," Rodgers quipped after the pair swept their four-ball and foursome matches at the 43rd Virginias-Carolinas Junior Boys' Matches on Saturday at Boonsboro Country Club. Their comfort level with each other was evident. Rodgers, the VSGA Junior Stroke Play champion, and Evans, the West Virginia Golf Association Junior Amateur winner, ham and egged their way to a pair of 4-and-3 victories as Team Virginias took a 5-3 lead after Saturday's partner play.

The event concludes on Sunday with eight singles matches beginning at 8 a.m. The Virginias are seeking their second straight win in the series and their first win on home soil since 2019.

The teams split the morning four-ball matches, with Ethan Evans and Jake Lopes joining Rodgers and Evans as winners. The Carolinas got wins from Bennett Scalletta and Dylan Lewis, and Colby Hutchens and Jude Carper.

The Virginias won the afternoon foursome session 3-1, with Evans and Lopes winning for a second time. Talon Dingledine and Jack Michael also won their foursome match. Lane Wilson and Dawson Szabo were the lone Carolinas' side to win in the afternoon.

NOTABLE

• Ethan Evans and Lopes had to sweat out a win in their morning match against Szabo and Owen Kinnunen, with Lopes nestling a lag putt to inside of a foot to secure a par after the Carolinas had just missed making a birdie putt to win the hole and forge a tie to steal a half point. They won 3 and 2 in the afternoon with Lopes draining a 6-foot birdie putt on 16 to clinch the match.
• Rodgers and Tommy Evans were on fire in the afternoon match, playing 15 holes at 6-under in defeating Wilson and Ian Mcgee. They made six birdies in a seven-hole stretch between Nos. 6 and 12.
• None of the four afternoon matches made it past the 16th hole. Evans and Lopes' morning match was the only one to reach 18 all day.
• This is the final junior event for three Virginias' players, all of whom are headed to play Division I golf: Dingledine (William & Mary), Josh Cummins (Longwood), and Michael (West Virginia).

QUOTABLE

• "We were kind of ham and egging it, feeding off each other. The energy was just there, all-around." -- Rodgers
• "We struck the ball really well, and we made a lot of putts. In match play, that's kind of what you have to do." -- Tommy Evans
• "It's just keeping yourself in the hole, not putting your teammate out of position, that's what we did great today. And we played really well, hit a lot of good shots, and came out on top." -- Tommy Evans
• "We're good friends, so that helps, just keeping it low key, and our games are pretty similar. So it was good to know if one of us hit a bad shot, the other has his back. We just kind of leaned on each other and hit good shots all day." -- Ethan Evans
• "It's fun with a team. It's a different type of pressure when you're playing for your friends and buddies." -- Lopes