Calabasas Gets Double Crown

OJAI — Two new faces from Calabasas High staged a dramatic finish Thursday in the Frontier League individual tournament at Soule Park Golf Course, but the collective face in the winner’s circle of the team competition was familiar.

The Coyotes shot a final-round score of 18-over-par 378 for a four-round total of 1,549 to win their sixth consecutive league title. Calabasas junior Jon Ohye, who shot two-over-par 74, claimed the individual title by six strokes with a 296 total.

Ohye entered the last round with a six-stroke lead, so the real drama unfolded for second place and the league’s final berth in the Southern Section individual tournament.

Calabasas freshman Aaron Levine claimed the spot, but not until Ohye’s younger brother, Justin, also a Calabasas freshman, missed a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole.

Justin Ohye, who fell four strokes behind Levine after a bogey at the 10th hole, chipped in from 15 feet for eagle on the 11th, then hit a pitching wedge to within three feet on the 15th. He made the birdie putt to pull within a stroke.

After tapping in for par at 18, the younger Ohye walked briskly past Levine, who had already finished, without saying a word.

“We’re teammates but there’s still a competitiveness,” said Levine, who shot 74 and finished with a 302 total. “We’re both freshmen.”

Later, Ohye expressed his disappointment.

“I really wanted it bad,” he said. “I wanted to be with my brother.”

Despite the Coyotes’ dominance in the team competition, this is the first year that both Frontier League individual representatives are from Calabasas.

The Coyotes, who had a 34-stroke lead entering the final round, finished 35 strokes ahead of second-place Nordhoff. Both teams advance to the Southern Section North Regional on Monday at The Village Country Club in Lompoc.

“We thought this was going to be a rebuilding year,” Jon Ohye said. “We weren’t expecting to be as good as last year.”

Frontier League opponents can expect more of the same next year. The top five players return for Calabasas and Nordhoff.

Jon Ohye was named league most valuable player and Levine and Justin Ohye were selected all-league along with junior Jeff Coburn, freshman Tommy Hadjuk and sophomore Shawn Andrews, all from Nordhoff.