GRAND RAPIDS, Mich --Two teams from one school district with the same goal. Top-ranked Forest Hills Eastern and second-ranked Forest Hills Northern are both capable of winning the division two boys golf state championship this weekend.
“Hopefully we can capture a state championship" Forest Hills Eastern senior Zach Robbins said. "That has been our goal all season we set it before the season.”
“Definitely looking for the state championship" Forest Hills Northern senior Spencer Schab said. " I feel like we’ve had the potential the last couple of years but we really haven’t as a full team put it all together when we needed to.”
Northern finished 4th two years ago and 3rd last season. Eastern was second in 2014. The two teams know each other well, they both call Egypt Valley Golf Course home.
“I think that even the fact that we are both out here at Egypt and we all over the years have become closer, it’s a rivalry but there is not lots of tension between us it’s a friendly rivalry” Schab said.
“It is obviously very competitive. I compare it to a brother kind of rivalry, sibling, you just don’t want to get beat but if you get beat you got to give a little credit to them you got to be hey good job" Robbins added.
Even the head coaches are close, Northern’s Brian Telzerow and Eastern’s Bryan Hoekstra met at youth group at Fifth Reformed Church many years ago and later coached together at Eastern when the school first opened. Now as they coach against each other they remain close friends.
“We practice here so we see each other every day, when you are working with somebody that close and like each other that well I think our guys pick up on that" Telzerow said. "Not a lot of rivalries like each other and as Zach was talking about brotherly kind of things you get a feel for that. Yeah we want to win in the sense we want to beat them but there is not that sense of we are going to do it at all costs.”
There are fifteen schools competing for the crown in division two with the distinct possibility that Eastern and Northern might be each other’s biggest obstacle for the title.
“It would be really cool if it was between us and Eastern at the end because they have been with us all year so it should be fun, it should be interesting, hopefully we get it all together when we need to” Schab said.
“Northern will be our biggest hurdle but hopefully we can jump over it” Robbins added.
The finals take place over two days with first round action beginning Friday morning at Bedford Valley Golf Course in Battle Creek.
