After Undefeated Season, Nauset Boys Golf Continues To Win

BREWSTER – There are seniors on the Nauset boys golf team who haven’t experienced a loss in a regular season match since their sophomore years. There are sophomores who haven’t experienced a loss at all.

The Warriors were 6-0 to start this year after beating Nantucket 247-281 at The Captains Golf Course on Monday. That’s all after a 16-0 season in 2024. Nauset last lost a regular season match in October 2023.

It’s been a great start once again, but the Nauset golfers aren’t entirely preoccupied with the possibility of staying undefeated in back-to-back years. The team has high aspirations for what they can do during the playoffs. A win Tuesday against Barnstable (after the Chronicle’s deadline) would clinch a spot in sectionals. 

“I think we kind of expected to be in a spot like this, but we told ourselves in the beginning not to go out too cocky, just keep playing our game,” senior captain Max St. Aubin said.

After the departure of Jack Martin, the headliner of last year’s undefeated lineup, seniors like St. Aubin, Jake Eldredge, Logan Miller and senior captain Matthew Breda have stepped up to continue the success on the golf course. Underclassmen like sophomore Oliver Smith and freshman Hudson Cole have also played well.

The depth is what amazes head coach Brian Hicks. A few matches ago against St. John Paul II, a 41 shot by a Nauset player wasn’t even one of the team’s top six scores on the day, which Hicks didn’t think had ever happened. 

Monday against Nantucket, St. Aubin (2-over 38) and Smith (3-over 39) led the way for the Warriors. Eldredge and Miller shot 6-over 42s, while Breda and junior Owen Everson shot 7-over 43s.

“It's just really hard to crack the lineup,” Hicks said. “We have so many good players up and down that it's hard to get into it.”

Last year’s 16-0 group was the first time Hicks had ever gone undefeated coaching Nauset, which he’s done for 20 years. That team finished fifth in the Division 2 state tournament. As this season’s team keeps winning, the goal remains to play in states and compete for a championship. For Hicks and the players alike, a regular season loss here or there to end the two-year undefeated streak wouldn’t be a big deal.

“It's exciting for us to keep winning, but I don't want it to be if we lose, it's the end of the world,” Hicks said. “Sometimes I think losing isn't the worst thing. If you play well and lose, it's OK.”

Nauset has three golfers — St. Aubin, Breda and Smith — who played in the Massachusetts Junior Amateur Championship this summer. Many on the team play golf out of season, and some of them are caddies. 

“The harder you work, the better you get,” Breda said. “You can't be good without working hard.”

Five of Nauset’s first six matches were played on their home course at The Captains in Brewster. Tuesday against Barnstable started a series of visiting six courses in eight matches to close the regular season. That match, as Nauset’s first chance at earning a seventh win and securing a .500 record at least, also served as an opportunity to clinch the next part of the season in sectionals.

“We’ve just got to stay dialed, keep playing well, keep practicing hard and just kind of go from there,” Eldredge said.