By Tim Tassa — Daily Staff Writer

FRONT ROYAL — For the second straight season, Sherando's Casey Thompson was in line for the Northwestern District tournament title — except on Tuesday, he had company.

On their 18th hole, the par-3 8th at Shenandoah Valley Golf Club, Thompson was tied with Skyline junior Ryan Rettberg, his title defense hinging on the 154-yard hole.

For the senior, last season's four-stroke win wasn't quite as climatic.

"They kind of feed off one another," Sherando head coach Rob Wright said.

And in helping the Warriors to a team title in the process, Thompson, who finished with a 1-under par 71, pared the hole while Rettberg bogeyed after missing a 10-foot put. Rettberg chastised his choice of using a six iron on the hole. And, perhaps a product of success, Thompson simply said he had a lot of fun winning it, though he had little praise for his putting.

"It was good playing with Ryan, coming down the back nine we were close," Thompson said.

"I hit the ball well, I think my ball striking was pretty good. Getting off the tee was decent, my irons were pretty good today, but I'm pretty happy. More happy that our team did well today."

Like Thompson, the Warriors defended last season's tournament title, shooting a 303 on the day. As the regular-season champions, Sherando was already guaranteed a spot in the Region II tournament next week. But low scores by Alex Smart (75), Hunter Strosnider (81) and Cory Hammons (76) still outpaced the competition by 10 strokes.

Brentsville, earning a team trip to regionals, finished in second at 313 strokes, followed by Millbrook (322), James Wood (325), Skyline (326), Kettle Run (328), Handley (329), Central (398) and Warren County (442).

"They were really fired up; they wanted to show they were still district champs," said Wright, who set a goal of 300 for the day. Following the match, Wright was named the district coach of the year.

"That's what I told them this morning: 'This is the beginning of the second season for you, it starts today. You want to go out there and take care of business.'"

Sherando returned the entire team from last season, and Wright praised its leadership and kinship. After clinching their sixth consecutive Region II berth, Thompson believes the Warriors can shoot even lower than they did on Tuesday.

As evidence of the team's improvement, Sherando won last year's tournament with a score of 320.

"That was one of our goals to keep pushing — not let off the gas pedal once we got the regular season," said Thompson, who was named the Northwestern District player of the year.

"Winning this is good going into regions."

Despite qualifying just one golfer for regionals — Chris Northrup (76) — the Pioneers' third-place finish was led by Spencer Plante (84), Hunter Shrout (79) and Matt Fazenbaker.

Millbrook was jumbled among a group of team scores that hovered in the 320s. Those scores would be low enough to contend for overall titles during certain years.

According to Skyline coach Frank Moxie, the Hawks shot their best-ever team total, with Rettberg's 72 and Zach Henry's 73 good enough to qualify for regionals. Blake Perrero added an 88 and Cody Mullin finished with a 93.

"Front nine, I kind of struggled, missed a lot of birdie putts," said Rettberg, who has qualified for regionals in each of his three seasons.

Rettberg said he pulled his six-iron shot to the left of the green on the last hole, but saved face with a good chip. However, he couldn't sink the putt to tie Thompson.

"We're really impressed with him, and Zach's one stroke behind both of them," said Moxie.

"They still finished second and third overall, anyway. That's a very encouraging note, we ended the season on a very encouraging note. We're looking forward to next year all ready."

Making up James Wood's 325 was Dylan McKee (77), Travis Viands (80), Nic Cybulski (85) and Zach Drumheller (83). Handley was led by Aubrey Wilkerson (78), Danny Nolan (83), and Brett Bergin and Will McHugh (84).

McKee and Wilkerson each qualified for the regional tournament.

* Contact Tim Tassa at ttassa@nvdaily.com