Turlock High School’s 2025 boys golf team represented one of the youngest rosters ever assembled by head coach Jason Boswell. Led by star senior Christian Maggard, now playing a significant role for San Jose State this year, the Bulldogs collected its 19th Central California Athletic League title over the past 21 seasons.
This year’s kennel of Bulldogs is similarly youthful, anchored by a stable of sophomores, three in which were in Turlock's primary lineup a year ago, as well as a returning senior. Complemented with three juniors, the program is off to another hot start heading into a critical match with Gregori on Wednesday.
Making up this year’s Turlock team are returning sophomores Carter Van Gaalen, Ezekiel Roque and Thomas Manotok, returning senior Logan Bream, and newly-introduced juniors Donaven Zendejas, Easton Kahler and Aiden Reed.
On March 9, the Bulldogs affirmed their standing as one of the region’s most dominant golf collectives with an early-season tournament win at the Merced Golf and Country Club, an event that showed just how skilled this particular group is despite its youth.
The Bulldogs tied with Granada High School of Livermore, each posting team scores of 307 on the 6,529-yard, par-72 course with thin fairways and an imposing slope rating of 132. The highlight of the victory — what Boswell believes to be the program’s first ever hole-in-one in a tournament.
The ace came courtesy of Roque on the 190-yard sixth hole. Turning to his 4-iron, Roque fired a dart right at the flag stick, and after a bounce or two, found paydirt.
“I’ve never done that before. It was my first one ever, whether in practice or in a real tournament,” Roque said. “It was awesome.”
Roque’s heroics on the sixth helped him card a team-low score of 73, earning him an individual third-place finish. Two strokes behind was Kahler, who finished sixth overall. Right behind him with a 76 was Van Gaalen, who looks to be a force throughout the season following a thrilling playoff at last year’s Sac-Joaquin Section Division II Tournament. Zendejas and Reed posted scores of 83 and 92, respectively.
Three days later, the Bulldogs took to Creekside Golf Course in Modesto to beat Enochs in the opening CCAL match of the year, and won by over 100 strokes. In which Roque and Zendejas each broke 80 on the scorecards with rounds of 75 and 79, respectively.
Considering the team’s youth, the recent results pose a scary proposition for opponents.
Nevertheless, Gregori is expected to be Turlock’s top threat this season, and Boswell is not looking past the Jaguars ahead of Wednesday afternoon’s meeting at Turlock Golf and Country Club.
“It’s a big match,” Boswell said. “It’s going to be a tough one and it’s going to take a team effort.
“This is a really young team, but they’ve stayed really composed and have played really well. I’m very happy with what they’ve done so far. You can’t ask for much more.”
