Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Sometimes in life, the fact that something becomes routine is the very reason it should be celebrated. Such is the case with the Central High School varsity golf team and the Virginia High School League (VHSL) Class 1 Region B Championship.

On Monday, Sept. 30, the Chargers clinched the Region 1B championship for the third year in a row. It has been a truly exciting run for Central and its fans, both the ones in the community and beyond.

Winning a regional title once is an awesome accomplishment, but when a team can show itself to be consistently great at that level, it merits another level of praise.

Compounding the impressiveness of the Chargers’ achievement on the links is the fact that, as we reported, they have won each title in progressively more dominant fashion.

To illustrate, in 2017, they shot an 18-hole score of 344, beating Stonewall Jackson High School, of Quicksburg, by 11 strokes. In 2018, they shot a 336, beating William Campbell High School by 21 strokes.

On Sept. 30 at The Manor Golf Club in Farmville, the William Campbell Generals were once again Central’s nearest competitor, but this time the Chargers won by 44 strokes with a team score of 324.

Central has been at the top long enough now that its victories have had some different individual contributors. Cole Williams, now a senior, has been present for all three title runs, but beyond him, the cast has shifted, and this year demonstrated that the Chargers should be in good position to succeed next season as well.

On Sept. 30, the Chargers’ top-four individual scorers, who combined to produce the 324 team score, all placed in the top-five among all individuals competing in the tournament, earning each of them all-region status.

Williams finished with an 18-hole score of 74. It was the top individual score in the tournament, which meant he repeated as the Region 1B Player of the Year. Central junior Hogan Whitlow produced the second-best individual score of the event with a 78, Chargers senior Austin Hall was third-best with an 85, and Central freshman Robert Hite was fifth-best with an 87.

Whitlow and Hite would seem like natural picks to lead the 2020 Chargers, with growing contributions from freshman Hunter Gary, as well.

To go with his second straight James River District Coach of the Year honor that he received recently, McDaniel became the Region 1B Coach of the Year for the third consecutive year.

We salute McDaniel and his Chargers for their dynasty-in-the-making on the links!