With their 9-0 victory over Mattituck on Oct. 8, the Blue Waves secured six straight league championships and a record of 58-2 in their last 60 league matches.

“Golf is life,” Riverhead head coach Steve Failla said. “Everyone that comes through this program feels that way. It’s a constant competition in practice. They’re all pushing each other to get better and the results we’ve had are based on that hard work.”

Over the course of the season, Riverhead has dropped three points only once. Most of their victories were clean, 9-0 sweeps. Led by senior Colby Baran, who has been on varsity since his eighth-grade season and is the only Riverhead golfer to ever go to the New York State championships twice, the Blue Waves are looking to bring home their first Suffolk County team championship in school history. They’ve made it to the final four twice.

“Over all the years we’ve come to realize that no matter how badly we beat the teams in our division, there’s very good teams out there across Suffolk County,” Baran said. “We need to prepare for that mentally and bring our best game when the playoffs come around.”

Baran has had an electric career and could very well be the best Riverhead golfer to ever don the blue and white. After the match against Mattituck, Baran put the final stroke on his league resume — a perfect 50-0. The senior lefty never surrendered a point in five years of golf. Through nine holes of play, Baran has averaged a 36 this season. He’s put up a career best 32 at Cherry Creek Golf Links.

“We’ve been blessed with Colby over the last five years,” Failla said. “Not only with his ability to play with the best of the best but the way he leads by example. He puts in the work and that’s why you see the results. He works extremely hard at his craft. His work ethic is unmatched.”

Riverhead has six golfers who average a 41 or better through nine holes, which should set them up for success come playoff time. Other top scorers include Logan Dempsey (39), Mason Sidik (40), Liam Sullivan (41), Max Gajowski (41) and Kyle Hubbard (41).

Last year, Riverhead was knocked out of the playoffs because of the total team score. The individual matches were split, with both teams getting three wins, and the tiebreaker was the total team score.

“That’s why this season we are stressing not to get overwhelmed and try to do too much in the playoffs against the better teams,” Dempsey said. “Sometimes we get all zoned in about winning our individual match and try to make a shot we shouldn’t take and add strokes to our total team count. The pressure definitely gets different once the playoffs start, but we have to think about it as a team, not so much individually.”

The lineup has been changed all season long with Failla choosing to play the hot hand. Though the lineup only features six starters, all 11 players on the team have won an individual match during league play.

“The only way to get better is through competition. There are no free spots on the team,” Failla said. “We put a major emphasis on that for the entire season. That’s why we’ve been able to compete for so many years. We’re used to those competitive atmospheres. We’re in it every day.”

Though Riverhead has fallen short in years past for the Suffolk County team championship, this year brings another opportunity at history. Northport won the Suffolk County championship last year after beating previously unbeaten Westhampton in the semifinals and then knocking off Mt. Sinai to win it all.

“I’ve said it all along: It’s not always the best team that wins,” Failla said. “It’s the team that’s playing the best that day. That’s sports. That’s golf. We just need to stay the course and hopefully things fall our way this year.”

The 24-team playoff starts on Oct. 23.

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“I asked everyone before this season started,” head coach Steve Failla said. “Are we going to rebuild or are we simply going to reload and showcase the program we’ve been building here for years? To their credit, they answered the call.”

Only one player returned from last year’s starting six, Colby Baran, who just happened to be one of the best golfers in Suffolk County as a sophomore last year. The rest of the lineup is brand new, choosing golfers from the JV team last year, who also went undefeated. With Monday’s 8-0 victory over Greenport/Southold, Riverhead is now 9-0 on the season and haven’t lost a league match since 2021. 

Baran led the way, as he has all season, with a personal record 33, which was three shots under par at Cherry Links in Riverhead on Monday. It was the second time he reached that low during the season. He has averaged a score of 36.5 for nine holes of play during his junior campaign. 

“I still feel like I have ways to cut my score down even lower,” Baran said. “I’m super happy with how I have been playing but I definitely left some shots out there.”

After going undefeated last year, the Blue Waves cruised through the conference championship and earned the No. 1 seed in the Suffolk County tournament. It wasn’t until they met Ward Melville in the semi-finals that they finally got a loss on their resume and that was simply because of team stroke play. The Patriots earned three medal points because they as a team had less strokes than the Blue Waves even though the rest of the head to heads were split right down the middle.

“Golf is the only sport that doesn’t separate into classes,” Failla said last year. “Other sports get four divisions and six classes. Golf has one champion and that’s why it’s the hardest sport to win it all.”

Riverhead has made it to the final four twice in its history, once in 2019 and the second time last year. They’re looking to get right back in the mix this season. The conference championships are scheduled for Oct. 16, which will determine the seeds for the Suffolk County tournament. Then the playoffs begin on Oct 24.

Riverhead has trotted out Baran, Cam Wallace, Logan Dempsey, Mason Sidik, Max Gajowski and Brady Hubbard as their starting six for most of the season. Any of them are capable of putting together a strong round and earning the team a point. Wallace, the team’s No. 2 golfer, has averaged a score of 40 during the season.

“Our lineups have looked very similar the last three years because they all came up to varsity as sophomores,” Failla said. “This year was a big change. This was going to be a big test of the program. It’s going to be hard to replicate the success we’ve had the last few years because these guys are brand new to the varsity team but they haven’t missed a beat.”

A lot of that has to do with Baran’s ability to lead. The players feed off of him and try to improve their game alongside him. They see how hard he works and golf is a game that requires constant repetition.

“In the years past Baran was always the best golfer but he was the youngest on the team,” Failla said. “The seniors pushed him last year but this year he’s taken on more of a leadership role. He’s the veteran out there. And nobody works harder than Colby, he lives golf.”

Baran was the second player to make it to the individual New York State championships in Riverhead’s history. He’s looking to take it a step further this year.

“I think we have all the tools to be successful as a team this year,” Baran said. “My first goal this year is to win Riverhead’s first team championship. That’s our goal right now. The individual stuff is great but we’re a team first and hopefully a few shots fall our way this year.”

As a team, Riverhead went down to Spring Lake Golf Club in Middle Island this weekend to get a feel for the course they’ll be playing in the championships. 

“That’s all them,” Failla said. “I didn’t tell them to do that. But they know these are the steps that you need to do. You need to constantly get ahead and play as much as you can. Familiarizing yourself with the championship golf course is only going to help when it’s time to shine.”

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For the first time ever, the Riverhead boys golf team has a league title it can call its own.

Riverhead picked up its third league crown in four years. The only difference this time is the Blue Waves didn’t have to share it with Mattituck, as they did the previous two times.

Having finished in sole possession of first place for the first time with a spotless 10-0 record in Suffolk County League VII, one could make the argument that this is the greatest Riverhead boys golf team ever.

“It’s impressive,” freshman Colby Baran said. “In the last year we improved significantly to the point where we just almost blew out every team we played.”

“It wasn’t completely unexpected,” he continued. “We knew we had a good team. Last year we were 9 and 1, so we knew we definitely had a shot, but knowing that we did as good as we did, it’s a good feeling.”

Signs were seen early, during tryouts in August, that this could be a special team. Coach Steve Failla said it was the most competitive tryouts he had seen since taking over the team in 2015.

“We cut good golfers this year, so the word is out, and the guys, they know when they show up Day One in August that they’re going to be fighting for a spot. It’s a great lesson for life,” he said.

“They know that when they show up in August that they have to bring their ‘A’ game, so they’re working at it all summer long and the spring.”

From those tryouts, 11 players made the team — and then proceeded to make their mark. With the exception of an 8-1 win over Hampton Bays, Riverhead has won every one of its matches by 9-0 scores, including its final league match at Shelter Island last Wednesday.

Griffin Sumwalt, a junior, said Riverhead “started off the season well, and then as we went further on, we were like, ‘We could do this. Like, we could win every single match.’ ”

Riverhead’s triumph over Mattituck Sept. 29 marked the Tuckers’ first loss on their North Fork Country Club course in Cutchogue in eight years, according to Failla.

How did Riverhead win on Mattituck’s home course?

“If I tell you, you’ll tell everybody,” Failla said. “It’s just goal-setting. The boys set goals and they work hard. You know, the program has come a long way. Our program has come a long way in the last six years, you know, and they’re committed to their craft.”

Baran, who finished the league season with a 36.4 nine-hole average, has played in the team’s No. 1 slot the entire season, with the exception of one match when Sumwalt (37.4) played there. Sumwalt was the team’s No. 2 player for the rest of the matches. Riverhead’s sole senior, Jace Pesce (38.1), was in the No. 3 position more than anyone else.

The competition continues.

On Tuesday, one day before the Conference IV Tournament is to be held at Riverhead’s Cherry Creek Golf Links course, the Blue Waves still hadn’t settled which six golfers they would send to the tournament.

“It was tough to cut back in August, and it’s tough to tell some guys that they’re not going to be in the top six and today I’m gonna have to tell some good golfers that they’re not going to be playing tomorrow because we only bring six,” Failla said during practice. “They are in complete control of the outcome. Their scores today will determine who’s playing.

“I’m a closet teddy bear, you know. I’m so proud of these boys overall. I wish I could bring more than six.”

It was determined at Tuesday’s practice that those six golfers will be Baran, Sumwalt and Pesce, joined by juniors Zach Timpone (38.8), Jaxson Hubbard (39.3) and Luke Richard (39.2).

Five juniors — Mark Gajowski, Kyle Kaelin, Colin Lynch, Ryan Densieski and Preston Swenk — comprise the rest of the roster.

Sumwalt said the current team is better than last year’s squad. “We have way more depth this year and every single kid is very good,” he said.

This year Riverhead wasn’t in a sharing mood when it came to the league title.

“Way better,” Baran said. “We’re not co-league champions. We’re league champions.”

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