WINONA LAKE – It was far from a smooth start for Homestead at Thursday’s Warsaw Regional.

The Spartans, who last week posted the fourth-lowest sectional score in IHSAA boys golf history with a 278, stumbled early at Stonehenge Golf Course, including a bogey-quadruple bogey first two holes from No. 3 player Caden Baker. Coach Mickey Mazock called the opening holes “awful” for his team on a hot, dry day.

But then, the two-time defending regional champions dug deep. They focused on collecting pars, knocked in the occasional birdie putt and finished with a 19-over 303, good enough for second place and a spot in the IHSAA State Finals starting Tuesday in Indianapolis.

The Spartans, the defending state runners-up and in the finals for the fourth year in a row, will be looking for their first state championship in program history and first for a Fort Wayne school since Northrop in 1984.

“These kids have such emotional maturity,” Mazock said of his team, which entered the day ranked No. 2 in the state. “It was very nerve-wracking. We were not Homestead golf score-wise today.”

The exception in the Spartans’ mostly middling day was senior Holden Orofino, who fired a 3-under 68 to not only win the individual regional championship but do so by three strokes over Westview’s Luke Haarar. Orofino, who finished fourth at last year’s regional, was the only player in the field to break par.

“I just felt like I played solid golf and it was good enough to keep myself in it and not do anything crazy,” said Orofino, who will play for Marquette in the fall. “It was just more of, don’t make a big number, keep saving pars and the birdies just ended up dropping.

“It wasn’t like I made every putt out there, but it was good enough.”

The Spartans needed every bit of Orofino’s performance in a tightly bunched field. Plymouth won the first regional championship in program history with a 302, while No. 14 Warsaw earned the third and final spot in the state tournament with a 304. Narrowly missing the cut were No. 17 Carroll at 307 and No. 12 Leo at 308.

The Lions had also fired a 278 in the sectional to equal the Spartans, but will be absent from the state tournament as a team for the first time in five years.

Leo’s top player, senior Caden Matthias, shot a 73 to finish third on the leaderboard and earn a spot in the state finals as an individual. He will be one of fewer than 10 players in the state to play at the finals in each of the last four years.

“I knew I was striking it coming into this tournament pretty well,” said Matthias, who shot 68 at the East Noble Sectional and beat teammates Christian Hicks and Brooks Opliger in a playoff for medalist honors.

“I just held that all together throughout the whole round. I wasn’t making as many putts as I’d like to, but I was hitting the ball consistently enough that it ended up working out.”

The closely packed team standings made for some anxious moments in the final holes for the Spartans. Taking a look at the leaderboard while Orofino played the 18th, Mazock determined that the Spartans’ final player, Landon Snyder needed a 6 or better on the long par-5 18th for Homestead to qualify.

At least, that was what the math said, until Mazock and Snyder heard a roar from the 18th green and learned that Orofino had closed his round with a birdie, giving Snyder some extra breathing room.

“Holden, just, wow,” Mazock said. “He put himself into good spots. He’s very intelligent of knowing where the ball needs to go, where the ball cannot go. … He’s just solid, I don’t know how else to say it. He’s a good player, smart player.”

Orofino also birdied Nos. 5 and 9 to go out in 1-under 34 and added a birdie with a shot six inches from the pin on the par-3 13th.

At that point, however, the weather began to affect the senior, who struggled for a few holes in the heat.

“By hole 14, I was kind of done,” he said. “I was just cruising through it. Then I got to 17 tee and that’s when I kind of snapped back into it. Luckily when I was cruising I didn’t play too badly and I was able to finish strong.”

Snyder had a 77, Baker stabilized after his difficult start and birdied the last to finish with 79 and Jack Lantz snaked in a 30-footer on No. 17 for his own 79.

Warsaw, fresh off winning its sectional at Eagle Glen Golf Club, was steady across the board, with Luke Baumgardner (75), Breckin Christner (76), RJ Ayers (76) and Isaac Summers (77) contributing.

The Tigers are represented in the state finals for the 34th time, 12th-most in state history, making it back after a heartbreaking miss in 2025 that saw them lose on a tiebreaker after tying for second in the regional with Leo and Bishop Dwenger.

Carroll had four players break out 80 on Thursday, led by Camden Myers and Evan Zahm with 76s, but is still looking for its first state tournament appearance since 2017.

Blackhawk Christian’s Gavin Haiflich, who qualified for the regional as an individual after winning Canterbury Sectional medalist honors, shot 77, missing the state cutline by three shots.

Yorktown Regional

At the Player’s Club in Yorktown, Bellmont finished 14th with a 340 and Bluffton was 15th with a 343.

Sophomores Kade Cutler of Bellmont and Rafe Gerber and Reid Abbett of Bluffton each shot 8-over 80.