The Elbert County golf team better make some more space in that trophy room of theirs.
One year after winning the program’s first state championship since 1966, the Blue Devils defended their title with a win in the 2026 GHSA A Division I state championship, held from May 18-19 in Elberton’s own Arrowhead Pointe.
The Blue Devils shot 643 as a team in the 36-hole event to win the tournament by eight strokes over second-place Jeff Davis. Elbert County counted scores from senior Madden Drake (159, ninth overall), juniors Nolan Henderson and Carson Amabile (160, tied for 11th overall) and senior Landen Adams (169, 21st overall).
Though juniors Maddox Adams and Ty Johnson didn’t count their scores, they both finished in the top half of the leaderboard, a testament to the depth that has helped Elbert County become so dominant in the past two years.
“What those six accomplished was historic,” head coach Larry Kesler said. “I think we have a very athletic-rich school, and so for them to do that— first of all, to win last year for the first time in [59 years], and then go back to back. I think it kind of validated last year and I’m very proud of the kids.”
Kesler said this year’s team is even better than the one who broke the near-six decade drought.
“I do think this team was obviously better than last year's,” he said. “I love last year's team, but this team just had more experience, and had that championship under their belt, so that was the biggest difference.”
The Elbert County girls’ team also put on a good showing, finishing fourth overall in the girls’ A Division I championship with a team score of 371. Junior Lucy Johnson tied for fourth overall with a 171 in what was the highest individual placement for any Elbert golfer across either team. Banks County took the girls’ team title.
Sophomore Sophie Lavender had a strong tournament, and freshmen Isabella Adams and Addi Buffkin each had impressive championship debuts.
“I’m proud of all four girls,” Kesler said. “I know the boys will get all the credit, but four girls with two freshmen, a sophomore and a junior– that’s not a bad finish. They want to win it all one day and they’ll just have to wait another year to have an opportunity."
Elbert County’s championship experience was on full display for two days. In what can be a grueling marathon of a tournament in the mid-May heat with all the postseason pressure one can handle, the Blue Devils remained even-keeled and battled through the rough patches to get it done.
It didn’t help matters that Arrowhead Pointe, already a difficult and frustrating course on its own, was cranked up a notch. Kesler said he wanted the championship to be a special challenge, and grounds superintendent Clay Norman responded. The staff rolled the greens to make them more firm, to the point where they ran between 12 and 12.5 feet on the Stimpmeter. Chip shots were much tougher and fairways much faster.
“They gave us more than I probably bargained for,” Kesler said. “I told the boys going into it, ‘This is gonna be nasty, you're not gonna play good, there's gonna be some bad numbers, and I expect there to be.’ I was like, ‘I want to find out who's gonna be able to sit here for 36 holes and mainly put up with this.”
The conditions indeed caused plenty of vexation around Arrowhead Pointe, and Elbert County no doubt benefitted from playing at its home course— even if it, too, was dealing with the same challenges.
“You could see the frustration when we turned Tuesday on the back nine,” Kesler said “Some of the teams we were playing, they wanted to go home.”
Gordon Lee, Toombs County and a late push from Jeff Davis all threatened to thwart the Devils’ back-to-back bid, but Elbert County stayed the course. A 79 from Amabile on the second day and four straight pars from Henderson to close out holes 15-18 gave the Blue Devils some breathing room, in addition to Drake and Adams’ steady performances.
By the time hole 18 came around, Kesler and assistant coach Sandy Thornton could exhale.
“We had already run the math in our head, we knew it was over,” Kesler said. “Considering the amount of people that were there, the big scoreboard sitting up there, the kids didn't know at the time, but we knew, and it was pretty cool.”
It wasn’t the smoothest, most painless two days of golf (not like there was a soul who expected it to be), but Elbert County’s resolve, championship experience and depth were once again enough to come out of it as champs.
“Our boys always play as good as they’ve got to, which is frustrating,” Kesler said. “I would much rather go out there on day one and shoot a great number, and just make [day two] a victory lap. But they just.. I don't know, they’ve got a funny sense about that. They're gonna play just as good as they’ve got to play to win a match. It was not our best golf, there's no doubt about that, but it was enough.”