Arcadia Takes Lead in Pacific League Boys Golf Race

Arcadia’s Apaches shot a team score of 382 at DeBell Golf Course on Monday to seize first place in the Pacific League boys golf standings, knocking Burroughs out of the lead it had built through the first four matches of the season.

The Indians had won two of the first three league contests heading into Monday’s fifth match. That lead didn’t survive the afternoon. Crescenta Valley climbed to second with a 390. Burroughs fell to third after carding a 397 on a course it knows well. Burbank finished fourth with a finished with a 420. Pasadena came in at 449. Glendale, Hoover, and Muir each had players in the field but couldn’t field full lineups, so none of them factored into the team standings.

The one bright spot for Burroughs came from junior Seth Malapote, who shot a four-under-par 67 and tied Crescenta Valley’s Nathan Lee for low medalist honors. Same score, same day, top of the leaderboard. It’s the kind of round that should mean something, and on another afternoon it would’ve carried the Indians to a better team total.

“I made a lot of par saves, so that was pretty good. I just need to improving on chipping. It wasn’t the best today,” Malapote said. “I think we have a good chance of winning league if we play well the next match.”

He’s not wrong about the math. Burroughs still has matches left, including one that needs to be rescheduled after a rainout. The gap between first and third isn’t insurmountable. Arcadia’s 382 beats Burroughs’ 397 by 15 strokes, which is real ground to make up but not a fatal deficit if the Indians can pull together a full squad effort. Monday’s problem wasn’t Malapote. It was everyone around him.

That’s the part that stings for Burroughs coaches. Malapote tied for the best individual score in the entire Pacific League field, and the team still landed in third. Shooting 67 at a course where your teammates stumble to a collective 397 means there were a lot of loose shots from the other Indians. They can’t afford that kind of round in the matches that remain.

DeBell is a short drive up Walnut Avenue into the hills, where the Verdugo Mountains come into view behind the back nine on days when the marine layer burns off early. It’s familiar ground for Burbank-area programs, and it should carry a comfort factor. Monday it didn’t show for either Burroughs or Burbank High.

Burbank’s best individual performance came from senior Seiji Frye, who posted a 77. The Bulldogs’ team 420 keeps them well back in the standings, but Frye’s round at least gave the program something to point to. For a squad sitting fourth in the Pacific League, individual scores like that don’t change the standings, but they don’t let the program slide further back either.

Lee’s co-medalist 67 helped Crescenta Valley make a statement. The Falcons don’t just have the numbers now, they’ve got momentum. A 390 is clean team golf, and moving into second behind Arcadia suggests they’re peaking at the right point in the schedule.

Full CIF Southern Section postseason implications won’t sort themselves out until the final league matches are played, and Burroughs isn’t finished yet. But the Indians can’t count on Malapote to carry the load alone. He said as much himself. For additional standings context and scoring breakdowns, California prep golf results has the full Pacific League data updated through Monday’s round.

The next match will tell a lot about whether Burroughs can re-enter the race or whether Arcadia’s 382 represents a lead the Apaches won’t relinquish.