Peter Bishop is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Pinnacle High School for AZPreps365.com

Challenging Trilogy Golf Club got the better of Pinnacle golf Wednesday as the team, which was missing key players, struggled to find its groove in Peoria.

The No. 8-ranked team in the state, Pinnacle found itself stacked against Boulder Creek, Greenway, and host team Sunrise Mountain.

The team was left without its No. 2 and No. 3 golfers, Liam Allan and Tyler Sehnal, as the team was looking to give some of the senior players some match time, which proved to be a tough obstacle to overcome.

Consequently, the team posted its worst result of the season with a scoring average of 160, putting the squad in second place on the day behind Boulder Creek, which managed to post a team-scoring average of 153 on the backs of senior Blake Eddy, and sophomore Daniel Thomas.

Despite this, there were many positive takeaways from Wednesday’s match for the Pioneers.

Although he struggled to find his swing early in the round, senior James Rogers tied for the lowest individual score in the event shooting a 1-under-par 35 on the day. 

Despite that, Rogers wasn't satisfied with his comeback performance. 

“Nothing to it, [poor] round of golf but we’ll move on.” Rogers said after the match. 

Rogers struggled to find his driver early in the day after he posted a double bogey on the fourth hole. 

However, the talented senior bounced back with an excellent second shot on the fifth hole, out of a tough area in the desert, leading to an up and down for birdie which was what Rogers needed to swing the momentum in his favor.

Rogers ended the day with three total birdies including consecutive ones on holes eight and nine.

Freshman Bo Moore finished with the second-best score of the day for Pinnacle, shooting a 41 that was good enough for the sixth-best individual score at the match. 

Moore capitalized on the final hole of the round with a birdie to knock his score to 5 over on the day.

Senior Mason Collins and junior Russel Roodenburg shot a pair of 42s, and senior Tyler Morrison shot a 48 to round out the scoring for Pinnacle.

Collins also displayed his best golf later in the round as the senior birdied the par-5 ninth hole after a series of bogeys on the prior two holes.

Despite the team's self-proclaimed struggles, coach Jason Jones had many positive takeaways from Wednesday’s match. 

“It has nothing to do with our competitiveness,” Jones said “The program is absolutely Ironclad, we do everything as a team.”

Pinnacle left the match in good spirits and with a strong sense of team as the state tournament looms. 

“I consider it a family,” Collins said. “We have a great balance of everything. We get the job done at the end of the day.”