Charlevoix Golf Playing to Add Championship to Awe-Inspiring Comeback
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
June 3, 2026
The final chapter in Bryce Boss’ high school golf career will be written this weekend at the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Final at Michigan State’s Forest Akers West.
Boss will be playing in his third Final after leading Charlevoix to a Regional title last week. Now a senior, he will tee off with hopes of winning an individual and team championship.
“Bryce has a great chance this spring,” said coach Doug Drenth. “He's such a great leader for us and is doing such a great job. He's such a great example for Charlevoix. It’s pretty cool to see how far he's come.”
With Boss in the lineup, Charlevoix finished fourth at the 2023 Final. The Rayders finished sixth in 2024 current teammates Joe Gaffney, now a senior, and Maxwell Drenth, a junior, joining Boss in the lineup.
Charlevoix didn’t qualify for last season’s championship rounds, finishing eighth at the Regional. Gaffney and Drenth were unable to golf that day and missed the majority of last season after the team was part of a horrific car crash that April 27. The team was on its way to spend the night at Crystal Mountain, returning from the first day of a two-day tournament at Arcadia Bluffs. Coach Drenth was driving the team van.
Boss and now-junior Landen Whistler were able to come back from the crash and play in the Regional, along with seniors Jackson Crouse and Emmett Bergmann and now-senior Keane Helstrom.
“It’s more about the guys who really missed out last year, their recovery and their comeback,” Boss noted about this weekend’s opportunity. “Especially for guys like Coach, and for Joe, and for Maxwell, who really missed out last year on everything because of the accident, and now we're making a comeback as a team.”
And what a comeback it has been.
Boss endured scrapes, a concussion and bruised ribs in the crash. He and Whistler were able to return to school a few days after, but others, especially Coach Drenth and Gaffney, were not as they suffered near-fatal injuries.
So far, the comeback on the golf course has included Northern Shores Conference and Regional championships for the Rayders with Boss, Gaffney, Whistler and Max Drenth scoring in both. Boss was crowned conference and Regional champion while leading the Rayders back to the Final.
The team shot the lowest round in school history at the conference meet.
“Sometimes when you talk about hard things, you can gain some therapy,” acknowledged Drenth, now in his ninth season at the helm of the Rayders. “But I would say that we're all looking forward to moving on in life. I'm grateful that we're here, and we're looking forward to just being back to ‘normalish.’ I feel like we are looking at hope and what we can achieve. So I'm looking forward to moving on.”
Part of the moving on for the Rayders included adding Helstrom and freshman Blake Boss to the regular lineup.
As his final chapter is revealed this weekend, Boss believes even better Charlevoix golf teams will materialize after he graduates. Max Drenth, who was hospitalized more than a week after the crash, and Whistler will be among those back next year to carry on the program’s success.
“Maxwell and Landon are going to do awesome,” Boss said. “Blake just realized this year that golf is really a sport that he wants to do, so hopefully that'll lead him to practicing more and getting better. And then we have two or three incoming freshmen. I don't know if they'll be great their freshman year … (but) they'll end up being some of the better players Charlevoix has ever had.”
More than a year after the crash, Drenth – who also coaches the girls and boys cross country teams – continues to battle the physical side of recovery. He was hospitalized during the immediate aftermath for two months, undergoing multiple surgeries and physical therapy. He also journeyed to Florida for specialized physical therapy, with funds provided by the Charlevoix community through a GoFundMe effort that was part of a tremendous amount of support the program received.
“The biggest part of his recovery is the fact that he's always so positive and happy and hopeful about everything,” Boss said. “There was a lot of fear from everybody for him, but he truly believed he would recover and be back to almost normal, again. I think that optimism is what led him to recover so well.”
Still facing occasional hospital stays, Drenth was able to return to coaching both sports, missing only one meet this year. Matt Peterson and Emily Edwards, his assistant cross country coaches, and Bruce Beaudoin, his assistant golf coach, have played even bigger roles during Drenth’s recovery.
“I'm grateful for Matt and Emily, my two coaches that were there every day,” Drenth said. “And Bruce has such amazing knowledge of golf, which is so important. But more important than that, he's just so good with me and the boys.”
His cross country team made a major splash this past fall, winning the Lower Peninsula Division 3 championship. Hunter Eaton, a junior, won the individual title. Junior Ryder Hopkins and senior Matthew Solomon joined Eaton on the all-state team. Max Drenth wrapped up the team scoring recording his best career time at the Final.
“I truly believe that the success that we have had, both in golf and cross country, is directly related to the help of others,” said Drenth, whose golf and cross coaching career goes back to 1989. “Nothing great is ever accomplished alone!”
As such, Charlevoix knows success this weekend will be the result of success throughout the lineup.
“It's going to be really up in the air because it's kind of been all year for us,” Bryce Boss predicted. “If our (number) three and our four play good, we tend to shoot amazingly well.”
Drenth believes it will come down to the team performing up to its potential.
“I just hope and pray that they play to their ability,” Drenth said. “I know, if we do that, like the cross country team — they just ran to their abilities — we can play golf with anybody.”
While Drenth is coaching the Final, he’ll also be filled with gratitude and hope for the future.
“For my wife, Tricia, and our two boys, Oliver and Maxwell, this has changed their lives and I wouldn't be here without my family who came to the hospital every day … my brothers and their wives and families … and then the teams that came all the time,” Drenth said. “Whether it be my cross kids that have graduated or golfers that are still here, or whether they were in the hospital with me, and then the greater Charlevoix community – I mean, it's just unbelievable how much good has come out of something so bad.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Charlevoix’s Bryce Boss eyes a putt during last week’s Regional at Birchwood in Harbor Springs. (2) The Charlevoix golf team poses for a photo during a gathering July 17. (3) Drenth confers with one of his golfers during the Regional. (4) Drenth, back seat, rides in the Charlevoix Homecoming parade this past fall with wife Tricia in a vehicle driven by assistant cross country coach Matt Peterson. (Regional photos by Drew Kochanny/Petoskey News-Review. Family photos courtesy of Tricia Drenth.)
5 All-Leaguers + No Seniors = Big Things Ahead for Kalamazoo Christian Boys Golf
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
May 26, 2026
KALAMAZOO — In spite of a team loaded with sophomores, juniors and even a contributing freshman, Kalamazoo Christian coach Brian Seifert is optimistic heading into today’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Golf Regional at Centreville’s Island Hills Golf Course.
Seifert has reason for that optimism.
His top five golfers, none of them seniors, all earned all-conference honors in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, and the sixth golfer barely missed it.
“In high school golf, you want a solid three guys for sure that can help you go really low,” Seifert said. “Four makes you a wild card and I’ve got four, five and six that can really play golf. It’s pretty fun to watch.”
Two of those golfers, junior Brixton DeVries and sophomore Ian Riggs, were instrumental in the Comets’ fifth-place finish at last year’s MHSAA Division 3 Final.
DeVries said one important thing to remember in tournament play is “don’t let a bad shot get to you. You’ve got to stay mentally there the entire time.”
Riggs added, “It’s a team effort. Every shot counts, short putts, everything counts. Staying level-minded through your round is definitely a big thing with our team.”
He also said he noticed there are a lot of good golfers competing, but “you’ve just not got to worry about the scores and play your game.”
Seifert said Riggs has been working on his game and also takes lessons.
“He’s really improved this year, and to be named SAC (Most Valuable Golfer) as a sophomore is really nice,” he said.
A third all-conference golfer, Max Nobis, returned this year from a devastating injury and also earned all-conference honors along with sophomores Hart Hoekzema and Owyn Webb. Freshman Cade Van Dusen just missed league recognition.
Nobis joined the golf team, transferring from Hackett Catholic Prep, after recovering from an injury suffered while playing club soccer a year ago.
“I got slide-tackled in one of our games and ended up snapping my fibula and tibia in half,” he said. “Broke both.
“I had surgery two weeks later and have a metal rod in my leg.”
Nobis did physical therapy twice a week for a month, then continued on his own at the gym.
Seifert said he is happy Nobis is far enough removed from the injury and healthy enough to golf.
“He’s worked on his game and figured out how to navigate injury and golf at the same time,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting him. It was a real bonus to get Max.”
DeVries said in spite of losing two seniors to graduation, he thinks this year’s team is even better than last season’s contender.
“I feel like our whole team is good at leading,” he said. “We all contribute.”
Learning from last year’s road to the Finals, DeVries said the keys to playing well are “showing up and helping the rest of the team. You learn that you have to really show up at practice and be there mentally and physically.”
Seifert said the junior has not had a bad round all season.
“He’s going to give me something I know we can count on, consistent leadership,” Seifert noted. “You need that in golf to set the pace. That pulls everybody along.”
Riggs said a key to success is to “keep grinding even if I have a bad first hole, fifth hole. You’ve got 18 holes of golf to play, so you just have to keep grinding until the last hole.”
While the Comets aren’t looking past Regionals, if they qualify for the Finals, their confidence should increase.
Division 3 will be hosted at Bedford Valley in Battle Creek, where the Comets shot a school-record 305 two weeks ago.
“As a coach I try to schedule our matches on courses where we know there will be significant play, and Bedford Valley is one of them that we go to once or twice because it’s always in the mix,” Seifer said. “Understanding the course better is really important, and being successful on it, I like our chances right along with everyone else’s.”
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Kalamazoo Christian’s Max Nobis follows his putt as it approaches the cup. (Middle) Clockwise from top left: Kalamazoo Christian boys golf coach Brian Seifert, junior Brixton DeVries, sophomore Ian Riggs and junior Max Nobis. (Action photo courtesy of Seifert; headshots by Pam Shebest.)