Ceres High's varsity boys golf team needed to beat Los Banos this past week to keep its Western Athletic Conference title hopes alive.

The Bulldogs lost by 20 strokes, 204-224, to the visiting Tigers on April 14 at River Oaks.

Ceres High failed to gain ground on Los Banos in the WAC standings.

"We had to have a split," Bulldogs head coach Dave Fry said. "It would have put us a half-game back."

It marked the second time the Bulldogs lost to the Tigers in WAC head-to-head competition.

Los Banos and Ceres High placed first and second, respectively, at the conference mid-season tournament.

The second-place Bulldogs dropped to 6-2 in the league standings.

The first-place Tigers improved to 9-0 in WAC play.

"The big difference between us and them is they're more experienced," Fry said. They're a well-coached, quality team. They also play in tournaments every Monday. We've only played in one tournament this year."

Ceres High started four sophomores and two freshmen against Los Banos.

Sophomore James Cervantez led the Bulldogs with a 4-over-par 35.

Jacob Langan (So.), Jake Nevarez (Fr.), Zac Chapman (So.) and Kobe Daoheung (Fr.) shot 41, 44, 48 and 56, respectively.

The Tigers had two players post scores in the 30s, including Brandon Valdez (37) and Jimmy Georgiou (39). Drake Cook, Hunter Wooldridge and Jacob Haumea finished with rounds of 40, 43 and 45, respectively. "We wanted to beat Los Banos," Fry said. "We were right there. We had a couple hiccups."