CANYON, Texas – The dream season for West Texas A&M men's golf came to a close on Friday evening as a birdie on the final hole sent the North Georgia Nighthawks to the NCAA Division II National Championship at Orange County National Golf Center (Par 71 – 7,419 Yards) in Winter Garden, Florida during the NCAA DII Spring Festival.
 
Quarterfinals Recap
The national quarterfinals saw the Buffaloes tie top-seeded West Florida, 2-2-1 with WT advancing via a total stroke tiebreaker as they bested the Argonauts by four shots (352 to 356).
 
Pepe De La Concepción Quílez shot a 74 (+3) during the round as he overcame a three-shot deficit after the opening hole to battle back to within two at the turn before falling by a stroke to UWF's Mason Minkel. Pablo Rebolleda kept WT's season alive in his match as the junior from Spain trailed by two strokes with three holes remaining before battling back to tie with Fabian Wennerlof with rounds of 71 (E), Rebolleda entered WT's lineup for the medal match play after serving as the team's alternate during the 56 holes of team stroke play.
 
Luis Palomo impressed on Friday morning as the sophomore went in the red with a 66 (-5) to pick up a seven-stroke victory over UWF's TJ Thompson. Santiago Caride carded a round of +4 (75) as a tie thru the first three holes was followed by Per Ekelund pulling away for a five-stroke win. The final matchup of the morning featured individual National Champion Wyatt Provence as the freshman from Amarillo continued his impressive tournament with a 66 (-5) to claim a three-stroke win over UWF's Cooper Tendick.
 
Semifinals Recap
The Buffs battled until the final hole before fifth-seeded North Georgia punched their ticket to Championship Saturday with a 2-1-2 victory.
 
De La Concepción Quílez shot a 76 (+5) during the semifinal round as his match was tied twice during the round before Hughes Threlkeld claimed a one-stroke victory. Rebolleda continued his strong play during the second round of the day, carding a -1 (70) in a back-and-forth battle with UNG's Myles Jones to claim a split.
 
Palomo stayed hot in his second round of the day as the sophomore shot a 66 (-5) in back-to-back rounds to claim a three-shot victory over Jack Vajda. Caride responded in the afternoon as the sophomore from Argentina fired a 70 (-1) in a back-and-forth fight with Noah Zediker that saw Zediker tie up the match on the final hole to tie. It all came down to the final pairing of the afternoon as the 18^th hole proved to be the difference, UNG's Will Chambless birdied the par-five final hole to claim a one stroke win over Provence to send the Nighthawks to the National Championship Match.