Setting the Example: Southside girls golf win school’s first state title
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
Southside junior Rhyan Marcelissen had chipped onto the green at No. 18 at Le Triomphe Golf & Country Club during the final round of last week’s Division I girls LHSAA golf state championships.
With the Lady Sharks in control of the race for the team championship, Marcelissen putted for par on the par-4 finale and glanced to find her brother, Blake, nearby in the gallery nodding in approval.
Seven years into its existence as a school, Southside won the Youngsville-based school’s first state championship with an eight-stroke victory over runner-up Barbe. St. Joseph’s Academy was 14 back, followed by St. Thomas More and Mandeville at 15.
“That’s when I kind of realized that we did it and we sealed it,” Marcelissen said of her eye contact with her brother, who was a three-year member on the school’s first golf team.
Marcelissen’s two-day total of 152 and Caroline Endsley, who finished 11th at 168, propelled the Lady Sharks, who were fifth in 2024 and third in 2025.
“As freshmen, they were able to compete,” fourth-year Southside coach Cade Candella said of his two cornerstones. “They didn’t really know what to expect. They were going out there and getting their footing. We competed against some high-quality girls last year and came out third. They got that drive and wanted it. They worked their tails off.
“They knew what they were going to compete for this year,” Candella said. “Barbe brought everybody back, and we knew there were going to be tough competition. That’s what we were really looking at all year – us and Barbe – and we had to go beat them.”
Southside also had Avery Luke competing at the state tournament, but in the LHSAA state competition, only a team’s two lowest scorers are counted toward the final total.
When Marcelissen and Endsley left the final green, they were able to embrace with friends and family and their three other teammates.
Barbe set a high standard throughout the spring season, knocking off Southside along the way during invitational play and again in Division I regional competition by eight straight strokes the week before at Mallard Golf Club in Lake Charles.
“Barbe’s one of our biggest rivals,” Marcelissen said. “We’re always going back and forth with them. To win state was a big thing for us.”
Southside went 8-0 In league play, placed second four times and third on two occasions.
“We’ve got three girls we feel are pretty strong, and they’re all coming back,” Candella said. “We’re excited about that.”
Southside trailed Barbe by two strokes following the first round followed by Mandeville.
“We kind of talked about it after round one,” Marcelissen said. “Caroline didn’t play how she wanted to play. We just talked about what we could do in round two to get those strokes back. I just told her to go out and play like she knew she could because she knew the course. I just went out and tried to pull my weight and do the best that I could to beat them.”
Endsley had two birdies and was 2-over on the front nine, while Marcelissen was 4-over, setting the stage for a memorable final nine holes and a date with school history.
There’s a stretch at Le Triomphe – the Nos. 12-13-14 holes – that present quite a challenge with three consecutive Par-5s.
Southside managed to acquit itself quite well, while Barbe faltered and opened the door for the Lady Sharks.
“That’s when we started to see the scoreboard flip,” Candella said. “We gained some strokes on Barbe. They knew there was a big flip and never let their foot off the gas. That’s where it kind of turned for us. They just kept pushing through the remaining holes.”
Southside gained six strokes on Barbe over those three holes, shooting 4-over with both golfers getting birdies on No. 12. Endsley, who battled back from an injury last month, and Marcelissen were both 1-under in that stretch, with Marcelissen recording two of her six birdies over the two-day tournament.
Conversely, Barbe was 4-over and didn’t quite recover.
“That kick-started each other,” Marcelissen said of the birdies she and Endsley made at No. 12. “It was like, we’re going on a roll right here.”
Southside did additional damage down the stretch.
The Lady Sharks gained five additional strokes, led by Marcelissen’s even-par score, and were 5-over compared to Barbe’s 10-over sequence over the last four holes.
“It was a cool moment to see Blake there at the 18th,” Candella said. “It was really cool to see that there was some groundwork from her brother that kind of jumpstarted the program.”
Playing at Le Triomphe provided a level of comfort for Marcelissen, who lives on the property and regularly plays the challenging course.
She was able to convey her insights and hand-written notes from playing the course to Endsley and Lusk, who were playing it for the first time.
“She asked me for my notes for these couple of holes that she struggled with,” Marcelissen said of Endsley after the first round. “We had some things to work on putting, and she did some chipping.”
Endsley had six Top 10 finishes during the season and a low round of 79 this season.
Marcelissen said she didn’t have an exact handle on the lead Southside had going into the 18th. Her drive on the final hole was exactly where she wanted to be in the fairway, leading to a par, a one-stroke improvement over the first round.
“I knew what to do for my approach shot, and I trusted it,” she said.
Candella said his team’s victory over Barbe was the culmination of a tug-of-war between the two teams.
“Throughout the course of the season, we were right up there,” he said. “All of our runner-up finishes were to Barbe, and the one we won (Iowa Classic), we beat Barbe. It was a year-long battle between us. It was great competition all year long. We were consistently right there with them.
“I was stoked for the girls,” Candella said. “They worked their tails off. To know what this meant for them, to know what it meant for Southside, and what it meant for me, I was so proud of them. To see it come to fruition was a heck of a feeling.”
Following completion of the final round, teams convened for awards, where Brusly’s Maci Williams was awarded medalist honors.
When the teams were announced, from St. Thomas More, Mandeville, SJA, and Barbe, Southside made the walk to hoist its first state championship.
“It felt good to know that we did it as a team,” said Marcelissen, who won two tournaments during the season and have a scoring average of 75.9 and low round of 73. “It feels good and hopefully we’ll do it back-to-back. We really wanted it. Knowing that we beat Barbe and we were able to take home the first state championship was just an amazing feeling. Winning a tournament in your own backyard was a special feeling.”
A day later, during the school’s morning announcements, the golf team was recognized for its accomplishment.
Marcelissen said there was a different vibe on campus that day.
“It was a good feeling to get recognized for what we did,” she said. “Just walking through each class and in the hallways, and even people that I didn’t necessarily talk to as much, were congratulating me and kind of boosting us up.”
There’s a trophy case in the school’s athletics hallway that will house the first state championship, Candella said.
The state championship may be for the girls’ golf team, but the gold-plated trophy is a sign of excellence for all sports to aspire to emulate.
“They know what this means for not just themselves, not just the golf program, but for Southside as a whole,” Candella said. “We’re getting a lot of support from the entire community. We’re excited to lay the groundwork for multiple programs to follow up and bring a state championship here. We’re just stoked and glad to be the first ones to do it. We won’t be the last.”