There are some new kids on the block in the Lancaster-Lebanon League who have quickly made their presence known just a few years into their journey on the links.

Last season, Donegal won its first section title in just the program’s third season, and the Indians are not resting on any laurels heading into 2026.

Donegal ended the regular season 20-0 in 2025 to finish at the top of Section 3.

Now, the pressure is on to repeat as champions.

“The facts don’t lie: We were section champs in our third year playing,” senior Ryan Smeltz said. “That doesn’t really happen a lot. That’s a pretty big deal, and now it’s like now we got a target on our back.

“Every other team in the section of our league, they’re coming for us.”

And with confidence, and with that target, the Indians acknowledge that nothing is given and everything must be earned again in 2026.

“I’ve been coaching high school sports for a long time and every season is different,” Donegal coach Trent Hoffmaster said. “Whether you won the section championship or you finished in last place, there is a whole new set of kids and expectations. Everything changes from year to year.

“You try so hard as a coach to gather a program and make sure that things are repetitive, and that they have opportunities to play, and they understand the game or the sport that they play. But it’s always going to be different and changing.”

The Indians lost section all-stars James Peterson and Andrew Fabian to graduation, but the Donegal upperclassmen remain steadfast in their goals and approach to the game regardless of the changes that may come. The Indians play year-round, whether together or individually, and have stayed focused on improvement.

“I try to play with my friends a bunch,” senior Tyler Bernhardt said. “I love playing golf, so it’s easy to get out and play with friends and I play plenty with my dad. I think I play a ton just because I enjoy the game and I love playing.”

“We’re all pretty fortunate to live really close to our home golf course,” Smeltz said of the Highlands of Donegal. “It’s within a couple minutes from all our houses, so we can just get a group of guys together and go out and play whenever we want, and I play all year. Whether it’s indoor on a simulator or outside; whenever I can.”
In addition, Hoffmaster said that the team started a golf clinic over the summer to give others on the team every opportunity to succeed. Not to mention, two of the team’s seniors, Smeltz and Bernhardt, have been working at the Highlands of Donegal.

“We have practices throughout the month of July, optional of course, but that’s when we kind of ramp up,” Hoffmaster said. “And this year we started a three-day golf clinic in June. So we try to give them as many opportunities as we can. Obviously, golf is a very individualistic sport, especially when you get out of season, but we do have guys playing in tournaments and taking advantage of opportunities.”

Whether it’s working at the course or focusing on the task at hand during a match, the mental determination behind Donegal’s squad is going to be critical.

For junior Tyler Marshall — like Semltz, an honorable mention section all-star in 2025 — one bad hole often spoiled his round, but his teammates’ forward-thinking mentality could serve as the building blocks for this season, or any real-world context for that matter.

“Last year was good but it could have been a lot better,” Marshall said. “I had one hole each match that I would shoot double digits and that would put me in pretty bad shape. Hopefully, I can eliminate that and shoot a better score.”

“Golf is like 18 chapters in a book,” Smeltz said. “One bad chapter doesn’t define a book, and one bad hole doesn’t mean you lost the whole round. You can go out and you can change the score just like that.”