WESSON — Last season, the Copiah-Lincoln Community College golf team was down in the dumps.

After losing one player to a horrible tragedy and having another player move back home, the Wolves finished nearly last in the state.

Fast-forward one year, and the Wolves are celebrating their first-ever Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges Division II state title and a third-place finish in the National Junior College Athletic Association regional tournament with a two-day score of 317-319-636.

“We went from worst to first, basically,” coach Ronny Ross said. “The team was really hurt, and we were just kind of in a blur. It was just kind of a bad year all around. But we bounced back this year and got some good kids, and we’ve got a great chance to repeat again next year.”

And one local former soccer player has helped get them there.

Franklin County High graduate Ryan Ratcliff tied for fifth in the regional tournament with a two-day total of 74-78-152.

That score qualified him for next week’s NCJAA National Tournament at Goose Pond Colony in Scottsboro, Ala.

“If he gets out there, he’s got the talent to win,” Ross said. “He would have to play very well, but he can do that. He doesn’t let the pressure get to him a whole lot — he just kind of takes it in stride.”

But Ratcliff wasn’t always a college golfer. He came to Co-Lin on a soccer scholarship.

But he approached Ross about playing golf, and his game blossomed.

“He was such a good athlete, he just needed a little tweaking,” Ross said. “In two years, it’s unbelievable the difference in his game. He’s very consistent and very coachable.”

Mississippi College and Delta State are both recruiting the sophomore for next season, but Ross said if Ratcliff does well at nationals, bigger schools across the country could become interested as well.

And another local name may be the face of the team next year.

Freshman Donnie McFarland of Meadville tied for ninth place in at regionals with a score of 77-80-157 in his first year with the team, and Ross said he played well at the state tournament as well.

“Donnie is a good, solid little player that can very easily — if he works hard — be the best player in our junior college region next year,” Ross said. “He struggled with his game a little bit this fall but the talent is there. He’s just got to pull it together.”

Colby Bass, of Bude, and Ulric Minor, of Natchez, also helped lift the team to the state title, Ross said.

Ross said the cold, windy weather conditions actually helped get the Wolves the state title.

“I knew that we had the talent, but to be totally honest, I feel like Gulf Coast CC was probably more talented,” he said. “We just had a little better team unity. I had five kids that were grinders. There were tough conditions on a tough golf course, and our players were just a little tougher than the other kids.”

The Wolves won a couple state titles when they were in Division III, but Ross said that’s an entirely different game of golf.

He said once the team moved to Division II, it was difficult to compete with other schools in the state.

“When I got here, the Co-Lin golf program was nowhere near up to par with Gulf Coast or Hinds,” Ross said. “The bigger schools had eight scholarships, they had all the money for travel, they played in more tournaments — it was just a more attractive program. I told Ronnie Nettles (dean at Co-Lin Natchez), ‘Look, we either need to drop back down to Division III or get on the same page with everyone else,’ and he agreed.”

And a few years later, the Wolves are ahead of the pack. Co-Lin is losing three players from this season’s team, but Ross said there are plenty of freshmen waiting to step up and more recruits ready to fight for starting spots.

And winning, he said, will be up to them.

“Golf is such a fickle game,” Ross said. “One day you feel like you’ve got it conquered and the next you can’t even hit the darn thing.”