A year ago, the Westlake High golf team had to endure the disappointment of finishing just a stroke back of advancing to the CIF team finals while also watching league rival Royal claim the CIF-Southern Section Northern Divisional championship.

At Monday's Northern Divisional at Soule Park in Ojai, the Warriors took a big step toward wiping out the memory of 2007 with an impressive performance.

Led by junior Marshall Colby's 4-par-under 67, Westlake posted a team score of 3-over 358, winning the CIF Northern Divisional title by six strokes over West Ranch from Stevenson Ranch. Royal, which had won two consecutive Northern Divisional titles, finished third, four strokes behind West Ranch. Only the top two teams move on.

Westlake will play in Thursday's CIF-SS Team Finals at Candlewood Country Club in Whittier.

Westlake coach Dave Costley has coached plenty of great teams during his time at the school, but he said this year's team is truly special.

"These kids are as good as we have ever had," Costley said. "It's just awesome. We have never posted scores like this. We were 3 over today, we were 5 under at Tierra Rejada and we shot even par at Simi Hills. We have never done that. They are that good."

How good is Westlake playing as a team? They threw out a 79 on Monday, a score that most teams in the field would have loved to keep as one of their five scores.

Colby said he and his teammates were confident heading into Monday's championship because they have continued to get better as the season unfolded.

"We all have gotten hot at the same time," Colby said. "We are peaking at the right time."

Costley said for the last few years he believed these players had the potential to put together this kind of season.

Costley said his past teams have lacked the kind of chemistry needed to be successful.

"This year, the kids have just gelled," Costley said. "They finally started to believe in the team concept. They support each other, unlike some of the other teams we have had here in recent years.

"The difference makers all year have been Brandon (Hagy) and Marshall (Colby). They are a tough 1-2 combination to beat. They take turns leading us. During league finals it was Brandon; today it was Marshall. And the cast that follows them is also real strong. We had a 73, 74, 73 today. That is hard to beat."

Royal coach Bob Misko knows the excitement of winning a CIF title, but on Monday he had the unfortunate experience of seeing his team play well, but still fall short of its goal.

"If you had told me at the start of the day we'll give your team a 368, I'm sure I would have taken that in a heartbeat," Misko said. "We've been on such a good run, we knew it would come to an end some time, but we were hoping it would be a little later than today."

Westlake and Royal have battled each other all season, so Costley said he was a little disappointed they would not get another chance to compete in the finals.

His players were not so disappointed.

"It's a little payback. We had to sit and watch them last year, but this year they get to watch us," said senior Scot Patterson.