Rarely in life are results as cut-and-dry as a win or a loss.

And rarely in sports does the final score reflect the complexities that go into what defines winning and losing outside the lines.

The Interlake boys golf team took the time to put both of those truths on display last week at the boys 2A state golf meet.

Five Saints made the cut to play on day-two, giving them the deepest squad in the field. But with Grant Cole and Patrick Sato still recovering from the flu, the uphill climb back to the top began for the defending state champions.

Cole and Sato “gutted it out,” according to head coach Scott Marcum, finishing in a tie for 20th and earning crucial team points in the process. Andrew Kennedy and Sam Fisher shouldered more of the load with their teammates struggling, ending the tournament in 12th and 16th respectively.

Then there was Andy Liu, and the worst round of his life.

Things began ominously when Liu was assessed a two-stroke penalty before he even stepped on the course after arriving two minutes late for the start of his round. The frustration from being tardy extended into Liu’s mindset, then his swing, taking its leave only after leaving a top-10 finisher from last season with an unheard of 111 for the round.

“Andy is such a good player, I wouldn’t imagine him going over 95, or even 90,” said Kennedy, who has anchored the team for each of its two state titles.

Before taking the tee, Liu was hoping to better his first day score of 85 and possibly contend for another top-10 finish at state. After the two-stroke penalty to get things started, much of that anticipation was gone.

“I just had to realize that every point and every stroke mattered,” Liu said. “It was for the team.”

While winning the tournament quickly went from improbable to impossible for Liu, he knew the team title was still within reach.

So as he roamed The Classic Golf Club in Spanaway, managing “the shanks” as Marcum jokingly put it, Liu put the misery and discontent out of his mind and replaced it with the thought of contributing to another state championship.

Even if it meant losing in the process.

The 111 was good for 40th place for Liu, dead last among day-two participants. But thanks to the point system used by the WIAA to calculate its team scoring champions, Liu did not come away empty handed. For finishing his round Liu earned the minimum one point for a day-two competitor, which just happened to be the one point his team needed to hold off Hockinson by a final score of 95-94.

“It was unique,” Marcum said of the finish to the tournament and season. “There is nothing like hearing them announce Interlake as the champions, and seeing all my guys get excited together as a group.”

They were still excited as they sat in Marcum’s office after school the following week, joking about the round and giving their friend a hard time after hearing he regained his form a day after state, firing a sub-40 score for nine holes.

None of the five is a senior, meaning even with the move to 3A coming next season, the Saints will have a legitimate shot to three-peat in 2013. Each knows the field will thicken and the back-to-back titles has made them the hunted among prep golf teams across the state.

So what is their plan for defending their title again? At least one member of the team had a sure-fire plan.

“Play a little better than 111.”

For the Love of the Game is a Reporter column written by sports reporter Josh Suman. Call Josh at 425-453-5045 or email jsuman@bellevuereporter.com.