GOLF: QUARTZ HILL CLOSING IN ON A TITLE GIRLS' GOLF TEAM SWEEPS GOLDEN FOES.

Byline: Dave Shelburne Staff Writer

Quartz Hill High moved a step closerto a third consecutive Golden League girls' golf championship by handing Lancaster its first league defeat of the season.

The Rebels took the first five individual spots and totaled 229 in sweeping Lancaster (303) and Palmdale (323) in a three-way league match Thursday at Crystalaire Country Club in Llano.

Ali Erdman shot 40, Katie Dilger, Ayla Friga and Chelsie Martinez each had a 47 and Sarah Webb 48 for Quartz Hill, which improved to 15-3 overall and 10-0 in league play.

The Rebels' victory broke them out of a first-place tie with young and improving Lancaster (12-2, 9-1), which is playing with no seniors and enjoying the best season in its brief history of girls' golf.

``I think next year is really going to be interesting,'' said Quartz Hill coach Stu Manthey, whose team can lock up the Rebels' fourth league title in five seasons by defeating Highland and Lancaster in Thursday's three-way match at Rancho Vista Golf Course in Palmdale.

Manthey said this Quartz Hill team - it already has qualified for the Nov. 8 Northern Divisionals at River Ridge Golf Club in Oxnard - is comparable to his 2004 team, which came within three strokes of advancing to the Southern Section final.

``We've been very consistent this year,'' said Manthey, whose team lost two-time Southern Section individual finalist Danielle O'Neill when she opted to not play high school golf this season. ``The scores have been very similar. I think the big difference is the loss of Danielle was made up for by the play of a lot of our other golfers.''

--The 36-hole Golden League tournament to determine the league's two individual postseason qualifiers will be held Monday at Crystalaire and Wednesday at Rancho Vista.

Erdman, averaging about 39.5 in league play, is the Rebels' leading candidate for a berth in the Nov. 4 Southern Section individual final at Diamond Bar Golf Club. Manthey said Friga and Martinez also have been playing well recently.

``(Martinez) got off to a slow start, but now she's strong,'' Manthey said. ``Three of her past four scores have been in the low 40s.''

Dilger, averaging near 40 strokes in league, recently recorded one of the best shots by a Rebel this season - holing an eagle from the fairway at Antelope Valley Country Club in Lancaster.

``She hit a 9-iron in from about 120 yards,'' Manthey said.

--Brother act: Palmdale resident Lawrence Jarvey, who nearly won the Western State Conference scoring title in his redshirt-sophomore season at College of the Canyons in 2003, teamed up with younger brother Erik last week to qualify for the Southern California Golf Association Four-Ball Championship.

Erik Jarvey, now a freshman starting for Cal State Northridge, and Lawrence - he failed in a bid to make the CSUN team as a walk-on this season after being out of competitive golf for a year - combined to shoot 8-under-par 64 in their SCGA Four-Ball qualifier at Crystalaire.

The younger Jarvey, a June graduate of Highland High - both brothers were Southern Section qualifiers for the Bulldogs - has been hot lately. He placed sixth at the SCGA Amateur championship in July, with Lawrence as caddie, then won the CSUN preseason tournament to start the year as the Matadors' No. 1 player, then opened his collegiate career with a team-medalist score of 68 at the Northwest Collegiate Classic.

Team Jarvey finished with nine birdies against a bogey at Crystalaire in a 33-31 effort to finish one shot clear of its nearest challengers. The top 12 teams in the 36-team qualifier claimed berths in the Dec. 14-15 SCGA Four Ball Championship at El Niguel Country Club in Laguna Niguel.

The Jarveys' success contributed to some interesting dynamics. Erik's Cal State Northridge coach, Jim Bracken, just missed advancing to the Four-Ball final.

Bracken and James Forsyth combined to shoot 69, good for second alternate.

Dave Shelburne, [phone]

dave.shelburne(at)dailynews.com