SAXONBURG— Last fall, Joe Boros led Knoch's golf team in average score as a junior.

Considering he is the son of Treesdale Golf Club pro Joe Boros, that came as no surprise.

This year, Boros is averaging below 40 per nine-hole round again — but ranks only third in terms of the Knights' average score.

"This team has been pretty steady," said seventh-year Knoch coach Rob Voltz. "It's a deeper team than any I've had here before."

Knoch made the WPIALplayoffs in 2005 and 2006 — the first time the program reached the postseason since the mid-1990s — and is off to a 5-3 start in section play this year.

Two of the losses are to unbeaten Shady Side Academy, which has dominated the section for years. Knoch already owns a victory over Mars, the team it's battling for the other playoff berth out of the section.

"We've got six golfers, any of whom could shoot in the 30s," junior R.J. Sepich said. "That's how we win. Somebody is going to have a good round and we rarely have anyone with a terrible round."

The highest score posted by a Knoch golfer this year is 47. Sepich leads the team with a 38.2 average and has shot below 40 eight times in nine rounds so far this season.

Corey Branchen, also a junior, is averaging 39.3 and has shot below 40 six times in 10 rounds. Then comes Boros, a senior, at 39.6. He has been below 40 six times in nine rounds.

"We don't have just one good player," Branchen said. "That makes us tough to beat."

Freshman Jack Boros, Joe's younger brother, averages 40.7 and has shot below 40 four times. Sophomore Jared Hennig is at 41.6 and senior Kory Schorr is at 42.0.

Hennig has shot below 40 three times on the year. Schorr shot a personal-best 37 Tuesday at Vandegrift, helping the Knights tie the school record with a 187.

All five golfers shot below 40 Tuesday, led by Joe Boros with a 1-under 36.

Four of the top five golfers return next season.

"They have the potential to do very well next season, if everybody works hard over the summer,"Joe Boros said.

The Boros brothers began playing golf at age 3. Joe Boros was a junior varsity player as a freshman in 2005 while Jack has the fourth-lowest average on the varsity as a freshman.

"Jack is a good three strokes better than Joe was when he was a freshman and he hits the ball longer off the tee than Joe did at that age,"Voltz said.

"The difference is that Joe didn't have an older brother to play golf with when he was younger. When Jack was old enough to start playing regularly, he tagged along with Joe."

The younger Boros admitted that "Joe definitely elevates the level of my play. When we (Knoch) have a match, I feel like I'm not playing the other team. I'm playing against my older brother."

Both have benefited from having a golf pro for a father.

"He's there whenever we have a question or some type of problem with our game,"Joe Boros said.

Carrying the last name of Boros into a high school golf match doesn't add pressure to their game.

It might add pressure to their opponents, however.

"Other teams see us and figure, here we go, we're playing the golf pro's kids," Joe Boros said. "They get real quiet — real serious."