AUBURN – Winning a championship is hard enough.

Wearing a bulls-eye on your back for an entire season afterward while trying to defend that title is much harder.

But after claiming its first state golf title last season, St. Dom’s will gladly wear that bulls-eye.

“The kids have to play smart golf this year.” St. Dom’s third-year coach Kevin Cullen said. “But they also know we have to be even better this year.”

Better? Than a 48-stroke victory at the Class C state championships last year?

“Our biggest competition is actually in getting to states,” Cullen said.

The team hoping to spoil the Saints’ party is another private school also known in recent years for its top golfers, North Yarmouth Academy. The two teams last year were easily the top two Class C teams in the state, and had NYA accompanied St. Dom’s to the tournament at Natanis, Cullen is confident that one of the teams would have won, and the other come in second, with still 40 strokes to spare on the rest of the field.

But rules in qualifying prevent both teams from advancing beyond the Western Maine Conference qualifier. Since there are only three Class C schools in the WMC, only one of them advances to the state tournament.

That puts a premium on playing your best golf earlier in the season.

“It would be nice to be undefeated again,” Saints’ top golfer Richard Paradis said, “but even if we would lose four or five matches this year, all that matters is that qualifier for states. It’s two rounds to determine the season.”

To prepare for the two-day event at Willowdale, the Saints are using plenty of practice time at Fox Ridge in Auburn, the team’s home course. They’re using it, though, to learn how to play a bit smarter.

“We see people take driver all over the place,” Paradis said. “Coach (Cullen) is teaching us to be smarter players, to take less club off of difficult tees and put ourselves in good positions out on the course. It’s helped all of us lower our averages by five strokes.”

Having a few golfers who’ve been there before helps, too.

Paradis, D.J. St. Pierre and Greg LaBonte, all seniors this season, were all key contributors to last year’s run. It was arguably LaBonte’s surprise low-80s round at Willowdale in the WMC qualifier that pushed the Saints into the state tournament.

“This team definitely shows signs of being the same, if not better than last year,” LaBonte said. “Hopefully all of our practice pays off, because we know we’re going to make the playoffs, and when we get there, we need to be playing our best golf.”

The Saints’ schedule in the regular season is highlighted by a pair of matchups against Gray-New Gloucester, the only Class A school in the WMC and a divisional rival. The Patriots have also returned nearly everyone, and while their format to qualify for the state tournament is a bit different, the head-to-head matches will go a long way toward helping both teams prepare for the grind of their qualifying tournaments.

“If I had it my way, all of our matches would be like that,” LaBonte said. “It’s not exciting blowing someone out. It’s good to play a tough match and grind it out. That’s what high school golf is all about.”