Gabriel Riveros chunked a shot into an unraked divot in a bunker on the ninth hole Tuesday at Clear Creek Golf Course, took two shots to get out of it and wound up making bogey.

Moments later, Channing Curtis made an eagle putt for a three-shot swing and a brief glimpse of a miracle comeback at the Warren County Junior Championship.

That’s all it was, was brief.

Riveros recovered to shoot 1-under par on the back nine and cruised to a second-round 69 — one of his lowest scores ever on the Bovina course — to beat his St. Aloysius teammate by nine strokes for his first county junior title.

Riveros carded 142 over two rounds and Curtis shot 72 on Tuesday to finish at 151. Their other St. Al teammates, Brandon Teller and Wilson Palmertree, were third and fourth at 186 and 190, respectively.

“That ties my lowest round in a tournament. I shot 69 at the Junior Am last year, but that was it,” Riveros said. “My putter was really good. I got here about 30 minutes early and just worked on my putting. I knew that was what was going to help me throughout the day.”

Riveros said the two-day run through the Junior Championship was a confidence boost heading into the larger Warren County Championship this weekend. Riveros finished fourth at the County Championship in 2013 and figures to be a contender this year.

“It’s more like how I play. My score, not the tournament in general. If I can play that well this weekend, it’s going to be really good,” Riveros said.

Although he came up on the short end, Curtis also got a lift from Tuesday’s round. He shot a 79 on Monday and improved by seven shots the next day — and could have gone lower.

After making birdie on the 10th hole, Curtis missed a 4-foot par putt and made bogey on the No. 11, missed a short birdie putt on No. 12, and three-putted on No. 13. Although he would have been hard-pressed to overtake Riveros even if he’d made the putts, the misses certainly didn’t help his cause.

“I missed a bunch of short putts coming down the stretch. He just coasted along into the win,” Curtis said.

Like Riveros, Curtis is a contender to win the Warren County Championship. He finished fourth in the event and won the Clear Creek Club Championship in 2014. Curtis is also looking ahead, though. He’ll play in the Southern States Cup, a match play event featuring six-man teams from Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, next week in Norman, Oklahoma.

Curtis plans to leave immediately for Oklahoma after Sunday’s final round at the County Championship.

“It boosted my confidence a lot. I still need to do just a little bit of work. Not so much for the Warren County, but I’m going to Oklahoma for the Southern States Cup matches the next three days. So I really need to get my game up for that,” he said.

The four high school golfers were competing in Division A, but there were two other flights at the Junior Championship for younger golfers. Both Division B and Division C played nine holes per round.

In Division B, Joshua Larson shot a two-round total of 87 to beat Phillip Upshaw by two shots. Hartley Sullivan was third, at 94, followed by Luke Yocum (97) and Will Keen (109).

Carson Smith won the Division C tournament by going 47-52 for a two-day total of 99. Vaughn Hynum was second, at 106, and Thompson Fortenberry third with 109.

Elizabeth Keen shot 136 over 18 holes to win the girls championship. She was the only player entered.