From there, the locals built on their advantage with captain Chase McKeown (74), Luke Brown (73) and Sean Masters (74) combining for the best three scores and a five over par total. Kadin Neho carded a 75 for a consistent team performance.
McKeown was delighted to hold aloft the New Zealand Secondary Schools Trophy and live up to the favourite tag.
"I am pretty proud of the boys," he said.
"We hung tough out there and stayed calm even with the rain delay this morning. We went well when we finally got to play."
He said that there was some pressure but they backed themselves after concerted practice at their home course.
"We heard that people were calling us favourites and we were like, yeah, we have home advantage up here in Northland so why not?"
Brown's eagle on the par 4 12th hole typified the team's day.
"We are pretty proud to have it at our home club, we trained pretty hard to achieve this with our coach, Quenton Diment, every Tuesday afternoon."
McKeown said Diment was a big part of this success.
"He is doing a great job. He coaches all four of us and his help gave us a lot of confidence."
NZ golf manager Phil Aickin, who was running the event at Waipu, was impressed by the Whangarei Boys' team effort.
"The players coped extremely well with the long wait in the morning yet still found the conditions challenging as illustrated by only one sub-par round," Aickin said.
"The locals showed today that they are going to be very competitive going into the Age Group Championship."
Tasman representative Ryan Chisnall of Waimea College and a member of the Srixon Development Squad shot the round of the day with a 2-under-par 70 in trying conditions.
"The final nine of Ryan Chisnall playing in the last group of the day and the worst conditions was outstanding," added Aickin.
The New Zealand Under-19 Championship is a 54-hole event at the Waipu Golf Club from September 5-7.
