Quartet of captains leads a Pirate squad that boast 33 seniors into a new league
As the Santa Ynez High football squad takes the practice field in preparation for the season opener, two things that can be counted on for the Pirates is one, experience, and two, camaraderie.
As for experience, out of 53 players total on the roster, SYHS boasts 33 seniors, the most 12th-year head coach Josh McClurg can remember his team having.
The coach hopes that experience will be a big factor in the Pirates’ efforts to improve on last year’s 4-7 record. And,SYHS will be making those efforts as part of a new league as the Central Coast area is split up into three leagues again, landing the Pirates in the new (for football) Sunset League with Atascadero, Pioneer Valley, Righetti, and San Luis Obispo.
But then there’s the second thing, the camaraderie, and according to the Pirates’ newly selected team captains — Luca Clifton, Ben Flores, Ryder McClurg, and Alex Thompson — that’s a connection that goes beyond the football field.
“I love the spirit of this team,” said running back/linebacker Luca Clifton. “We’re really close; we do a lot of stuff outside of football, we’re all good friends and we’ve all bought into what we’re trying to accomplish here.”
And McClurg, son of the head coach and the last of four brothers to play for SYHS, it goes even farther back than high school.
“The majority of us have been playing together since YFL, before high school,” he said. “So, we’re pretty tight because of that, and it really helps on the field.”
Flores said that has really shown itself during this preseason.
“I think this is the closest the team’s been since I’ve been here,” he said. “The last couple years, when we finished 5-6 or 4-7, there wasn’t a lot of unity there. This year, there’s a lot of unity.”
As the Pirates look to gel in time for the season, they will deal with the new Sunset League and a new set of opponents, but Clifton believes the Pirates just need to focus on themselves.
“I think we’re looking forward to playing out style of football,” Clifton said. “That’s one thing Coach McClurg preaches to us — don’t play up or down to your opponent’s level. We just need to play our brand of football.”
Coach McClurg echoes that idea.
“Yeah, I mean who got a new league this year, but then I don’t worry so much about what opponents they throw at us, we just need to play well,” he said. “If anything, it’s great to have new teams to tangle with.”
To that end, McClurg sees a big edge with the number of seniors the team has.
“We do have a lot of seniors,” he said. “That is really huge for us defensively and on the offensive line. I feel we’re very cohesive in those areas and way ahead of where we are at this point in previous years.”
Quarterback Jude Pritchard, who threw for over 2,300 yards last year as a sophomore, will be back taking snaps andMcClurg is happy to report he returns four of the five starting lineman from last year.
The Pirates did lose top receiver Daulton Beard and workhorse running back Dallas DeForest to graduation, but McClurg feels there is strength in numbers for filing those positions.
“Were not going to replace Dallas with just one guy, or Daulton either, you just adapt and adjust,” he said. “But we have four or five that can contribute there and all have something different to contribute.”
“If anything, I’m glad we have several that can come in,” McClurg said. “That way we don’t have the opponent keying on one guy; I like to have a lot of options.”
On defense, McClurg is happy to see a lot of players back for another season.
“Defensively, we return our two safeties, Diego Pulido and Ryder McClurg, and then our two linebackers in Luca Clifton and Ben Flores,” he said. “And we have Max Andrade at cornerback and Asa Radelfinger at middle linebacker.
“You could throw a dart at our defensive depth chart, and whoever it hits, I’ll be able to tell you he’ll be a standout. Actually, I hope it’s a ‘no-name’ defense; instead of looking for the guy who’s leading us, they just say ‘that’s a great defense'”
The Pirates will kick off the season this Friday, Aug. 23, against Southern Section squad Dos Pueblos. Gametime is 7 p.m. Other home game for SYHS this season include Lompoc (Aug. 30; Wall of Honor), Mission Prep (Sept. 13; Homecoming), Pioneer Valley (Oct. 18; Go Pink), and San Luis Obispo (Oct. 25; Senior Night).
