For the first time, the Pirates athletics program includes girls flag football, a fast-growing option for California high schools

By Mike Chaldu

August is a time of bustling activity on our local schools’ campuses: Students coming back to classes, seeing old friends, getting started on extracurricular activities. And, of course, it means late summer practices on the turf in anticipation of playing the season for the Santa Ynez High varsity football teams.

Wait, did you say teams? As in plural?

That’s right! Because in addition to the traditional football season played by the male students, the females will also have their time on the gridiron as the Pirates field their first girls flag football team this year.

Eighteen girls came out for the school’s inaugural campaign, which begins Tuesday, Aug. 26, with a game at Dos Pueblos in Goleta. After another road game at Paso Robles on Thursday, Sept. 4, and tournaments at Pioneer Valley (Sept. 6) and Lompoc (Sept. 13), the Pirates will have their home debut on Tuesday, Sept. 16, against Lompoc.

The team will be led by co-head coaches Maddie Quiroga and Hannah Wright, who also coach the junior varsity girls basketball team. The two established their own legacies while at SYHS: Quiroga, a 2014 graduate of SYHS, was the captain of the varsity girls basketball team her junior and senior year, and also broke the school record for 3-point shots in a game and points in a season. Wright, then known as Hannah Cantrell, graduated in 2015, and was a captain of the girls volleyball and basketball teams before playing volleyball at Santa Barbara City College and eventually graduating from UCSB.

(From left) Santa Ynez High girls flag football co-head coaches Maddie Quiroga and Hannah Wright, and offensive coordinator Allen Pinoli address the team after a recent practice at Rio Memorial Field. Photo by Mike Chaldu/SYVS

“We’re so appreciative of being trusted with this new program,” Wright said during a recent practice. “It’s going to be hard work, but it’s exciting — we don’t know what’s coming, it’s a big unknown.”

Quiroga echoed her colleague’s thoughts.

“It’s a huge deal to launch this program and we’re honored to do it,” she said. “It’s great to give back to the school we went to.”

While Wright and Quiroga didn’t get the chance to play football while they were at SYHS, their families have a history with the sport, and with SYHS in general. Wright is the daughter of Rob Cantrell, the Pirates girls soccer coach, and her brother Austin Cantrell played football for SYHS for four years, and her cousin Brennan Swanson played for the Pirates in the ‘90s and eventually had a short stint with the San Francisco 49ers.

Meanwhile, Maggie’s late father MIke Quiroga was a standout was a standout in four sports (basketball, football, baseball, and tennis, during his time as a Pirate. She also is sister to Ashley Quiroga, a standout in basketball, and niece to David and Lydia Quiroda, who were also athletic standouts at SYHS.

Maddie Quiroga (left) and Hannah Wright, seen here at a girls basketball practice last year, will be co-head coaches for the new Santa Ynez High girls flag football team this year. Two two coached the JV girls basketball team last year. Contributed photo

“I think there are a lot of things from other sports that we can translate over for football,” Wright said. “Plus, my husband is a huge football fan, so I watch the games with him, and I’ve even gotten into fantasy football,” she said laughing.

The football bloodline doesn’t stop at the coaching staff: Pirates junior Campbell McClurg is the niece of head football coach and SYHS Athletic Director Josh McClurg, while players like Leighton Casey and Ella Gotschall are names that have been found on the boys football roster in past years.

But the girls are thrilled to make their own legacy as trailblazers in a new sport.

“We knew in the middle of the last school year that this was probably going to happen,” Casey said. “I played basketball for Coach Quiroga and Coach Wright so I was clued in on it pretty early, and when they asked me about it, I told them I’d do it.”

“I don’t think we’ll have too much trouble learning this, because we played Powder Puff football and it’s been a good crutch to lean on, so I think we’ve got a head start””,” McClurg said.

The game will have some differences from the boys game, most notable of which is the lack of contact. As indicated by the sport’s name, a ballcarrier is down when a defender takes the flag off her belt, and blocking with any contact in prohibited — you can try to impede a defender’s effort to get to the quarterback, but you can’t touch her.

“If you want to try and keep a defender away, you need to do it like a screen in basketball,” Wright said. “So that’s familiar to us.”

Also, the field is 80 yards, split into four 20-yard zones. There are no yard markers, so the midpoint 40-yard line and each 20-yard line are each known as the “line to gain,” meaning the offensive team must get past that line to keep possession. And, every player other than the quarterback (or “passer”) is an eligible receiver when the ball is snapped.

Helping out Quiroga and Wright with the game plan is Allen Pinoli, the current track head coach who is also on the boys football staff and is considered the offensive coordinator for the girls team.

“Josh (McClurg) saw this was going to happen, so he asked me if I would step in and oversee the offense, and I was happy to do so,” Pinoli said. “I’ve actually coached my son in flag football when he was young, so I’m pretty familiar with this.”

Pinoli has been very impressed with the girls’ progress so far.

“They’re showing the things they’ve leared on a daily basis; they’re really stepping up,” he said. “The positions are being filled by girls who are showing interest in what they do. It’s really filling out nicely — I think they’ll be fine.”

The addition of Santa Ynez gives the Central Coast eight girls flag football teams this year. League opponents for the Pirates will be Lompoc (coached by former SYHS Athletic Director Ashley Coehlo), Santa Maria, Righetti, Cabrillo, Pioneer Valley, and San Luis Obispo.

Those on the roster for the Pirates include (asterisks for team captain): Isabella Rubio*, Leighton Casey*, Presley Pinoli*, Myah Dunn*, Regina Guerrero, Skyla Oslin, Angela Guerrero, Campbell McClurg, Ella Gotschall, Maleah Knightley, Lylah Rueff, Chelsea Stepien, Karely Vasquez, Danaka Cantrell, Anna Carpenter, Lucianna Chavez, Alexandra Herrera, and Chanel Batastini.

All of whom, no doubt, are looking forward to the beginning of the season.

“I’m just super-excited to get the season started,” Casey said. “We’re making history.”