Santa Ynez benefits from six turnovers, blocked punt in 48-0 win over visiting Dos Pueblos
By Mike Chaldu
michael@santaynezvalleystar.com
The fans were barely settling in at Rio Memorial Field for the 2024 high-school football opener on Aug. 23 between Santa Ynez High and Dos Pueblos High when the visiting Chargers fumbled away the ball on the first play from scrimmage. The Pirates took advantage with a touchdown two plays later.
That first play by DPHS set the tone for the evening as a dominant SYHS defense forced six turnovers, most of them in Chargers territory, and also blocked a punt. The offense was able to turn most of those turnovers into points as the Pirates romped to a 48-0 victory.
“It starts and ends with the way the defense played,” Pirates head coach Josh McClurg said after the game. “I knew we had a veteran defense coming in, and they just set the tone all night.”
And according to the coach, it was a true group effort.
“You couldn’t say there was just one or two guys making all the plays; there were so many on defense that contributed tonight,” McClurg said. “Our goal was to put three or four guys on the ball on every play. We knew we had to stop #13 [Dos Pueblos standout running back Kaleb Williams, who actually finished with 90 rushing yards], and he’s a dog, he really good. But, I’ll tell you what, the Santa Ynez defense showed up to play tonight.”
In the first quarter, the offensive possessions for Dos Pueblos ended with, in order, a fumble, a blocked punt, and two interception. The SYHS offense converted each of those opportunities into points in building a 24-0 first-quarter lead.
Overall, the SYHS defense had four interceptions — one each by Diego Pulido, Ryder McClurg, Max Andrade, and Luca Clifton — and recovered two fumbles (Pulido, and Asa Radelfinger got credit for those). To top it off, Thomas Brous got credit for the blocked punt, with Clifton recovering the the ball inside DPHS’s 10-yard-line.
When the Chargers did have the ball, the Pirates made sure to shut them down as DPHS could muster only 112 yards of offense on the night.
The SYHS offense, meanwhile was able to take advantage of the favorable field position given to them by the defense. A squad that lost its leading rusher (Dallas DeForest) and receiver (Daulton Beard) to graduation used a very balanced rushing attack to move the ball.
“What we tend to do is see what a team is giving us, and we take it,” McClurg said. “We take away what [our opponents] want to do and make them do something else. We did that tonight.”
The Pirates had 241 yards rushing on the night, with running backs Austin Willis (60 yards) and Greyson Foy (52), and quarterback Jude Pritchard (53) getting the lion’s share of the yards. Meanwhile, Griffin Bruner made the most of his five carries (for 12 yards), finding the end zone on three of them. Austin Boucher and Levi Snow also had rushing TDs for Santa Ynez.
In celebrating the win after the game, Bruner remarked, “hey, I owe it all to the [offensive] line.” So, a tip of the cap to Alex Thompson, Seb Perez, Joey Duarte, Leonardo Castillo, Leonel Castillo, and Davis Gandolfo, who opened holes for the rushers, and gave Pritchard plenty of time in the pocket when he did pass.
With the rushing attack so strong, Pritchard the second-year starter at quarterback in his junior year, didn’t get a lot of opportunities to pass, completing 8-of-14 for 74 yards, though he did complete a touchdown pass to Pulido in the second quarter to give the Pirates a 34-point lead at halftime.
That TD was an example of Pritchard’s continuing development at the quarterback position, according to Coach McClurg.
“On that touchdown pass, Jude called an audible,” McClurg, referring to a play change on the field. “He saw their cornerback in a vulnerable position and called for that pass to Diego. That wasn’t supposed to happen originally, but Jude made that call, and he was right.”
That scoring play was also part of an outstanding overall game for Pulido, the kicker/receiver/defensive back: In addition to the TD reception, he converted on all six of the Santa Ynez PATs, and kicked two field goals for 18 points on the night. He also had the interception and fumble recovery on defense.
With a 1-0 record, the Pirates played Lompoc at home last Friday night, Aug. 30 (see santaynezvalleystar.com for the result). The team will play their first road game, against San Marcos in Santa Barbara, this Friday, Sept. 6, at 7 p.m., and return home Sept. 13 for the Homecoming game against Mission Prep.
