Perfect October brings league title to Santa Ynez football

By Mike Chaldu · Sat Nov 07 2026

Pirates clinch undefeated Ocean League record with 47-0 victory at Santa Maria, will now travel to Wasco for first-round CIF game

As the Santa Ynez High football squad entered October, the Pirates were sitting with a 2-4 record after a formidable pre-league schedule that saw losses to teams like Nipomo, Lompoc, Arroyo Grande, among the best in the Central Coast.

However, head coach Josh McClurg said he kept emphasizing to his players to focus on the Ocean League, where SYHS ended up after offseason realignment, and the upcoming games they would play.

A month later, the regular season is over, and the Pirates earned themselves an Ocean League title by going 4-0 in league and 6-4 overall.

The Pirates clinched the league championship outright by going to Santa Maria High and shutting out the host Saints 47-0.

The wealth was spread around for SYHS, as five different players scored touchdowns. Running backs Cael DeForest and Kellon Gandolfo, who each had a team-high 79 yards rushing, also scored a touchdown apiece on the ground, as did quarterback Brady Gram. The quarterback threw just 11 times on the night, completing six, but three of those were touchdowns, two to Pablo Pulido and one to Adrian Merritt.

The SYHS defense even got into the scoring act as Hayden Pahler tackled a SMHS ballcarrier in the end zone for a two-point safety just before halftime.

The victory culminated a five-game winning streak that began with a 24-18 win over Atascadero in the Pirates' final pre-league game Sept. 25, before they beat Pioneer Valley 35-6 in their Ocean League opener on Oct. 9.

Then, on Oct. 16, SYHS played its most pivotal league game against Cabrillo, coming back to beat the Conquistadores 36-32.

Playing in front of a Homecoming crowd, the Pirates fell behind by two touchdowns to the Conquistadores in the first quarter, but in the second, SYHS rallied.

Gandolfo got the Pirates on the scoreboard with a 20-yard TD run. After a Cabrillo touchdown and missed PAT, Santa Ynez struck back with a 1-yard TD run by Sam Rhea, and then Cram ran it in from 6 yards out with 37 seconds left in the half to make the halftime score 21-20 in favor of SYHS.

Cabrillo scored in the third quarter to make in 26-21 in favor of the Conquistadores in the third quarter, but Santa Ynez's Gandolfo ran for two scores, and even ran in the two-point conversion after the second one, putting the Pirates up 36-26 early in the fourth quarter. Despite a subsequent Cabrillo score to close to within four points, the Conquistadors would get no closer.

"Hats off to Cabrillo, they played hard and they had the edge on us in the first quarter," said Pirates head coach Josh McClurg. "Fortunately, we stopped turning the ball over, and we saw what they were doing on offense and were able to make adjustments and slow them down a little."

The Conquistadores stayed in the game thanks to their rushing attack, which saw them gain 374 yards on the ground, despite the loss. Cabrillo had at least four plays of 30 yards or better.

However, the Pirates' rushing attack wasn't to shabby either, gaining 273 yards of their own. Gandolfo was the top ground-gainer with 134 yards and three touchdowns, and DeForest also hit the century mark with 114 yards rushing and a touchdown.

McClurg gave credit to the SYHS offensive line for opening holes all night for the Pirates' running backs, a sentiment echoed by Gandolfo after the game.

"I gotta thank my o-line," the running back said after the game. "They're the reason I got those yards, and they're the reason we're not slowing down."

So, a tip of the cap to team co-captain Joey Duarte, Dominic Stillwell, Joel Ramos, Daniel Callahan, Charlie Perkins, and Martin Zepeda their work on the line.

The game against Cabrillo was considered very important because the win put Santa Ynez at 2-0 in the Ocean League with its remaining games against Morro Bay and Santa Maria, both of whom would finish with 1-9 records.

Santa Ynez would run the Ocean League table, defeating Morro Bay 48-7 in a battle of Pirates, with Gandolfo again as the top rusher, gaining 124 yards with a touchdown. Cram would add two rushing touchdowns and two touchdowns passes, one to Pulido and another to Andrew Lewis.

Finishing the regular season at 4-0 in the Ocean League and 6-4 overall, the Pirates gained an automatic bid to the CIF Central Section Division IV playoffs. With the 13th seed in the division, they will go to Wasco, just north of Bakersfield, to face the Tigers, who finished third in the South Sequoia League.

The Pirates and Tigers seem much alike offensively with a heavy reliance on the run. According to MaxPreps.com, Wasco averages 283.4 yards rushing per game and just 73.0 through the air (compared to Santa Ynez's 201.7 and 68.0, respectively).

While the Pirates and Tigers have identical 6-4 overall records, two Wasco's early season wins were actually losses on the field: The Tigers' defeats to Garces Memorial and Bakersfield Foothill were later overturned by CIF because those schools used ineligible players against the Tigers.

Gametime will be 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, in Wasco. The winner of the game will go on to play the winner of fifth-seeded Visalia Mt. Whitney and 12th-seeded Mission Prep of San Luis Obispo.