SYHS’s six turnovers too much to overcame as Braves roll to 28-10 victory at Rio Memorial Field
By Mike Chaldu
michael@santaynezvalleystar.com
For the second straight game for the Santa Ynez High football team, turnovers played a big part in the matchup with visiting Lompoc High. Unfortunately, this time it was to the Pirates’ detriment in a 28-10 non-league defeat to the Braves on Aug. 30 at Rio Memorial Field.
After benefitting from six turnovers in its season-opening win over Dos Pueblos the week before, SYHS was the team giving up the ball in the season’s second contest as Lompoc intercepted five passes and recovered a fumble. Because of that, the Pirates suffered their first loss despite generating 320 yards of offense on the night.
“We had opportunities, but we couldn’t capitalize on it, because of dropped balls and missed throws,” said Santa Ynez head coach Josh McClurg after the game. “Our offensive line played good again, our running back ran hard, but we need to get better in the passing game.”
The Pirates got the ball to start the game, but gave it up almost immediately when Lompoc intercepted a pass on the second play from scrimmage and the Braves’ Marcus Bailon ran it in from 9 yards. With the PAT, Lompoc jumped out to a 7-0 lead.
Santa Ynez got the ball back and drove down to the Lompoc 23-yard line but was stopped on downs. Soon after, Braves running back Jacob White took off on a 74-year touchdown run for a 14-0 lead.
Later in the quarter, a short Lompoc punt gave the Pirates possession at the Braves’ 37-yard line and SYHS capitalized immediately as quarterback Jude Pritchard threw a 37-yard pass to receiver Diego Pulido for the home team’s first score of the night.
Pulido kicked the extra point to make it 14-7, and in third quarter kicked a 40-yard field goal — closing the gap to 14-10 — making him responsible for all the Pirates’ points on the night.
Despite threatening to catch the Braves in the second half, the Pirates wouldn’t score again, and Lompoc scored two touchdowns in the last six minutes of the game to wrap it up.
Despite mistakes made by his team, McClurg gave credit to Lompoc for a strong performance.
“They were opportunistic, but hats off to them. They beat us,” he said. “We didn’t help [ourselves], but they beat us.”
Santa Ynez again had a strong and balanced rushing attack, with 178 yards total on the ground and Austin Boucher (51 yard on 8 carries), Pritchard (48 on 8) and Greyson Foy (43 on 3).
Lompoc, meanwhile, had a run-heavy attack, only attempting 7 passes and rushing for 332 yards on the night. Quarterback Jacob Manzo was the top gainer on the night with 170 yards on 18 carries and a TD, while White also topped the century mark, with 121 yards on just five carries.
“Defensively, overall, I thought we played good, but there were just a couple of big plays that we gave up that killed us,” McClurg said. “We bent but didn’t break for most of the night, but on a couple of plays we didn’t do our jobs, and that put us into a position to not win the game.”
Now with a 1-1 record, the Pirates now look to San Marcos High and their first road game on Sept. 6, and McClurg said the flaws the team had against Lompoc are simple to identify and take care of.
“Turnovers are easy to fix — just do your job and pay attention to detail,” McClurg said. “It’s that simple; it’s not rocket science.”
