School’s newest sport will kick off later this month
The Santa Ynez Valley High School District has named Maddie Quiroga and Hannah Wright as its girls flag football co-head coaches. Wright and Quiroga both graduated from SYHS and currently coach the JV girls basketball team.
Maddie Quiroga graduated in 2014, where she was captain of the varsity girls basketball team her junior and senior years. Maddie broke the school record for 3-point shots in a game and the record for points in a season, while also being named to All Los Padres League team her senior season. She is currently finishing school to become a teacher.
Hannah (Cantrell) Wright graduated from SYHS in 2015, where she was a captain of the girls volleyball and basketball teams. She was all-league in basketball for three years and was all-league in volleyball twice. While playing volleyball, she broke the school record for hitting percentage in a game. Wright went on to play volleyball at Santa Barbara City College, where she was named all-conference both years. She graduated friom UCSB and is currently teaching at Jonata Middle School in Buellton.
“We are extremely excited to be starting girls flag football at SYHS,” SYHS Athletic Director Josh McClurg said. “It is one of the fastest growing sports in the country and we had to make it a priority to get it started. I have been impressed with watching Maddie as our girls head JV basketball coach the last three years. She has a great rapport with the girls and brings a positive energy that is needed as a high school coach. The girls program added Hannah as a JV coach this year, and the two of them work extremely well together, so it was a no-brainer on who we needed to have as our inaugural girls flag football coaches.”
Both coaches have deep ties with the Pirates athletic program. Wright’s father, Rob Cantrell, has been SYHS’s girls soccer head coach since 2005. Her mom and brothers all graduated from SYHS, with her brother Austin playing football for the Pirates the last four years. Her uncles all played football for the Pirates in the 1990s, and one of them, Brennan Swanson, went on to play football at Cal State Northridge and then had a short stint with the San Francisco 49ers. Her cousin, Harloe Swanson, will be a senior and is a member of the girls track 4×100 team that broke the 30-year-old school record this past season.
Quiroga is a proud Santa Ynez Valley Chumash descendant of the first students/athletes to become Pirates in 1896. Her father, Michael Quiroga, graduated in 1980 after being a standout basketball, football, baseball, and tennis athlete. Mike was considered one of the best basketball shooters in school history. Since his passing, Maddie and her family have started the Mike Quiroga Scholarship Fund at SYHS in honor of his legacy. Maddie’s uncle, David Quiroga, was an all-star athlete at SYHS along with her aunt Lydia Quiroga. Her sister, Ashley Quiroga, was a four-year varsity basketball starter for the Pirates as well.
“The fact that both coaches come from a long line of standout Pirate athletes is pretty special,” McClurg said. “I remember playing men’s league basketball at 18 years old and having to defend Mike Quiroga, who literally could shoot the lights out of gym. Hannah’s uncle, Brennan, and I were teammates on the Los Padres League champion football team in 1993, and went to elementary school together as well. The small-town connections of the Valley are what make our school so special and it is what helps to instill Pirate Pride in all of our athletes.”
The Pirates girls flag football team will play its first game on Tuesday, Aug. 26, at Dos Pueblos (time TBA) and will play at Paso Robles on Thursday, Sept. 4. After weekend tournaments at Pioneer Valley and Lompoc high schools in September, SYHS will play its first home game on Tuesday, Sept. 16, against Lompoc.
A story on the two new coaches and the outlook of the Pirates’ first girls flag football team will run in the next issue, coming out Aug. 19.
