The Santa Ynez Pirates took the win for their first home game Friday night against the Fillmore Flashes. The Pirates overcame the Flashes for a final score of 26 – 21.

Quarterback Luke Gildred passed for three touchdowns and rushed one, his proud father Stuart Gildred said.

“Always nice to win especially home opener, kids played well and improved and showed mental toughness against a great opponent. Owen Hunt had a a great night receiving two touchdown passes. I also thought Aiden Scott, Mikey Gills and Cash McClurg had a solid game throughout the four quarters leading the defense,” said Head Coach Josh McClurg.

The win makes the Pirates record 1 – 1 for the season so far. Their first game they lost to the Nipomo Titans, score was 21 to 16.

The Junior Varsity team also won their game 35 – 21. Their season record is 2 – 0.

The Pirates next game is Sept. 3 against Nordhoff High School. 

See our photo gallery below for some great action shots from the game.

Photos are by Barry Sigman

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The 2019-20 Pirate Pass Savings Card, which offers discounts at more than 85 local businesses for the year beginning Aug. 1, is now on sale throughout the valley.

Pirate Passes can be purchased for $50 with cash or a check written to SYHS Football Boosters at the following locations:

• Buellton Chamber of Commerce
• Julia Tipolt State Farm Office, 595 Alamo Pintado Road, Suite C
• New Frontiers
• Valley Fresh at Nielsen’s Center
• El Rancho Market 
• Harrison Hardware 

Proceeds from the Pirate Pass support Santa Ynez High School’s football program.

For more information, email Julia Tipolt at julia@juliatipolt.com or visit www.sypiratefootball.com/store/p36/pirate_pass_savings_card.html

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The library at Santa Ynez Valley Union High School was packed Monday with more than 150 people, including students, parents, teachers and community leaders, who urged the Board of Education to consider options to reduce the district’s budget without laying off teachers and cutting programs for the upcoming school year. 

The special meeting was called to discuss why the district has a structural deficit of more than $750,000 and to find possible solutions to the issue. No decisions will be made until the next board meeting on Tuesday, March 12. 

The situation arose because state funding models changed, increasing the costs of the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) and State Teachers Retirement System (STRS), salaries and special education programs. In addition, tax revenue was reduced by the moratorium on oil production after the 2015 Refugio oil spill from a large transmission pipeline, according to Superintendent Scott Cory. 

“When the funding model changed in 2013-14, we lost $700,000. Other factors, including losing the oil revenue and increased costs of salaries and benefits,left us in a tight position. This is even before the Olive Grove issue, and if we are forced to pay the money to them, we really need to start this process of figuring out solutions now. They might not be solutions we like, and I of course don’t want to lose essential teachers and staff,” Cory said before the meeting. 

A recent decision by the state Board of Education ordered the high school district to pay as much as $1 million annually to support the Olive Grove Charter School campus in Buellton, though the district is contesting that order.

Cory outlined three possible approaches to the district’s budget:

• Maintaining budgeted expenditures with reserves at 30 percent as well as keeping a $500,000 budget item for parking lot repairs. This option would leave the district with a $1.5 million structural deficit and a reserve of $4.2 million. 

• Maintaining expenditures with reserves at a static $3 million (reserves are at $6.5 million currently) and keeping the $500,000 budget for parking lots. This option would leave the district with a $1.5 million structural deficit and a reserve of $3 million. 

• Cut $250,000 in expenditures, reduce reserves to a static $3 million and cut the $500,000 budget for the parking lot. This option would leave the district with a $1.3 million structural deficit and a reserve of $3 million.

If the district is to make any reductions in staff, it has a deadline of March 15 to send pink slips to certificated staff (teachers) to warn them that they might be laid off, even if their positions aren’t ultimately eliminated. The district would have 60 days to notify classified (non-teaching) staff, Cory said. 

Whatever the board chooses to do has to eliminate more than $400,000 at least, Cory added. 

“Even if we lower the reserve and not spend the monies set aside to do the parking lot, it’s a temporary fix and not a long–term solution. This doesn’t even take into account Olive Grove,” Cory said after the meeting. 

The certificated positions that could be eliminated would be a special education teacher (this person resigned and the position wouldn’t be filled), a Spanish teacher, a physical education teacher, a vacant English position, an auto shop teacher, an art teacher, the band teacher and choir teacher.

Programs lost could be Intro to Education, the auto shop and one section of the EAST technology program. Other programs possibly lost would be the freshman technology class, five sections of media/film/yearbook, the theater program, and elective classes. 

The classified positions at risk are the staff services technician, in–house suspension supervisor, and the registrar. 

Other options are to eliminate the principal’s position to create a superintendent/principal position for a savings of $185,451, or to eliminate the vice principal’s position to create a principal/vice principal for a savings of $169,517. 

Cory recommended not filling the vacant special education job, cutting the physical education position, reducing English and EAST to one full-time position each rather than 1.2 FTE (full–time equivalent), cutting the staff services position and in-house suspension supervisor, and cutting the registrar to part time. Those savings would total $405,137. 

Dozens of students, teachers and parents expressed their opposition to laying off Josh McClurg, the physical education teacher and head football coach. 

“Losing Coach McClurg would only hurt the students as he’s more than a football coach and P.E. teacher. He’s a mentor and so many other clubs and organizations would feel the loss of his presence,” said Athletic Director Cris Avery. 

“Coach McClurg is the epitome of Pirate Pride and he helps our youth to succeed. As a female football player he pushes me and challenges me and gives me confidence I wouldn’t have gotten from anyone else,” said student Quincy Valle. 

McClurg spoke and said he wouldn’t be setting a good example for his kids if he didn’t stand up and fight for his position. 

“On paper we are just salary numbers, but what is intangible is our Pirate Pride. I urge you to keep cuts away from the classroom,” McClurg said. 

“Coach McClurg tells us to stand up for what we believe in, and I believe in him. I have been on countless teams and this is the first team I felt the camaraderie in because of him. Coach is like a second father to me and all the other kids he’s coached,” said student Jacob Davies. 

Teacher Melanie Dickey said the district needs to remember that just last year the dean and two teaching positions were eliminated at the district’s Refugio High School and, after much protest and damage to the students, they were ultimately brought back. 

“This is a lesson we just learned, and is a disservice to our students if we put this stress and anxiety on them before we look at all the options,” Dickey added. 

Former board member Bruce Porter said that these decisions are being made because of actions by government leaders. 

“Ask our (county) district supervisor why she voted to put oil production on hold. Those revenues are critical to education funding. Just look at what that decision is doing to Vista Del Mar Union District,” Porter said. 

Vista’s tax revenue plunged after a leaking transmission pipeline halted South Coast oil production in May 2015. The school relied for more than half its budget of roughly $1.2 million on revenues generated by the companies that were affected by the spill, according to the district.

Vista is now considering a merger with Buellton Union School District.

Porter said there are solutions if the board is willing to take a breath and listen to ideas from the community. 

“You have a reserve, and this is exactly what it’s for,” he said. 

EAST teacher Chip Fenenga said that looking ahead three years is unrealistic. 

“As someone who survived Stage 4 cancer, three years is nothing. There are so many variables that can occur in those three years to make a valid prediction,” Fenenga said. 

“If it weren’t for the auto shop department, I wouldn’t have gone onto trade school and become the person I am today and have a successful career. College isn’t for everyone, and having the auto department gave me the skills I needed to succeed in life,” said alumnus Rory Burnett. 

Burnett was followed by Bob Stokes, executive director of the fundraising Wheels ’n’ Windmills Car Show. 

“We have help supported the auto department in the last 10 years by specifically donating at least $50,000 to the program. Rob Hill (the current auto shop teacher) has given his heart and soul to this program and the kids, and his teachings are invaluable,”  Stokes said. 

Wheel n’ Windmills donated $17,000 to the program this year. 

When the board members discussed the item, they all expressed appreciation for those who came to speak. 

“We hear you. We need to keep the cuts as far from the classroom and students. The reason we were elected is to honor our constituents, and it’s pretty clear what they don’t want,” board member Tory Babcock said. 

Board President Jan Clevenger agreed, saying the school is only as good as the students it produces. 

Board member John Baeke said he knows how hard it becomes when teachers are laid off, as his mother was one in his hometown.  

“She felt that for years after, and this is exactly the opposite of what I campaigned for. I want to bring in teachers and programs, not eliminate them,” he said. 

The board is holding a special closed session today at 3 p.m. before the next regular meeting, but any decision to hand out pink slips or eliminate programs will be made by the March 15 deadline. 

For more information on this meeting, log onto www.syvuhsd.org and click on Agendas and Minutes. 

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The Santa Ynez Football Boosters have announced that Pirate Passes can now be purchased online for $50 at www.sypiratefootball.com. The new pass, which gives discounts for shoppers at local businesses, will be valid until July 31, 2019.

The pass can also be purchased at El Rancho Market, Harrison Hardware, Nielsen’s Grocery, and the office of Julia Tipolt State Farm Insurance.

Santa Ynez Football Boosters is a registered nonprofit, 100 percent volunteer fundraising organization dedicated exclusively to Santa Ynez Valley Union High School Football. All proceeds generated though fundraising efforts go directly to the football program.

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Every day before the football players walk onto the field for practice or a game, they reach down and touch the Jeff Rio Memorial rock that sits just outside the field at Santa Ynez Valley Union High School.

“I realized that our younger players had no idea why they touched the rock, or who the rock was memorializing so we decided we needed to do something to bring back the Rio name, and what better way than with a fundraiser,” said Pirate Football Head Coach Josh McClurg.

The previous golf fundraiser had been called the Jeff Rio Memorial Golf Tournament and McClurg talked with Jeff’s father and fellow coach Carl Rio about bringing it back, but it was ultimately put on the back burner. When Carl passed away two years ago, McClurg decided it was time to revive the golf tournament and rename it. With the blessing of Rio’s widow Mary Ellen, the Rio Memorial Golf Tournament will be Saturday, June 23 at the River Course at the Alisal.

https://youtu.be/7YkTJaVgrRA

Jeff Rio
Photo contributed

Jeff Rio was McClurg’s coach his senior year of high school and one of the reasons McClurg got into coaching and becoming a physical education teacher as well.

“The football team is more than just players, we are a family and the Rio’s have been apart of this family for 30 years. Carl especially was responsible for turning these boys into upstanding young men and part of the community,” he added.

Carl Rio got more involved with volunteering for valley organizations and coaching the football and baseball teams at the high school, when his son Jeff died in a car accident in 1996, but he had always been involved in the community.

“We want people to come out and have a great time and know that they are not only celebrating the Rio legacy but supporting our football program as well,” McClurg said.

The football program only gets more expensive to operate each year, according to McClurg. They are looking at $100,000 for one year which includes the cost of coaching, equipment replacement, travel costs, scholarships and more.

“Each football costs $90, helmets run about $400 and those have to be replaced and certified each year,” McClurg said.

The money raised at the golf tournament will sponsor three scholarships, one being the Jeff Rio Memorial Scholarship, the Sean Misner Memorial Scholarship and one football program scholarship, McClurg said.

The tournament starts at 9 a.m. with registration at 7:30 a.m. and will host 144 golfers in four-man teams for 18 holes. The cost of $200 per golfer includes a cart, goodie bag as well as a tri-tip and chicken lunch. There are sponsorships available for golfers, at each tee and corporate sponsorships available.

“The Rio’s are apart of this football family and we need to honor them for all they have done for the program,” McClurg said.

For more information contact Don Kadlec at pirategolftournament@gmail.com or McClurg at jmcclurg@syvuhsd.org. You can also register and pay online at www.sypiratefootball.com or log onto their Facebook page

The Pirate Pass Savings Card is also open for businesses to sign up which need to be turned in by May 1. The boosters print 1,250 cards pass discounts and savings at many Santa Ynez Valley businesses valid from August 1, 2018 to July 31, 2019. To download an application click Pirate Pass Contract New Merchant 2018.

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By Raiza Giorgi

The Santa Ynez Pirates won a football game, 49-12, against the Santa Maria Saints on Sept. 29, but both teams came away with a big win for sportsmanship.

As a team manager, Alec Watson has always felt that he is a part of the Pirate football team. However, his coaches and team members decided they wanted to do something more to honor his great love of the sport.

At the home game on Sept. 29, Alec got to suit up and not only run onto the field with his teammates but also to run the ball on the first play of the game.

“This made me feel great, and there was a lot of hard work by both coaches to let me do this,” Alec said on the sidelines after that first play.

His teammates and opponents all cheered for him as he walked off the field with shouts of “You got this, Alec.”

Watson, 19, was born with a congenital heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot. Before he was a year old he had gone through two open heart surgeries, his mother, Leanne Watson said.

“We have been talking about this since last spring, and it was just as meaningful for both teams because they were emotionally involved and it impacted everyone in a positive way. … Two opposite teams shared a common goal,” said SYHS Coach Josh McClurg.

McClurg said when he contacted the Saints coach, Dan Ellington, that he came back right away to pledge his team’s support.

“We gave them our first play so they knew how to counter and make sure that Alec didn’t get hurt,” McClurg said.

The night of the game Watson didn’t know how to put on his pads so his teammates stepped in to help him.

The Pirates players helped Alec practice the week before the game. He said he didn’t want the first play to be something automatic where he would get the ball and just run into the end zone. He wanted to earn it.

On the night of the game he didn’t know how to put on his pads, so his teammates helped him with that, too.

“My husband was MVP for his football team senior year, and seeing him practice with Alec the past few weeks, and watching him seeing his son run onto that field and make the play, was probably the highlight of our lives,” Leanne Watson said through tears of joy.

Any parent would feel that same, she said, knowing that their child loved something so much but couldn’t participate due to a disability.

“All you want for your kids is to feel loved and supported and accomplish their dreams. This moment was all that wrapped up in one amazing ball. Hearing people chanting his name and cheering, I know we all won’t forget that night,” his mother said.

The support didn’t end there, either.

In an interview with KSBY television, Alec mentioned that he fell in love with football at 8 years old while watching a Brigham Young University game. He also said that BYU’s quarterback at the time, John Beck, was his inspiration.

The video somehow found its way to Beck, who retired from professional football in 2015 after playing for the Miami Dolphins, Baltimore Ravens, Washington Redskins and the Houston Texans.

“John called the SY athletic department and they gave him my number. It made Alec’s life that he talked to him and now they are friends. The widespread love and gratitude we have for our community to make this all happen is amazing. This is what our valley is about; it’s about uplifting and supporting one another,” Leanna Watson said.

“This is the epitome of coaching, using sports to create amazing community members that are thoughtful, grateful, caring, and make the game worth playing win or lose,” she added.

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Pirates open season by dominating San Marcos

Staff Report

The Santa Ynez Pirates team started their 2017 football season by crushing the San Marcos Royals, 65-22, on Aug. 25.

“I am proud of the team and their effort. It was a total team victory,” said Coach Josh McClurg.

In the first quarter the score was 42-10. The second quarter was scoreless, but the Pirates scored another 23 points in the third to the Royals’ 6. In the fourth, the Royals got another touchdown without the extra point.

Travis Vreeland ran in a 56-yard reception just before halftime, and quarterback Dustin Gregg scored another one to gave the Pirates a 42-7 halftime lead.

Trey Duus made one of the memorable plays of the game when he broke free of the line and ran the ball 70 yards up the middle of the field.

The Pirates then played the Carpinteria Warriors on Friday, Sept. 1, after the Star’s print deadline. Results are posted on the SYV Star social media and at www.santaynezvalleystar.com.

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