According to first-year coach Josh McClurg, however, the past few weeks of fall practices have gone as smoothly as possible.
“Actually I think we’re ahead of schedule of where we wanted to be,” he said. “Playbook-wise, we got in more than what we wanted and the players are executing extremely well. They’re doing a great job with the way we want them to practice and the tempo and executing the game-plan, so I’m extremely happy with where we are right now.”
The Pirates, who went 5-6 a year ago in the final season under former coach Ken Gruendyke, should get a strong test in their Friday night opener against Dos Pueblos, which won its final three regular-season games of 2011 after opening the season with seven straight losses. Like Santa Ynez, the Chargers will come into the game as somewhat of an unknown with a new head coach. Nate Mendoza, a former defensive coordinator and also baseball coach at Dos Pueblos, took over the football program this offseason.
Due to the coaching change and the fact that it’s week one of the season, McClurg said he wasn’t able to get much advance scouting of the Chargers other than what he’s been able to “hear through the grapevine.”
“Going into (the first) week, you usually never know anyway what you’re going to get, but this definitely adds a little more uncertainty to it with them having a new coach,” he said. “I know they’re going to play a good, fast, aggressive defense. I think the uncertainty will be with what they do on offense.”
To counter that, McClurg said his defense is prepared for virtually any situation. “More importantly,” he added, “our guys are going to go out and execute and swarm to the ball with an attacking, hard-hitting style of Pirate football that we’ve grown accustomed to here.”
The Pirates will try to keep a good mix of zone and man coverages in the defensive backfield, according to the coach, and if they find their original game-plan ineffective in the early going, he said the defensive coaches have contingency plans ready and waiting.
As for the Santa Ynez offense, that will also be dictated primarily by how the game unfolds. McClurg said he’d ideally like to go in with a 50-50 balance of run and pass, but the Pirates will look to exploit whatever defensive holes they can find.
Brock Dickey will be taking over the quarterback duties for Santa Ynez, and he will have a good mix of backs behind him. McClurg said that senior Taylor Zaragoza has emerged as the top tailback going into the season, and Layne Frausto has also stepped up over the past week or so in practices. They will likely split most of the carries, while senior Alec Hanna, who will be used in a scatback role, could also see a lot of touches, both on the ground and through the air.
“It feels good,” Dickey said of the offense at a recent practice. “We’re fresh and we’re running good routes.”
McClurg, who was a standout running back and safety for the Pirates who went on to play in college following his 1994 graduation, admitted that he will be working through some nerves in his debut on Friday night along with his players.
“It’ll be nothing different than what I’ve ever had,” said McClurg, who was inducted onto the Santa Ynez High Wall of Honor in 2011. “I always get pre-game butterflies, just like I did when I was a player. I think I have a little different perspective, though. Yeah, this is my first year as head coach, but I’ve been a coordinator for 4-5 years and I’ve been in this division calling games and having things on the line. As a head coach, now there’s a little more pressure with managing everybody and managing the situations.”
McClurg said that he likes that the opener will be on the road. It allows the players to be out of their element and also gives the coaches more pre-game time with the players than a home game would allow. The coach added that practices have been gaining in intensity over the past week, and everyone seems excited to get going.
“The kids are ready to hit somebody else,” he said. “They want to hit somebody in a different-colored jersey. They’re ready to go.”