Santa Ynez struggled over the first four weeks, an 0-4 stretch during which it was out-scored by a combined margin of 137-40. Adding injury to insult, several key players have gone down with various ailments over that stretch. With this past week off, the Pirates were able to welcome back a few of those injured players as they prepare to open Los Padres League play on Friday, Sept. 28, at Cabrillo.
“We’re in league now and this is all that matters,” said first-year Santa Ynez coach Josh McClurg. “Those first four games had nothing to do with us getting to the playoffs. We’re all about the league right now, and our goal is to battle for a league championship and go to the CIF playoffs. That goal is still there and the kids still believe in it, so we’re all right.”
Sophomore linebacker Jacob Pritchard shared his coach’s mentality of looking ahead rather than behind.
“We’re keeping it strong,” he said. “We’re keeping everything upbeat. The real season hasn’t started yet, so we’re hoping to flip the page when the (league) season gets started.”
Pritchard is one of a long line of Pirates players to suffer an injury this season. He broke a knuckle during practice, but has been able to continue to play with a cast on his left hand. Several of his teammates haven’t been as fortunate.
Thirteen players were unavailable for the Pirates’ most recent game, against Carpinteria on Sept. 14, due to injuries. Because of that, McClurg brought three players up from the junior varsity squad to have a game-day roster of 31. Unfortunately, the injury list expanded during that game.
Just minutes apart in the eventual 33-18 loss to the Warriors, the Pirates lost starting tailback and leading rusher Taylor Zaragoza to a knee injury and starting linebacker and backup tailback Christian Vences to a separated shoulder. With running back Alec Hanna also unavailable to play in the second half, McClurg turned to freshman Austin Vreeland, one of the JV call-ups, to carry the load in the game’s final two quarters. Vreeland performed well in his varsity debut – 41 rush yards, 81 receiving yards and a touchdown – but his lack of experience practicing with the varsity forced changes in the Pirates’ game plan.
“I could put him in for two run plays, then switch him to receiver and put in another back who knows how to pass protect,” McClurg said, noting the rotating cast was like a game of musical chairs. “We couldn’t get any of our no-huddle stuff down in the second half because of musical injuries.”
The coach added that he wasn’t surprised by Vreeland’s high quality of play.
“It was expected,” he said. “That’s what we want out of him. He’s a big-play guy and he can run the ball well and catch the ball well. He’s fast, he’s heady, he returns punts and he’s a freshman. It’s not often a kid like that comes around.”
While Vences was able to return to practice the following week, Zaragoza’s injury will keep him sidelined for at least six weeks. On the fateful play, he said he took the handoff and looked to cut back, which was his first instinct, but instead decided to cut through the first available hole.
“I had like five or so guys on me and one of them went low,” he said. “I turned around and I collapsed and heard a ‘pop’ and the MCL tore.”
He was able to get up and jog to the sideline, where he said he hoped to only miss a play or two.
“They told me to sit down and take off my pads,” he said of the training staff on the sideline. “I was praying it wasn’t going to be serious and I’d be fine. Just sitting on the sideline and watching was the worst thing.”
Zaragoza said he hopes to be able to return in time for the Pirates’ season finale against Nipomo on Nov. 2.
“Hopefully I can come back for that game, open it and kill it,” he said.
While the injuries have certainly taken their toll, the team has also cost itself by not protecting the football. Two early fumbles proved especially costly in a home loss to Paso Robles, and the Pirates have thrown eight interceptions on the season, including one that was returned for a score against Carpinteria.
“We gave them all their points with our turnovers,” McClurg said of the game against the Warriors, during which his team turned the ball over four times. “You can’t win a game like that, no matter where you are. Whether you’re a veteran team or a young team, you cannot win games when you turn the ball over.”
He said holding onto the ball has been an area of focus for the team since spring practices. During warm-ups, the running backs carry balls and coaches and players are encouraged to try to knock them out of their hands. If the running back loses the ball, he has punishments that he must face.
Cutting down on turnovers is just part of the coach’s bigger picture, however, of getting each player to fully understand and accept their role.
“Getting better every day and taking care of the little things,” McClurg said of his main teaching points. “You’ve got to take care of your alignment and take care of your assignment, and those are the things we’ve been stressing since day one.” The coaches and some of the Santa Ynez players used their bye week to get an early jump on scouting their next two opponents by attending Cabrillo’s 55-20 home win over Santa Maria on Sept. 20. While the Pirates got a tape of the game over the weekend, McClurg said that there are some things that the film can’t show you.
“It’s more fun to watch them in person and kind of get a feel for their team that you don’t really get a feel for on film,” he said. “Are they a team of emotion? Do they get let down real easy? It’s tough to see that stuff on film, but you can see it in person.”
McClurg said that he will be adding a few “wrinkles” to the playbook for Cabrillo, as the bye week allows for extra time that a normal game-week wouldn’t.
“We’re hoping to come out strong,” said Pritchard, who’s averaging 9.3 tackles per game. “We’ve learned and improved over the first few weeks, so I think we’re going to bring it all together and play as a family.”
Although he won’t be in uniform, Zaragoza said he will challenge his teammates before their game against the Conquistadores. “I’m going to talk to them before the Cabrillo game and say, ‘Do you guys want to be that team that went 0-4 and then came back and went 6-0 or 5-1 and won in league, or do you guys want to be that team that did this and just won two more after that?’” he said. “I want people to know who we are and that we’re Santa Ynez Pirates and this is how we play football.”
Noting the strength of his team’s resolve, McClurg said that the coaches haven’t been at all concerned about the players getting down on themselves. He said that it would be hard to tell that the team is winless judging by the intensity and effort the players show in practice.
“The sky’s not falling and we’re not worried,” he said. “We’re just going to keep pushing ahead.” willis@syvjournal.com