A week after a frustrating last-second loss to Buena on the road, Santa Ynez bounced back by subduing a potent Ventura offense, holding the Cougars to just a single score in a 23-7 Pacific View League football victory at Santa Ynez High School on Friday night
The Pirates improved to 6-2 on the season, and with a 2-1 record in league play, kept themselves in the top half of the league as the race for the CIF-Southern Section playoffs begins to take shape.
“We don’t have a superstar on this team, but we have 11 men that play for each other and they’ve bought into that team aspect,” said head coach Josh McClurg after congratulating his team post game. “I knew that we would respond well (after the Buena loss) and we knew that Ventura had a lot of firepower coming in.”
After driving up the San Marcos Pass to get to the game, Ventura stalled early on offense and host Santa Ynez was able to take advantage as the Cougars hurt themselves with a pair of poor punts.
Going three-and-out on their opening possession Ventura punter Joseph Pena’s first punt went a paltry nine yards. Taking over at the Cougar 32, the Pirates pushed themselves down to the 14, but a sack of quarterback Luke Gildred pushed Santa Ynez back to the 21. Kicker Leonel Valencia came on and converted a 37-yard field goal.
On the next possession, Ventura again sputtered on offense, and the Cougars’ punt dribbled just four yards past the line of scrimmage. Starting just 45 yards from the end zone, Gildred completed four passes for 39 yards, the last coming on a 16-yarder across the middle to senior tight end Owen Hunt for a touchdown. Valencia’s PAT gave the Pirates a 10-0 lead.
Ventura, which had not been held to less than 21 points in any game this season, hurt itself several times with penalties, two of which wiped out scoring plays. And neither of the Cougars’ quarterbacks, junior Jacob Jeffris or sophomore Josh Reynoso, could find a consistent rhythm during the game.
But the Cougars were not be completely subdued. Reynoso found senior wide receiver Tyler Woodworth for a 27-yard scoring play on a fourth-and-20 with just under three minutes in the second quarter to make it 10-7.
Santa Ynez responded quickly as sophomore wideout Daulton Beard grabbed a 12-yard pass from Gildred to ignite the drive. Following a pass interference penalty on Ventura, Beard scored on a 32-yard strike from Gildred to complete the four-play, 69-yard drive that took just 43 seconds.
Following a quick punt and back-to-back turnovers, Santa Ynez added another score as Valencia converted a 45-yard field goal as the second quarter ended.
McClurg praised the efforts of Valencia, who converted three of four field goal attempts and was 2-for-2 on PATs. The senior kicker and tight end didn’t miss a practice this week even though he and his family were evacuated from their home because of the Alisal Fire.
Coach McClurg said Valencia was able to retrieve his belongings just yesterday.
Valencia’s third field goal, a 39-yard effort midway through the fourth quarter,\ was the only score of the second half, as the Pirates’ defense continued to thwart Ventura.
McClurg estimated that his team had missed 15 tackles in last week’s 25-19 loss at Buena, and his unit was ready for redemption.
“I felt that our defense was playing extremely well minus the big play. (Ventura) struggled moving the ball,” McClurg said. “We knew that we had a great run defense and our pass defense really stepped it up today. Nolan Oslin, Canyon McClurg, Tyler Gregg, Cash McClurg, our back four really did a great job on limiting big plays.”
Santa Ynez (6-2, 2-1) will travel to Oxnard next Friday to take on Channel Islands, while Ventura (4-3, 2-1) will host Buena in Pacific View League action.