Santa Ynez football held Nipomo scoreless in the first half and controlled the game from start to finish in a 23-7 victory Friday night at Rio Memorial Field.
“I felt defensively it was one of our better showings,” Santa Ynez Head Coach Josh McClurg said. “When you hold a team to zero points the majority of the game, that should be a recipe for winning.”
The Pirates are now 3-2 to begin their season, while the Titans fell to 2-3 with the loss.
“We just told the guys, unfortunately, these things happen,” Nipomo Head Coach Russ Edwards said. “They out coached us and they out played us, and we just didn’t play well.”
Both teams moved the ball a bit in the opening quarter, but strong plays from the Santa Ynez defense, including an interception by Diego Pulido, kept the game scoreless heading into the second.
Early in the second quarter, the Pirates showed signs of life with a run and a short catch by senior Greyson Foy, but a shot to the end zone was intercepted by Nipomo senior Logan Hobbs, keeping the game scoreless.
Backed up deep after the turnover, a sack pushed the Titans back to their own 1-yard line and a personal foul before the punt gave Santa Ynez the ball at the Nipomo 30.
“You can’t start slow and we’ve been preaching [that] all year, everybody has to do their part and their job,” Edwards said.
The Pirates moved down the field with help from a face mask penalty and on a third down, Pritchard hit sophomore Pablo Pulido for the opening score. Diego Pulido then kicked in the extra point to make it 7-0.
Nipomo’s next possession ended with another turnover as Swain intercepted a pass near midfield.
“I think when we have miscues at different spots over the field, good teams will find it,” Edwards said.
Pritchard quickly moved the Pirates into scoring position again, overcoming a holding call that negated a touchdown and benefiting from a pass interference penalty near the goal line.
With 10 seconds left in the half, he connected with Mason Skidmore for Santa Ynez’s second touchdown and a 14-0 halftime lead.
After forcing a Nipomo punt on its opening drive of the half, the Pirates took over at their own 30-yard line and struck immediately. On the second play of the drive, Pritchard dumped the ball off to Foy, who turned upfield and outran the defense for a touchdown.
“They got us a couple times with some timely screen plays as we were blitzing on the spot,” Edwards said.
The extra point was no good, giving Santa Ynez a 20-0 lead with 10:06 left in the quarter.
The Titans answered with their best drive of the night, aided by a personal foul on the kickoff that started them at their own 38. Senior Nick Evans picked up a short gain and Groshart hit junior Troy Simonson with a dart for the first down.
On the next play, Groshart faked a handoff and found Simonson again, who broke through for Nipomo’s lone touchdown to cut the deficit to 20-7.
Santa Ynez took over and put together a methodical drive down the field, ending with a 33-yard field goal by Diego Pulido early in the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 23-7 with 11:06 left on the clock.
Nipomo’s next drive crossed midfield, but junior Jaxon Glover came through with a big sack for the Pirates.
Sophomore Harrison Franciskovich took over at quarterback following an injury and led one last push into the red zone, but the Titans were stopped short on 4th and 1.
“They did a great job in the box in their preparation to stop our inside run play,” Edwards said.
The Pirates took over with just over two minutes left and ran out the clock to win with a final score of 23-7.
“We played as a team, we didn’t care who got the credit or who made the plays,” McClurg said.
Santa Ynez will host Santa Maria next Friday at 7 p.m., while Nipomo will roll out the welcome mats for Arroyo Grande.
