Luis Mesino of San Marcos returned a kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown to answer a Santa Ynez score in the first quarter, but the game got away from the Royals as the host Pirates rolled up 400 yards of offense through three quarters to take a 65-22 win in the football season opener for both teams on Friday night.
Mesino also scored a 43-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter.
“Luis Mesino had a stellar night with 8 catches for 154 yards and 1 TD,” San Marcos coach Jason Fowle said. ” Luis is a highly skilled athlete and a vital part of our success on the field moving forward.”
Santa Ynez, which is ranked No. 2 in the CIF-SS Division 10 preseason poll, got a big game from running back Cash Transeth. He rushed foer 132 yards on 16 carries and scored three touchdowns.
“Santa Ynez is a very good team,” Fowle said. “They are well coached and they play with great effort and technique. They had a good game plan and executed at a very high level.”
Pirates quarterback Dustin Gregg threw for more than 200 yards in three quarters and hit Travis Vreeland and Gabe Prendergast for scores. He also ran 22 yards for a touchdown on a quarterback draw to give Santa Ynez a 42-10 lead at halftime.
San Marcos quarterback Jacob Villarreal hit Tommy Schaeffer for a touchdown with 7:59 left in the game.
“We feel like we played hard and continued to compete regardless of the score,” Fowle said. “Offensively, we had a tough time getting anything going in the run game but we protected the passer well (0 sacks allowed) and Jacob stepped up to make some very good throws, completing 18 passes on 26 attempts for 226 yards and two touchdowns.
The final quarter was played with a running clock.
Fowle feels good about his team moving forward.
We feel that, as a program, we are headed in the right direction,” he said. “There are a lot of positives to build on and we are excited to get back in the classroom and on the field in preparation for our first home game against Morro Bay this coming Friday night.”
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.