After a slow start, the Santa Ynez High football team scored 35 unanswered points and pulled away for a 41-14 victory over visiting San Marcos in a non-league contest on Friday night.
The Pirates received a standout performance from quarterback Jude Pritchard, who completed 17 of 24 passes for 270 yards and three touchdowns through the air. He also rushed for 86 yards on ten carries and a touchdown.
As a result of his extraordinary effort, Pritchard received the Norm Clevenger Most Valuable Player Award.
“He took what they gave him—underneath throws—and then what that did was open up the deep throws,” said Santa Ynez coach Josh McClurg of Pritchard’s execution.
However, for the majority of the first half, San Marcos hung tough.
Santa Ynez took the opening kickoff and marched 57 yards on eight plays, capped off by an 18-yard touchdown strike from Pritchard to Jaxon Glover. San Marcos safety Brody Green dislodged the ball from Glover with a hit in the end zone, but officials determined that the ball was secured long enough, and the play was ruled a touchdown.
The Royals answered with an 11-play, 63-yard drive and took a 7-6 lead after an eight-yard touchdown run by Isaac Murillo and a successful PAT by TJ Deakyne with 2:13 remaining in the first quarter.
After forcing a Santa Ynez turnover on downs in the red zone, Cole Dominguez exploded up the gut for an 87-yard touchdown run that extended the San Marcos lead to 14-6 with 9:44 remaining in the second quarter.
“The first quarter and a half I thought we played pretty dang good, and then all of a sudden we fell apart,” said San Marcos coach Ralph Molina. “[Dominguez] was really patient there, and then he busted it.”
Pritchard caught fire for the remainder of the first half, and the Pirates tied the score at 14-14 on a 38-yard touchdown catch by Diego Pulido and a successful two-point conversion run by Pritchard to the pylon with 7:13 remaining in the second quarter.
The ensuing San Marcos drive came to a halt when Dominguez was stuffed on a 4th-and-1 run from the Royals’ 39-yard line. Three plays later, Pritchard scampered into the end zone from 13 yards out to give the Pirates a 21-14 lead with 3:43 remaining in the half.
The Pirates got the ball back with just over one minute to play in the first half and drove 56 yards on four plays. Pritchard broke several tackles on a 25-yard run down to the one-yard line, and Greyson Foy followed with a touchdown run, increasing the lead to 28-14 with just eight seconds remaining on the clock.
Santa Ynez added a four-yard touchdown run by Mason Skidmore and a 17-yard touchdown pass from Pritchard to Skidmore in the second half to break open the game.
For San Marcos (1-2), the loss is yet another building block for a relatively inexperienced group. For Santa Ynez (2-1), it was a crucial bounce-back game after a one-point loss to rival Lompoc last week.
The Royals will host Buena next week, while Santa Ynez will travel to Mission Prep.
You must be logged in to post a comment.