By Blake Dorfman, PresidioSports.com
Al Ferrer had an important message to relay at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table luncheon.
Ferrer, the Athletic Coaching advisor to UCSB’s Exercise and Sports Studies Department, came to Harry’s to appeal to the community after it was recently announced that the department’s academic minor would be shut down by the university in order to save an estimated $950,000.
He pointed out that the closure would affect the local coaching landscape tremendously.
Recently, the program has provided a large amount of eager young coaches to Dos Pueblos, San Marcos, Santa Barbara High, Santa Ynez High and many more. Ferrer said that losing this resource would be incredibly detrimental to our local prep teams and the athletic community as a whole.
“When you hire random people you never know what you’re going to get,” he said. “We need you to get involved an express your concerns.”
One of the best ways to learn more and get involved is by joining the facebook group set up to protest the closure.
FOOTBALL
DOS PUEBLOS: The Chargers came away with the first cross-town win of the season after shutting out Santa Barbara 27-0 at Peabody Stadium on Friday. It was the Chargers’ first win at the historic venue since 2003.
“We respected them coming in, and we respected them coming out,” said DP coach Jeff Uyesaka of the Dons, whom he said kept playing hard and avoided trash-talking the entire night. He also provided encouragement to Jaime Melgoza, the first-year coach of the winless Dons, saying “the win will come.”
Quarterback Zack Boytis was named the SBART Athlete of the Week after running for two touchdowns and throwing for another in the win. He also received the Big Friday Player of the Game award, presented by Bob Dinaberg. The Big Friday crew will be broadcasting Thursday’s big DP at San Marcos game on AM 1490 beginning at 6:45 p.m.
Uyesaka also brought along junior Nick Okpysh, who is in his second season as the team’s starting center, and Anthony Houston, who rushed for a game-high 164 yards. The Chargers can wrap up a city title with a victory on Thursday.
SANTA BARBARA: It wasn’t as if Melgoza was expecting a big year in his debut, as Santa Barbara returned two starters on offense and none on defense heading into the season. The Dons have games against Buena, St. Bonaventure and San Marcos remaining to try and get their coach that first win.
“Thanks for coming in with a lot of respect,” said Melgoza to Uyesaka and the Chargers.
Representing the team were a pair of wide receiver/cornerbacks — senior Mario Acosta and sophomore Bradford Gellison.
SAN MARCOS: The Royals are in search of their second win of the season, and looked close to picking it up when they trailed just 24-20 heading into the fourth quarter Friday against visiting Ventura. A tough break on a roughing-the kicker call, however, led to a Cougar score and San Marcos eventually fell 38-20.
Royals coach Jeff Hesselmeyer was a longtime coach at DP, even coaching Uyesaka in football and baseball.
“I had a few years over there that were wonderful,” he said. “We’re clearly the underdogs going into it. We’re going to do our best to find the field. I think I still remember where it is.”
Outside linebacker Jake Buchanan accompanied the coach as did wide receiver Anthony Patolo and running back Kyle Miller.
CARPINTERIA: Coach Ben Hallock and the Carpinteria Warriors didn’t shed any tears after saying good-bye to nationally ranked Oaks Christian on Friday. The Lions, who defeated Carpinteria 43-0, were voted into the Marmonte League last week along with St. Bonaventure.
It puts an end to years of lopsided mismatches between the Lions and the likes of Carpinteria and Bishop Diego.
“They should have decided to grow up years ago,” said Warriors coach Ben Hallock.
The Warriors played Oaks Christian pretty tough early on, however, recording the first three first downs as well as intercepting Nick Montana’s very first pass of the game. The Lions were also forced to punt three times in the game. All of these accomplishments were part of goals set by the Warriors before the game.
“We set up some mini-wins… Things that would bother them. Kind of like a fly on a mule’s ear,” said Hallock, happy that the mule has now gone.
Linebacker Jacob Franco, the team’s leading tackler, was at Harry’s. Next up for the Warriors is Friday’s road game at Nordhoff. Hallock dubbed it the “Battle of the 150,” referring to the highway between Carpinteria and Ojai that runs by Lake Casitas.
CATE: The Rams are undefeated at 5-0 and face rival Laguna Blanca on Saturday. Coach Ben Soto joked that he was “nervous as hell” up at the podium, because his former coach at Carpinteria High, Mike Warren, was at the luncheon.
The Rams, ranked ninth in the latest 8-man polls, have gotten strong play all season from quarterback Mackie Greason, who also plays lacrosse.
“If anyone can talk him into playing baseball, I owe you,” said Soto, who also coaches on the diamond at Cate.
Greason’s center, Brendan “Spanky” Lyddon, and linebacker/tight end Luke Shover were also present and took home two of the three cookie bags raffled off at the end of the day. Warren provided the cookies, leading to suspicions of a rigged raffle. He was later cleared of all charges.
LAGUNA BLANCA: The Owls were thumped by No. 3 Thacher on Saturday, leaving few highlights for coach Ray Robitaille to speak of. Sophomore quarterback Troy Ritter, however, also did the punting and had kicks of 60, 50 and 40 yards. Robitaille introduced Hans Steenstrup, who is also a soccer and volleyball player.
SBCC: Injuries have left numerous excuses available for Vaqueros coach Craig Moropoulos, but he’s not using them.
“That’s part of the game, and we’ve gotta find something that works for us,” he said.
A season-ending injury to starting quarterback John Uribe and eligibility issues with his backup left the Vaqueros using conference-leading receiver Oscar Medina as the starter under center last week. SBCC was trampled by L.A. Pierce’s high-octane offense, 46-14, despite a strong effort from Medina. Defensive star Charlie Thomas, also a leader in the classroom for the Vaqs, joined Medina and Moropoulos at Harry’s.
The trio had to leave because Medina needed to have x-rays on a potentially broken wrist (go figure).
BISHOP DIEGO: The Cardinals couldn’t make it to the luncheon due to academic priorities, but coach Tom Crawford e-mailed in a report on the team’s loss to Nordhoff.
“Two players who performed well for us and continued to improve their play each game were Alex Ramirez, a junior defensive end and quick offensive tackle and Bruce Garcia, a junior fullback and linebacker.” he wrote. “Neither Alex nor Bruce made it off the field much on Friday, playing almost every down and contributing mightily to a staunch defense that played very well against Nordhoff’s explosive O.”
On Friday, the Cardinals travel to play Santa Clara in a rematch of the 2007 CIF championship game.
TENNIS
SAN MARCOS: The Royals locked up second place in the Channel League with a 13-5 win over DP on Wednesday, their second over the Chargers. Santa Barbara, meanwhile, wrapped up its 29th consecutive title.
“At the start of the season our goal was to beat DP. We didn’t specify once or twice. It had been many years,” said coach Megan Cotich, who added that the last time the Royals tied for the league title with the Dons was her freshman year.
The Royals have been outstanding in doubles all season, and the team of Amy Ransohoff and Christine Pearson has been a big part of that success. The duo has not sat out a set all season and has a record of 35-6. Cotich said that Ransohoff and Pearson were also some of the best students she’s ever taught when they were in her seventh-grade Life Sciences class at La Colin Junior High.
DOS PUEBLOS: The young Chargers feature just four varsity returners this year but will finish third in the league with plenty of talent sticking around for next season. Coach Suzy Dahl was accompanied by junior captain Nicoletta Bradley, who has made a seamless transition from doubles to singles this year, as well as first-year varsity player Chloe Warriner.
The Chargers travel to play the mighty Don on Tuesday.
SWIMMING
UCSB: The Gaucho women’s team competed for the first time over the weekend in a 3-way meet with UCLA and Oregon State, finishing behind the Bruins but ahead of the Beavers. Coach Gregg Wilson introduced senior sprint freestyler Courtney Bauer as well as sophomore Kendall Neely, who defeated All-American Gaucho Anne Marie May in the 50 freestyle. Kevin Ferguson was also at the luncheon representing the men’s team.
FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Westmont soccer’s Jameisha Washington was a unanimous choice as this week’s recipient. She scored the golden goal in a 1-0 road win over Hope International before scoring the first goal in a 2-1 road win over Azusa Pacific — the No. 2 ranked team in the nation.
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