It’s a win-and-you’re-in Friday night for the San Marcos football team.
The Royals play at Santa Ynez in the Pacific View League finale, and a win over the second-place Pirates would be make them eligible for the CIF-SS playoffs.
San Marcos is 2-2 in the league and 4-5 overall.
“Friday is an exciting game for us,” said San Marcos athletic director Abe Jahadhmy at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Press Luncheon. “If we are to win that game against Santa Ynez, we’re going to go to the playoffs.”
San Marcos hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2005.
The Royals will face a difficult challenge against a Santa Ynez team that is 7-2 and 3-1 in league. Its only league loss came to league champion Buena, which scored on the last play to beat the Pirates 25-19.
“They are a sound football team, but we still have a shot if we can play like we did Friday night,” said Jahadhmy, speaking for coach Ralph Molina.
The Royals beat Cabrillo, 40-0, and piled up more than 400 yards in total offense. Standout running back Andre McCullough rushed for 175 yards and three touchdowns, bringing his season totals to 1,275 yards and 12 TDs.
“He is having a great year,” said Jahadhmy of the junior.
Jahadhmy introduced Coleman McClintock and Camren Lugo.
Lugo is a defensive back/wide receiver “who coach Molina says is one of the hardest working players in the program. He competes every day in practice and pushes the starters to work hard. He’s also a key player on special teams,” said Jahadhmy.
McClintock “is an undersized lineman but is tough for his size. He plays defensive tackle. He’s been banged up a little, but always finds a way to be back in the lineup,” said Jahadhmy.
SANTA BARBARA HIGH FOOTBALL
Coach JT Stone is happy senior wide receiver Miguel Unzueta has gotten healthy.
Hampered by a hamstring injury suffered early in the season, Unzueta had a breakout game in the Dons’ 45-17 Channel League win over Dos Pueblos, catching five pass, with two going for touchdowns.
“We’ve been fortunate that he’s getting healthy at the right time,” said Stone. “He came out and had a hell of a football game. We expect him to have another good game this week (against Rio Mesa). It just took him some time.”
Unzueta, named the Athlete of the Week, was a standout during the abbreviated spring season.
“I’m just proud of the fact that he was able to get out here and just finish, because you guys all know hamstring injuries are just tough to come back from,” said Stone.
Wearing a Santa Barbara Golden Tornado sweat shirt (the Dons take on the Golden Tornado nickname for the football postseason), Stone said his team has qualified for the playoffs with a 7-2 overall record and a 3-1 mark in the Channel League.
Going into the last game, the Dons can either share the league title with Pacifica, finish in second place alone or in third place. The CIF-SS takes the top three finishers in a six-team league for the playoffs.
As for their playoff division, Stone said the Dons won’t know until Saturday. The divisions will be determined by the Calprep.com computer rankings.
“None of us know anything,” said Stone. “They’ll rank us at the end of the that last game, and we’re hoping to get a fair shake in this.”
The playoff brackets will be released on Sunday.
DOS PUEBLOS FOOTBALL
Coach AJ Pateras said senior running back Cameron Lee became the Chargers’ “bell cow” on offense, leading the team with nearly 800 yards rushing.
“(He’d) pretty much just carry the ball in the high 20s, low-to-mid 30s, as many times as we can get him the ball,” said Pateras of the workhorse running back.
The coach pointed out the Lee didn’t play football in his sophomore and junior years. “We’ve gotten a lot out of him in such a short time, so I’m excited for him to finish out the school year on a high.”
Sophomore Ryan Marsh was put into the starting quarterback spot last Friday against Santa Barbara and stepped up his game after a rough first half.
“He got thrown in the fire a couple of times (during the season), struggled but then showed some signs of what he can do,” said Pateras. “Friday night, he struggled through the first half and then he started to get comfortable as the game went on.”
The Chargers (2-7, 0-4) face another challenging test on Friday against a talented Lompoc team (4-5, 1-3) that is playing to reach the .500 mark and become playoff eligible.
“They’ve got some extreme talent in the skill positions, so we’re going to have our hands full there. But we’re excited for the test, the challenge and the opportunity to finish our season,” said Pateras.
SBCC FOOTBALL
The Vaqueros (4-2, 2-1) had their four-game win streak broken at L.A. Valley, 34-30, and had two local players suffer injuries in the game, reported coach Craig Moropoulos.
Cyrus Wallace, a sophomore wide receiver out of Dos Pueblos, suffered a dislocated shoulder, and Josh Brown, a freshman receiver from San Marcos, has a possible concussion, said the coach.
L.A. Valley rallied from a 24-7 deficit to beat the Vaqueros, 34-30, on a touchdown with nine seconds left in the game.
“We felt very good about going into it, but things happen and you just got to deal with it,” said Moropoulos. “You got to move on, and moving on this week means we got to play Antelope Valley, who’s top in the conference.
“It’s going to be a great challenge for us, but we’re going to work hard to get ready for it.”
The game is Saturday at 6 p.m. at La Playa Stadium.
SANTA BARBARA HIGH CROSS COUNTRY
Assistant coach Moki Nacario brought Greta Mixon and Mia Sanders from the girls team and boys runners Drew DeLozier, Andreas Dybdahl. They all competed at the Mt. SAC Invitational last weekend and are headed to the Santa Barbara County Championships on Wednesday in Lompoc.
LAGUNA BLANCA CROSS COUNTRY
Coach Martha Blackwell lauded the work ethic and leadership of Hannah Masri and George Nicks.
“Hannah comes to practice, works hard and has tons of spirit,” said Blackwell. “She created the team cheer for our team and is encouraging to all the younger runners.”
On Nicks: “George is also a role model, doesn’t complain about the harder workouts and puts it all out there.”
The Owls are preparing for their league finals at Lake Casitas on Nov. 4.
LAGUNA BLANCA FOOTBALL
The Owls have a shot at an at-large berth in the CIF-SS Division 2 8-man football playoffs, said athletic director Matt Steinhaus.
Laguna Blanca, which has played freelance schedule this season, last week beat a charter school from L.A. called Teach Tech, 36-6.
“We’re 3-2 on the season, so we’re positioned nicely to get that at-large bid,” he said.
The Owls finish the regular season at Rolling Hills Prep in San Pedro.
“They’re tough but we are ready,” said Steinhaus, who introduced seniors Rhys Zemeckis and Harrison Jones.
Zemeckis had his best game of the season against Teach Tech, catching two touchdown passes.
“We’re looking forward to a strong finish to his senior year, and we hope to make noise in the playoffs with a player like Rhys being among our senior leaders,” said Steinhaus, reading coach Matt Escobar’s notes.
Jones is the motor on the team that never stops and never quits, according to Escobar. “He always finds a way to get to the football from his nose guard position.”
Jones had a big game last Saturday, recording 12 tackles and scoring a defensive touchdown. He forced a fumble, caught in the air and ran it back 5 yards for the score.
He also does “an excellent job protecting the quarterback on the weak side of the offensive line,” Escobar reported through Steinhaus.
DOS PUEBLOS CROSS COUNTRY
Juniors Ellie Gleason and Luci Koroshec, the No. 2 runners for the Channel League-leading Charger girls and boys teams, ran well at the Mt. SAC Invitational.
Gleason was the second finisher for DP in the Division 3-4-5 girls sweepstakes race, while Koroshec came in first for the boys team in the D 3-4-5 race.
“Both of those races we were invited to, so it’s a big accomplishment for these runners,” said co-coach Jen Brown.
She said Gleason and Koroshec are traditionally slow starters in a race, “but you can’t count them out. They are so strong and they always come from behind.”
The Chargers are running at the Santa Barbara County Championships on Wednesday in Lompoc.
The DP girls moved up to sixth in the latest CIF-SS Division 3 poll.
CARPINTERIA CROSS COUNTRY
Freshmen Carel Bautista and Andriy Alvarado are two student athletes that assistant coach Noe Gomez is excited about investing time and energy into developing over the next three years.
Gomez worked with Bautista’s older brother close to 10 years ago.
“It’s really fun to work with a long-time family of athletes who have been continuously big game changers for Carpinteria athletics,” said Gomez. “And it’s great to have Carel out on the team because she’s always very dependable, she always arrives at practice on time, always gives her best and is continuously encouraging her teammates.”
On Alvarado, Gomez said he asked a lot of questions about cross country before deciding to come out for the team.
He continues to ask questions at practice.
“He’s always asking the coaches questions and always encouraging the teammates,” said Gomez. “One of my favorite things that Andriy does is go around and at meets and pretend to interview people and ask how they’re feeling. I keep encouraging him to make a blog and put it on YouTube.”
WESTMONT CROSS COUNTRY
Assistant coach Chris Hanessian reported that the men’s and women’s teams performed well at the William Jessup Invitational in Rocklin over the weekend.
The Westmont women, ranked 22nd in the country, finished in second place and beat a higher ranked team. The men’s team, ranked 27th, finished fourth in the race and beat a team ranked in the top 25.
The Warriors next compete at the GSAC Championships in Santa Clarita next week, hoping to earn spots at the NAIA National Championships.
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
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