The upcoming week in local sports is full of rivalry matchups across all sports on both the high school and college levels, headlined by a trio of San Marcos vs. Dos Pueblos showdowns in three different sports.
Many of the teams that will compete in these rivalry games were present at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Press Luncheon at Harry’s Plaza Cafe.
The Royals and Chargers are set to face off in boys water polo on Tuesday, flag football on Thursday and tackle football on Friday.
The water polo matchup will be a battle between two unbeaten teams in Channel League play as both teams sit at 3-0. That game will be played at San Marcos at 3:15 p.m.
On Thursday, the undefeated Dos Pueblos flag football team will play host to the Royals, who are now 7-3 on the season following a win over Buena and a loss to Ventura last week.
“Rivalry games interject a whole other thing,” Chargers coach Doug Caines said. “[San Marcos] is a good football team, they’re no slouch.”
The Friday Night Lights action between San Marcos and Dos Pueblos is sure to be a tight game as the Royals search for their first Channel League win while the Chargers will look to bounce back following a loss last week.
“This will be a week where I don’t have to do a whole lot of yelling to get them pumped up,” San Marcos coach Ralph Molina said. “It’s a big Goleta rivalry… they’ll be excited.”
“It’s a great, fun rivalry,” Dos Pueblos coach AJ Pateras said. “It’s going to be a competitive game, it’s another example of good local football with kids that have known each other growing up so we’re excited.”
It will be a special night for San Marcos football, as the program will be celebrating Senior Night and will be retiring NFL 7-time Pro Bowler Alex Mack’s jersey at halftime.
“This is a big week for us,” Molina said. “[Mack] is obviously the greatest player to ever come out of San Marcos, a future Hall of Famer no doubt about it.”
The rivalry games this week don’t stop at the high school level, as UC Santa Barbara has a pair of Blue-Green Rivalry matchups in store for later in the week.
On Thursday, UCSB Women’s Volleyball, which is undefeated in Big West play so far and 16-2 on the season, will host Cal Poly in a critical conference battle. The Mustangs have just one loss in Big West action, so this match will most definitely carry weight heading into postseason play.
The Gauchos will also take on Hawaii on Friday, another Big West rival with just one conference loss.
“If we take care of business, we can give ourselves some breathing room to start the second half of conference play,” UCSB coach Matt Jones said. “They’re two really good teams and it should be a really awesome environment.”
Then, UCSB Men’s Soccer will head up the 101 and play the second installation of the Blue-Green Rivalry game this season against Cal Poly.
In the first meeting of the two teams, the Gauchos came out on top by a score of 2-0. However, unlike the first one, this matchup will count for both teams’ conference records.
Find the full recording of Monday’s Round Table Luncheon here.
The student-athletes in attendance, by order of appearance:
Bishop Diego Girls Tennis: Elisha McCullough, Galilea De La Cruz
Bishop Diego Girls Volleyball: Wynter Thorne-Thomson
Bishop Diego Cross Country: Josh Lopez, Juan Bayet
Santa Barbara High Girls Golf: Sage Malmsten, Helen Twining
San Marcos Football: Tyler Mclain, Ryan Mclain
Carpinteria High Boys Water Polo: Aiden Alcaraz, Asher Smith
San Marcos Girls Volleyball: Sam Fallon, Cora Loomer
Santa Barbara High Cross Country: Sofia Guerrero, Madeleine Van Bebber, Andreas Dybdahl, Blaise Snow
San Marcos Cross Country: Ayden Welch, Gage Minne, Samara Shalhoub, Melina Vela
Santa Barbara High Girls Volleyball: Keenan Engebretson, Serena Byrd
Dos Pueblos Football: Daniel Johnston, Danny Perez
Dos Pueblos Girls Volleyball: Addison Low, Atasha Black
Dos Pueblos Cross Country: Owen Abbott, Linus Martin, Maddy Meyers, Cate Bishop
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