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Bearcats maul Santa Ynez

By Glenn Wallace

STAFF WRITER

The Paso Robles football game Friday hosting Santa Ynez included seven touchdowns and a field goal. Unfortunately for Santa Ynez, none of those scores were theirs.

The blowout moves the Pac-7 Paso Robles Bearcats to a 2-0 start this season.

Last year, the Santa Ynez Pirates opened their season at home with a 31-7 upset of bigger school, from the tougher league.

“It was a thorough whooping last year,” said Paso Robles Head Coach Rich Schimke.

And tonight?

“And tonight was fun.”

Fun for Paso Robles at least.

Quarterback Brandon Ladley had all the pass protection and the open receivers he could have dreamed of through much of the game, completing 17 of his 26 passes, with no interceptions and five touchdown passes. He also scored a one yard quarterback sneak for a sixth touchdown.

Ryan Bedell had the final score of the night, hitting a 25-yard field goal with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter.

On the other side of the ball, the Pirates offense struggled to make first downs, moving the chains only five times, to Paso Robles’ 25.

The Pirates run game never had momentum, with lead rusher Justin Iniguez mustering only 37 yards on 10 carries.

Despite facing a big line and pursuing linebackers that often chased him to the sidelines, the running back said the Pirates were not defeated in spirit.

“A lot of the people on the team went out there played their best, so that’s why you don’t see a lot of frowns out there,” he said.

New quarterback Blake Dubois connected only five times on 17 attempts, giving up a costly interception when Bearcat cornerback Travis Davis ran the pick 13 yards back into the Pirates end zone.

Santa Ynez had a roster shift this week, moving field goal kicker Alex Palacios to punter, and a new player to holder.

“It had an effect,” said Pirates head coach Josh Cunningham after the game.

The Paso Robles special teams did not give the green punting squad a pleasant introduction to their new positions, scoring at least a partial block of three Santa Ynez punts, and taking advantage on a high snap on another Santa Ynez fourth down.

The strongest Santa Ynez drive came early in the third quarter, following the Davis interception. Dubois began the drive on his own 20, handed off to Iniguez for two yards, before hitting receiver Jeff Rosecrance on a slant route for an eight yard gain. Another Iniguez run, and a quarterback keeper set up a third down and three, when Dubois found senior receiver Evan Reed for nine yards.

In Paso territory, the Pirates tried fullback Zack Andrews up the middle, where he was stuffed for one yard. A pass attempt was in, and out of the hands of Rosecrance at the 30. The next pass went incomplete as well.

On fourth down, with the score already 43-0, the Pirates faked the punt.

Spencer Angel came off the end of the line, and caught Dubois’ pass, running it to the Bearcat’s 20. The play was called back on an illegal participation call by the referees. Backed up an additional 10 yards, Palacios punted to Ladley and Co.

On defense, the secondary was sorely tested from the first Paso Robles drive, to the last. Pass interference calls and receiving routes that never seemed to be shut down kept the Bearcats flying for much of the game. The Pirate pass rush failed to threaten Ladley virtually all game, a fact not helped by a muscle knot keeping standout lineman Riley Gauld out from some of the defensive series.

“We just didn’t play to our best potential,” said Gauld after the game.

The most satisfying moment of the game for Pirate fans may have been in the fourth quarter, when Pirate lineman Allan Rasmussen leveled the Bearcat’s second string quarterback following a late throw.

After the game Cunningham described the score as the result of a much improved Bearcat team, and new Santa Ynez varsity players adjusting to the speed of the game.

“It’s like I told the boys after the game, when you’ve been beaten down, you’ve got to step back up.”

The Bearcats play at home against Hanford this Friday for another non-league contest.

Santa Ynez, (0-1) will play at home against Nordhoff of the Tri-Valley League at 7:30 p.m. The Nordhoff Rangers from Ojai (1-0) come to town on the heels of beating the defending LPL champs St. Joseph last week.

Glenn Wallace can be reached at 688-5522, Ext. 6007 or gwallace@syvnews.com.