Prep football: Former Nipomo coach — now at Santa Ynez — bests old school

Nipomo desperately needed to score.

The Titans, down 21-0 to Santa Ynez on Friday night, were just a few feet from the goal line. They had been moving the ball well in spurts but had yet to capitalize where it counts.

But with a chance to get back into the game on the last play of the third quarter, Santa Ynez head coach Josh McClurg knew just what was coming.

“We practiced that all week,” said McClurg, who is also the defensive coordinator. “They like to go under the center and sneak it, so we made some substitutions.”

Sure enough, Nipomo tried a quarterback sneak on third down and came up short as the third quarter expired. On the first play of the fourth quarter, on fourth and inches, Santa Ynez stopped Nipomo again when running back Isaac Bausley tried to run up the middle. Santa Ynez went on to beat Nipomo 28-7.

“You love a goal-line stand as a defensive coach,” McClurg said.

McClurg knows better than most the tendencies of the Titans. Before he took over as the Santa Ynez head coach and defensive coordinator in 2012 he coached at Nipomo for six years, from 2004 to 2010. While at Nipomo, he was the defensive coordinator for four years under head coach Russ Edwards, Nipomo’s offensive coordinator and athletic director.

“We are competitive, and I am still good friends with Russ Edwards,” McClurg said. “We still stay in touch. It’s a little sweeter to win, you know.”

Sweetening the win even more for McClurg was the fact that the last time Nipomo hosted Santa Ynez in 2014, the Titans blasted the Pirates 54-0.

“For the first time this year, we played a really good football team. They are really well coached,” McClurg said. “I know how well that coaching staff does to prepare. It’s a hard-hitting group.”

Edwards said the two worked really well together for a lot of years both as physical education teachers and football coaches.

“He is one of the good guys,” Edwards said of McClurg. “It was fun when he was at Nipomo.”

Edwards said he was happy for McClurg when he became Santa Ynez’s head coach.

“He is in the Santa Ynez Hall of Fame. It was kind of a dream job for him,” Edwards said.

McClurg’s Santa Ynez defense this season, led by junior linebackers Travis Vreeland and A.J. Reynoso, continued its domination in its third win. Santa Ynez scored a defensive touchdown, had an interception and after holding opponents without a score for 11-consecutive quarters (in a 52-0 win over San Marcos, a 42-0 win over Carpinteria and three quarters against the Titans) the Pirates finally allowed a touchdown in the fourth quarter against Nipomo.

“We talked about it all week, you are finally going to see some adversity, and how are you going to react in that,” McClurg said. “And I thought our guys did a great job not focusing on the past and focusing on the present.”

As the crowd dissipated Friday night, Edwards and McClurg were the last two people on the field — just a couple of familiar coaches catching up, talking about the game and their families.

Edwards said the loss was tough but that it was good to catch up with an old friend.

This story was originally published September 17, 2016 at 1:31 PM with the headline "Prep football: Former Nipomo coach — now at Santa Ynez — bests old school."