What a year it was for Santa Ynez football senior Leo Valancia. Valencia was named third-team all-state after his historic season as the kicker for the Pirates.
Valencia finished with the second-most field goals in the entire state of California with 11 made field goals on the season which also broke the most in a season at Santa Ynez, the previous record was eight. He also broke the most field goals in a single game with four and tied for the most field goals in a career with 11 after kicking only one season.
"I tried to do the best I could because it was the first year I was doing it... Time went on and I started to get the hang of it," Valencia said.
What Leo was able to do for the program this year will go down in the books but it's who he is as a person off of the field that makes him even more special as a student-athlete.
"I was really surprised to see my name on there, a really exciting and rewarding feeling, that I made an impact that big on something I've been working on for a long time so it felt really nice... I never really expected it so it was crazy to see how all this played out."
Valencia hopes to get recruited to kick at the collegiate level next fall.
