The Santa Ynez Pirates will be sending 11 players to the FCA All-Star Game.
The Pirates will have the most representation out of any high school participating in the event.
Athletes involved include Mikey Gills, Tanner Padfield, Brandon Welby, Tyler Gregg, Emilio Figueroa, Leonel Valencia, Owen Hunt, Nwar Samaan, AJ Saenz, Canyon McClurg, and Cash McClurg.
Canyon and Cash are twins who have played sports together their entire lives.
The two have played the last four seasons of high school football under their father, Santa Ynez Head Coach Josh McClurg.
"Cash and Canyon were both born at 28 weeks, which was essentially three months premature," said Josh McClurg. "They spent 65 and 63 days respectively in the NICU down at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara and many times we didn't think they were going to make it. The odds were stacked against them. We were just ecstatic that they were alive and ended up being healthy."
"Our dad always pushes and has been really hard on us because we're his sons," said Cash McClurg. "He's got to be, he pushed us to be better."
"We've always been in that football family because we've grown up around football," said Canyon McClurg. "He's been coaching our whole lives. It was a pretty cool experience and I think we got closer as father-son."
"I never thought they would ever even be able to play sports," said Josh McClurg. "They ended up playing three sports for four years at Santa Ynez and graduating with over a 4.0 GPA. I think it was the cherry on top that they were able to play high school football for four years."
The FCA All-Star Game kicks off at Nipomo High School next Saturday, June 4th.
