October 17 - November 6, 2017
Local gridiron becomes a field of dreams
SYHS football manager Alec Watson fulfills lifetime ambition of playing despite his disability
Valley native documenting struggle with cancer Diagnosed with BRCA gene, Joy Lambert undergoes major surgeries to prevent the disease
By Raiza Giorgi
news@santayneazvalleystar.com
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he Santa Ynez Pirates won a football game, 49-12, against the Santa Maria Saints on Sept. 29, but both teams came away with a big win for sportsmanship. As a team manager, Alec Watson has always felt that he is a part of the Pirate football team. However, his coaches and team members decided they wanted to do something more to honor his great love of the sport. At the home game on Sept. 29, Alec got to suit up and not only run onto the field with his teammates but also to run the ball on the first play of the game. “This made me feel great, and there was a lot of hard work by both coaches to let me do this,” Alec said on the sidelines after that first play. His teammates and opponents all cheered for him as he walked off the field with shouts of “You got this, Alec.” Watson, 19, was born with a congenital heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot. Before he was a year old he had gone through two open heart surgeries, his mother, Leanne Watson said. “We have been talking about this since last spring, and it was just as meaningful for both teams because they were emotionally involved and it impacted everyone in a positive way. … Two opposite teams shared a common goal,” said SYHS Coach Josh McClurg. McClurg said when he contacted the Saints coach, Dan Ellington, that he came back right away to pledge his team’s support.
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By Raiza Giorgi
news@santayneazvalleystar.com
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Photo by Daniel Dreifus Football team manager Alec Watson, a senior at Santa Ynez Valley Union High School, takes the field for the first time as a player wearing number 42.
“We gave them our first play so they knew how to counter and make sure that Alec didn’t get hurt,” McClurg said. The night of the game Watson didn’t know how to put on his pads so his teammates stepped in to help him. The Pirates players helped Alec practice the week before the game. He said he didn’t want the first play to be something automatic where he would get the ball and just run into the end zone. He wanted to earn it. On the night of the game he didn’t know how to put on his pads, so his teammates helped him with that, too. “My husband was MVP for his football
team senior year, and seeing him practice with Alec the past few weeks, and watching him seeing his son run onto that field and make the play, was probably the highlight of our lives,” Leanne Watson said through tears of joy. Any parent would feel that same, she said, knowing that their child loved something so much but couldn’t participate due to a disability. “All you want for your kids is to feel loved and supported and accomplish their dreams. This moment was all that wrapped up in one amazing ball. Hearing people chanting his name and cheering, I know we all won’t forget that night,” his mother said. FOOTBALL CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
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lection Day is a huge day for news reporters, who scramble to let viewers and readers know the results of voting in multiple races. On that day in November 2008, Santa Ynez Valley native Joy Lambert was working for a television station in Alabama when she got a phone call that changed her life. She had tested positive for the BRCA breast cancer gene, the Joy Lambert same malady that became widely known after actress Angelina Jolie tested positive for it and chose to have a double October is mastectomy to avoid Breast Cancer developing cancer. Awareness “My whole life plan Month. For more changed in an instant, information, go to and even though I havwww.cancer.org/ en’t developed cancer, I cancer/breasthave spent a lot of time cancer.html. and given up parts of my body to ensure I don’t,” Lambert said. CANCER CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
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