New Santaluces quarterback shines in preseason debut vs. Wellington
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LANTANA — After years of futility, the Santaluces Chiefs got a taste of winning last year.
They liked it so much that they’re bringing a bigger appetite into the 2023 high school football season.
“Our mentality is state,” quarterback Shy Deveaux said after Santaluces’ 46-7 preseason victory over Wellington on Friday night. “We don’t want to settle for nothing less.”
The Chiefs looked the part of title contenders against the Wolverines. Deveaux, who played only the first half, completed 12 of 14 passes for 271 yards and four touchdowns. Derrick Williams ran 75 yards for a touchdown on the second play from scrimmage. Santaluces led 40-0 at halftime and emptied the bench in the second half, which was played with a running clock.
It could have been worse. The Chiefs had two touchdowns nullified by penalties, including an 82-yard interception return by Ronald Olibreese.
Wellington, which made the playoffs last year, felt the losses of threeyear quarterback Ryan Anthony to graduation and about 20 players who transferred after the departure of coach Danny Mendoza.
Here are three takeaways from the game:
New QB shines
Deveaux, a transfer from Dwyer, arrived at his new school with big shoes to fill. Will Prichard led the Chiefs to an 8-3 record and a playoff berth last season after transferring from King’s Academy, then signed with Arkansas State.
“I know what Will did last year,” Deveaux said. “He had a phenomenal season, but at the same time I feel like I’m different.”
Unlike Prichard, a traditional dropback passer, Deveaux is more of a dual-threat QB.
He spread the ball around against Wellington, throwing touchdown passes of 20 yards to Elijah Rodriguez, 16 yards to Jayson Brown, 72 yards to Anatay Smith and 68 yards to Izzy Marion.
“He had a great day,” coach Hector Clavijo said. “When things broke down, I thought he did a good job with his legs. That’s part of the game — you can’t script everything out perfectly. I still have to watch the film, but I’m happy with what I saw.”
Clavijo believes the Chiefs have the best group of receivers in the county, and Deveaux says he has developed a good relationship with all of them.
“It doesn’t really matter who we give the ball to,” Deveaux said. “I need to make sure I’m making the right reads to get our playmakers the ball . ... I tell the boys every week, ‘I don’t care if you get it, or you get it, at the end of the day if you do your job, the ball’s going to be spread around evenly.’”
Greater expectations
Clavijo brought an impressive resume when he took the Santaluces job before last season. He won three state championships at Hialeah-Champagnat Catholic, leaving when the school closed its doors after 54 years.
He took over a downtrodden program that went 1-9 in 2021 and immediately changed the culture.
The Chiefs won their first eight games, clinching the District 11-4M title with a 21-20 win over Boca Raton. But the regular season ended on a down note with losses to Park Vista and Atlantic,
and Santaluces lost to ParklandStoneman Douglas 48-44 in the first round of the playoffs.
“The goal has been the same in all my years of coaching,” Clavijo said. “Anything less than a state championship is unacceptable. That’s our goal — nothing changes for us — and obviously, we need to win more playoff games to get there.”
The Chiefs’ defense took a hit just before fall camp when two defensive ends transferred to national powerhouse Fort Lauderdale-St. Thomas Aquinas. Clavijo also has put together a more ambitious schedule for his young team, including Pahokee, Boynton Beach, Atlantic and John Curtis Christian, a Louisiana state champion last season.
The coach expects a much tougher test from Pahokee, next week’s opponent in the regular-season opener.
“They’re going to be fast, they’re going to be tough, they’re going to have dudes,” Clavijo said.
Tough debut for Pryor
Wellington’s year of transition began with a new coach (former assistant Ross Pryor), a new quarterback (sophomore Jonathan Paul) and a lot of question marks.
Before the game, Pryor said his No. 1 goal was “no flags.” The Wolverines didn’t succeed on that front, getting called for offsides in the first 15 seconds and being penalized 14 times for 105 yards.
“I just told them the team that has the most penalties usually loses the game,” Pryor said after his postgame speech. “We’re young, we’re immature and we don’t have a lot of experience on varsity. Probably half our team was playing their first varsity game.”
Pryor looked for silver linings. Sophomore running back Tyree Pearson “had a hell of a game.” Paul, who was under pressure most of the game, found wide receiver Carson Perusse for a 52-yard touchdown in the third quarter. The offensive line “was driving ‘em back all game.”
Still, he knows the Wolverines will continue to have growing pains as they enter the regular season, starting with this week’s game hosting Park Vista (Friday, 6:30 p.m.).
“We had to have this happen to us,” Pryor said. “We needed to see that we’re not preparing well enough . ... We have to make sure that this is not who we are as a team.”