{"id":428719,"date":"2026-08-10T11:14:42","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T11:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/428719\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T11:14:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T11:14:42","slug":"mclane-high-reloads-after-stars-depart-for-2026-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/428719\/","title":{"rendered":"McLane High reloads after stars depart for 2026 season"},"content":{"rendered":"

It may be a different McLane High football team in 2026, but the expectations haven\u2019t changed under head coach Andrew Pancotti.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re back-to-back league champions,\u201d Pancotti said. \u201cNo one\u2019s gonna just overlook McLane anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Pancotti took over the program in 2021, he made it clear he wanted to build a winning culture and keep the Highlanders relevant.<\/p>\n

Five years later, he has done exactly that.<\/p>\n

McLane is coming off one of the best seasons in school history, finishing 11-1 in 2025 while scoring a school-record number of points. Pancotti enters the new season with a 40-18 career record.<\/p>\n

The challenge now is replacing a talented senior class and key transfers.<\/p>\n

Quarterback Vernon Lacy transferred to Edison, while standout wide receiver Julyen Scott moved to Clovis West.<\/p>\n

McLane also graduated several impact defenders, including Demetrius Simon, leaving significant holes on both sides of the ball.<\/p>\n

Still, Pancotti believes the Highlanders are ready for the next chapter.<\/p>\n

Rather than rebuilding, McLane is reloading with homegrown talent.<\/p>\n

The offense will be built around 6-foot-2 running back Juan Raygoza, whose physical running style has drawn comparisons to former San Joaquin Memorial and Fresno State standout Brandon Ramirez. Sophomore James Tello will take over at quarterback.<\/p>\n

The offensive philosophy will also look different.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re gonna be a different team this year,\u201d Pancotti said. \u201cWe\u2019re not gonna be an air-it-out-the-ball type team this year. We\u2019re gonna be more of a run team.\u201d<\/p>\n

That shift puts added emphasis on McLane\u2019s defense, particularly a defensive line anchored by Noah Bridges.<\/p>\n

Pancotti isn\u2019t expecting this year\u2019s defense to mirror last season\u2019s unit, but he believes it can continue the program\u2019s defensive tradition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t replace what we had last year. That was crazy,\u201d Pancotti said. \u201cIt\u2019s a different year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Anthony Galaviz<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

Anthony Galaviz writes about breaking news\/sports for The Fresno Bee. He covers the Las Vegas Raiders, high schools, boxing, MMA and junior colleges. He\u2019s been with The Bee since 1997 and attended Fresno City College before graduating from Fresno State with a major in journalism and a minor in criminology.\u00a0
\n Support my work with a digital subscription<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It may be a different McLane High football team in 2026, but the expectations haven\u2019t changed under head…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-428719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}