San Benito seeks improvement on both sides of the ball, will
play in annual jamboree next Friday
HOLLISTER
Official fall practices are barely a week old for the San Benito Haybalers, and it’s already apparent the players themselves wouldn’t mind hitting someone different.
But that much was expected.
“It’s early, going against your own team for the last four days,” defensive coordinator Tod Thatcher said following Tuesday’s practice. “But you get to that rut where it’s the same thing.
“Now we’re in the middle of that no-game grind. It’s been a long summer.”
Still, with section rules allowing teams to officially begin preparations for the upcoming 2009-10 season just last Friday – the Balers held practice at 6:30 a.m. on both Friday and Saturday mornings – San Benito has a ways to go on both sides of the ball before it opens with Andrew Hill on Sept. 4 in Hollister.
But that, too, is perhaps expected this early in the preseason.
“We’re miles away from stepping on the field,” Thatcher said, “and that’s typical.”
Head coach Chris Cameron feels it is the defense, though, with a handful of returning players, which is ahead of schedule. Anchored by linebackers Michael Murphy and Taylor Coustette, San Benito returns eight players on defense, including four linebackers and four defensive backs.
“So we’re way ahead of the curve there,” said Cameron, noting that seven of the eight returners were starters last season. “A lot of guys have been there and done that.”
The Balers will have plenty of chances to de-cleat an opponent next Friday at North Salinas High, where San Benito will be joined by Gilroy for the annual three-team jamboree, tentatively scheduled at 4:30 p.m.
Read the full story in Friday’s edition of The Weekend Pinnacle.
