San Benito hosted a three-way scrimmage Friday with Gilroy and
North Salinas, giving the Haybalers someone different to hit before
their opener next week at Milpitas
HOLLISTER
It has been more than five weeks since anyone on the San Benito Haybalers has been able to hit anyone other than a Haybaler.
At least, that was the case.
Although the pads were strapped and the lights were lit, carrying the feel of your basic game night in the fall, teams from San Benito, Gilroy and North Salinas instead took to the field at Andy Hardin Stadium in Hollister Friday night for the annual preseason scrimmage.
“We’ve been hitting ourselves for five weeks,” San Benito linebacker Michael Murphy said. “It’s kind of different going up against a different team and a different line.
“The last time I played against a different team was our Team First camp. That was five weeks ago.”
Each area team certainly felt the high and lows that are perhaps to be expected in the preseason. For San Benito, though, only a handful of days remain before they must deliver a consistent effort, on both sides of the ball, if they plan on pulling out a win at Milpitas.
“Some things we did well. Some things we didn’t do well,” head coach Chris Cameron said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. But we’re not there yet.”
The team hadn’t decided on a quarterback between Kyle Vallejo and Trevor Fabing coming in, and planned on using the three-way scrimmage to gauge the situation. But Fabing suffered a hip-pointer injury earlier this week, and was forced to sit out Friday night.
Cameron said only time will tell on his return.
“It just depends on how fast he can get fixed,” he said.
As for Vallejo, the junior signal caller took all 40 offensive snaps as a result.
“I think Kyle had some real good moments and he had some not-so-good moments, ya know, just like everybody else out here,” Cameron said. “He took all 40 snaps. That’s a credit to him. He played more snaps than any other kid on the team, so that’s a credit to him.”
Each team started from the 40-yard line and was given 10 plays to see what they could do. The Haybalers scored once in their four 10-play series when Vallejo faked the hand-off left and then rolled out right to find 36 yards of daylight toward the end zone.
And it was against Gilroy’s defense, no less.
Later, on their third 10-play series, the ‘Balers marched down to the 10-yard line after Vallejo connected on a 20-yard pass. But the drive stalled for five plays from the 10 as San Benito couldn’t find paydirt.
“We weren’t consistent on offense,” Cameron said. “We need to play with a little more emotion and get keyed up for it, but those are just some general observations.”
On defense, the ‘Balers gave up a touchdown in each of their first two series, but settled in their last two to prevent both the Mustangs and Vikings from scoring.
“Overall, it went well. I felt like the whole defense, all 11 guys, was getting to the ball and I thought we were working as a team,” Murphy said. “Hopefully, next week the same thing will happen. But we’ve got to keep our intensity up. We weren’t being loud enough.”
San Benito will open Week 1 at Milpitas Friday, Sept. 5, at 7:30 p.m.
“It’s a little different out here,” Murphy added. “But next week, it’ll be even faster.”
