If there is a lasting image to the 2008 football season, it could just very well be Mark Gaspar’s touchdown catch, or Mark Gaspar spiking the ball, or maybe even Mark Gaspar crowd-surfing over his Haybaler teammates.
Pick one. Any one.
“I thought we were gonna get a foul for celebration,” San Benito junior varsity head coach Luis Espinoza said. “But it was the perfect play to end a great season. It was just a great ending.”
It was not the game the junior varsity team perhaps wanted to end their season on, of course, a 41-6 loss at Gilroy. But the play that posted six points on San Benito’s side of the scoreboard seemed to be the only thing anyone was talking about last Friday night, and it was the Prune Bowl, no less.
It’s called “Red Spread 92 – Gaspar,” and it’s named after the 16-year-old junior from San Benito High that caught it.
“I like to be a receiver, and I want the ball to come to me to run it back,” said Gaspar, who also runs track in the spring.
Gaspar was previously enrolled in the Like Skills special education program at the high school, and he still takes one class with his teacher of four years, Mona Trevino.
“What happened was really cool,” said Trevino, who although was not present for the game on Friday, quickly learned of what happened that night when Espinoza shot her a text after the game.
Trailing 41-0 at the half, Espinoza set the stage in the locker room. Looking to deliver one of those rousing speeches only head football coaches are known for, Espinoza called out the team, and perhaps piqued the interest of Gaspar himself.
“He said, ‘Offensively, I don’t think we’re gonna score no more,'” Gaspar said of Espinoza’s halftime speech. “‘Nobody wants it. We didn’t show up. Nobody wants to hit. Nobody wants to block. Gaspar, you’re gonna get in. You might make a touchdown for me, and you might be running.’
“I said, ‘Yes, coach.'”
Late in the game, with the score still holding, the ‘Balers sat on Gilroy’s 33-yard line with a first-and-10. Quarterback Greg Vasquez threw to Gaspar on the hitch, but Gaspar, who lined up on the left side out by the numbers, dropped the intended pass.
“Oh man, I’m out,” Gaspar reacted. “They’re not throwing the ball to me anymore. That ball was right to me. I should have caught the ball.”
Although he thought he blew his one and only opportunity, Espinoza went right back to Gaspar on the very next play.
This time, lined up on the right side near the hash marks, Gaspar caught the hitch pass and started running. He ran, and with some help from blocker Matt Sanchez, he ran 15 yards to the Mustang 18.
“I ran fast because everyone was blocking, but I think someone hit me out of bounds,” Gaspar said. “No one took me.”
“I’ve never seen him run that fast in my life,” said Gaspar’s father, Scott. “Not even in track have I seen him run that fast.”
Gaspar came out for the next two plays. The ‘Balers worked the ball down to the Gilroy 5 when Espinoza turned to Gaspar on the sidelines.
“I said, ‘Mark, you’re gonna go score a touchdown. No matter what, you score right now,'” Espinoza said. “And he said, ‘Are you sure, coach?'”
When the play was snapped, Gaspar looked toward Vasquez, then ran five yards into the end zone and threw his arms up.
He hauled in Vasquez’ toss, then fell right to the turf.
“All my guys ran over and picked him up after the touchdown,” Espinoza said. “It looked like a mosh pit.
“That was pretty special … As a coach, it was one of the greatest things.”
Gaspar’s catch not only broke up a shutout, but turned the junior into a bit of a celebrity at the high school.
People are coming up to him now, cheering his name.
The play, Red Spread 92, is expected to be immortalized in a JV highlight reel, and will be handed out at the team’s banquet.
And for Gaspar, he’ll hold on to this moment forever.
“The coach was crying,” Gaspar said of Espinoza. “He put his arms up (in the air). He was impressed.”
