For the second straight league game, the San Benito High football team’s defense stood tall. The Haybalers allowed only 129 yards of total offense in a 45-6 win over Monterey two weeks ago, and last week they limited Alvarez to just 79 yards—including 1 yard, yes, 1 yard—in the second half en route to a 63-6 victory.
“We just try to stick to our assignments and not get fancy,” Balers linebacker Tanner Okerson said. “We’re always working harder to get better.”
Okerson had a huge game, blocking a punt that fellow linebacker Michael Camacho recovered in the end zone for a touchdown early in the third quarter. Okerson also had a highlight-reel tackle in which he picked up an Alvarez player and drove him to the ground with enough authority that it drew a big reaction from the crowd.
“I had my helmet in his stomach, and just picked him up and threw him down,” said Okerson, a senior who is in his second year on the varsity. “It happened pretty quick and I heard a lot of oohs from the crowd. I didn’t know how good it was until everybody was going crazy.”
Several defensive players deserve credit for playing well this season, including Okerson, Camacho, Andrew Sotelo, Tyler Biersdorff, Richard Justo, Isaac Regalado, Lino Jimenez, Ely Sernas, Eric Fernandez, Gavin Foster, David Cadena and Ishmael Medina.
The Balers (5-2 overall, 2-1 league) have been rallying to the ball well and not allowing big plays. Biersdorff and Sernas lead the team in tackles, with 65 and 55, respectively. As solid as the defense has been the last two games, the players know they still have plenty to improve on.
“We don’t like missing tackles or allowing huge gains, and that happened (against Wilcox and Salinas),” Okerson said. “I think we’re playing well together, but we can keep improving.”
At 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds, Okerson doesn’t look like your typical high school linebacker. However, he plays much bigger than his size, coming up with big hits and textbook tackles. Okerson doesn’t mind being small for his position; after all, he was the smallest player on the Hollister Vikings Pop Warner Mighty Mites football team as an 8 year old.
“I don’t know how I did it back then being the smallest kid out there,” he said.
Okerson was a backup linebacker a year ago, and he entered the past off-season knowing his hard work could lead to a starting role. Okerson said he started the team’s second game against Palo Alto, and he’s been entrenched in that role ever since.
“I had faith in myself the whole off-season knowing I was on my way up,” he said. “Palo Alto was my first start, and I’ve been ecstatic for every game.”
Okerson and the San Benito defense will try to produce another dominating performance at Christopher on Friday. This will be the first time the Balers are playing a team from Gilroy since 2012, when it mauled Gilroy 70-0 in the last edition of the Prune Bowl.
Whenever San Benito plays Gilroy or Christopher—especially in the boys’ sports—things tend to get ratcheted up a couple of intensity levels. However, this will be the first time San Benito plays Christopher in football, and it could be a while before the teams play again.
The Cougars (2-4, 0-2) are struggling in their initial year in the Gabilan Division, having been promoted to the Monterey Bay League’s top division after winning the lower Pacific Division a year ago.
“It’s another game,” Okerson said. “I know between Hollister and Christopher we’ve been going at it in different sports, and it’s almost a new rivalry. I definitely have friends in other sports who describe it as a big rivalry because they’re always going head to head. But this is our first time playing each other in football.”
