San Benito hopes to throttle winless Alvarez as TCAL season
begins tonight
Hollister – The Tri-County Athletic League football season is likely to bring plenty of twists and turns.
Palma, of course, figures heavily into the championship equation. San Benito turned its reprieve last season into a shared TCAL title and a springboard to its Central Coast Section championship. Gilroy remains an unknown as new head coach Rich Hammond puts his imprint on the Mustangs program. And Alisal looks primed to fill in for Live Oak as a legitimate league presence.
As the teams kick off the TCAL season tonight, early positioning atop the league standings figures to weigh heavily on the coaches’ and players’ minds. And no team appears to have a more favorable opportunity to make a statement in its opener than San Benito. When Alvarez comes to town tonight, the ‘Balers (3-1) are not only looking to atone for their first loss of the season last week. They’re expecting to do it in a big, big way.
“I think we match up (with the Eagles) very well, so we’re looking to score on our first four possessions,” San Benito defensive coordinator Tod Thatcher said. “We want to get up big early on these guys.”
Alvarez (0-3-1) would appear ripe for the picking, having been outscored 97-13 in its preseason contests. The Eagles, familiar rivals as members of the old Monterey Bay League, join the TCAL knowing it will be tough to keep pace with many of the teams as they build their program. Alvarez, which suffered five shutout losses in 2005 (six if you count its 52-0 final against Salinas that the Cowboys were later forced to forfeit amidst CCS sanctions), has already been blanked by North Monterey County and Live Oak this season.
Thus, the ‘Balers find themselves looking inwards, knowing that they will critique their performance tonight on factors beyond the likely-lopsided final score. And high on the agenda remain season-long focuses of sustaining drives and negating turnovers.
“You either get better or you get worse,” San Benito head coach Chris Cameron said. “You don’t stay the same. We’ve got to put this football team away from the get-go.”
And the expectations are always increasing for a San Benito program that suffered tremendous losses from its section-title team from a year ago, but nonetheless posted a winning record in its four-game preseason slate. Asked to assess where he thought the ‘Balers stood heading into the league season, Cameron noted his disappointment in the team’s 21-17 loss to Bellarmine last week. “Three to four months ago, I’d have been very happy with (a record of) 3-1,” he said, “but we had the opportunity to be 4-0.”
Tonight’s contest marks the last of four straight home games for the ‘Balers. After a bye week next Friday, San Benito travels to North Salinas on Oct. 13, and then visits Palma in a TCAL showdown the following week. For a young team, the lengthy homestand has already been instrumental in the players’ growth. “It’s a good chance to build some momentum in front of your home fans,” Cameron noted.
And with another TCAL season set to get underway, the ‘Balers have designs on continuing their fast start.
“Three weeks from now, we’re playing the big beast of Palma, so we want to go in there on a roll,” Thatcher said. “Getting off to a good start is important.”
Kickoff at Andy Hardin Stadium is set for 7:30pm.
