‘Balers look to regain focus
&
amp; sharp play after thumping TCAL doormats
Hollister – It’s Palma Week for the San Benito football team, the game that’s circled on the ‘Balers’ schedule as the Big One. With both teams undefeated in the Tri-County Athletic League, Friday’s showdown in Salinas will go a long way toward determining the league champion and playoff positioning.
For the ‘Balers, it will be culture shock – facing one of the Central Coast Section’s elite teams after battering the dregs of the league in their past two games. And San Benito players recognize not only that they have played down to the level of their competition, but that they also need to prevent the mistakes that have taken some of the glimmer off their comfortable yet sloppy wins over Alvarez and North Salinas to have a shot at downing 5-1 Palma.
Take the penalties, for example. While completely overwhelming visiting Alvarez 38-6 on Sep. 29, the ‘Balers (5-1, 2-0 TCAL) were nevertheless flagged for nine infractions, losing 85 yards. And while defeating North Salinas 30-13 on Friday, San Benito committed another 11 penalties for 115 yards.
Look at the three fumbles in the Alvarez game. Or the botched conversion attempt and pair of first-half turnovers against North Salinas.
With the two underwhelming blowout wins sandwiched around their bye, the ‘Balers are well aware they haven’t been really challenged since their 21-17 loss to Bellarmine on Sep. 22, and moreover that they have fallen into bad habits in the meantime.
“These last three weeks, with the bye week and everything, we’ve come out real flat, real loose and not too serious,” guard Dan Gallant said. “And all that’s got to change this week.”
Nose tackle Brett Pirtle, a three-year varsity player like Gallant, said that trailing North Salinas until the 5:52 mark of the first half amidst miscues on both sides of the ball was alarming heading into Palma (3-0 TCAL).
“It’s hard to recover from that,” Pirtle said. “We were able to come back from that after a while, but Palma, if they get ahead like that, they’re going to keep beating you down. … If we come out flat, we’re going to get beat.”
Among other positives from the North Salinas victory – the 36 total rushing yards allowed and the 30 straight points scored – was the emergence of special teams as a difference-maker for the ‘Balers. After the unit’s mishaps consistently hurt the team in the first half of the season, San Benito received a 68-yard punt return for a touchdown by Abel Jacquez and a 51-yard field goal by Dru Blake. Those two players also set up scoring drives with returns in the ‘Balers’ first possessions of the first and third quarters.
“Special teams are such a critical part of the team,” assistant coach Shawn Tennenbaum said. “I think our kids are starting to figure out that they can’t take those plays off.”
Nevertheless, Tennenbaum also chose to highlight one special teams mistake – the muffed snap that was supposed to lead to a two-point conversion in the first quarter – as the type of error the ‘Balers need to shore up in order to challenge for the TCAL title.
“Against a good quality opponent, a Bellarmine, a Palma, a Gilroy,” Tennenbaum said, “those kind of mistakes you don’t overcome.”
