Coach cites lack of mental focus behind loss to Piedmont
Hills
The San Benito High football team was at home. They were the No.
1 seed in the tournament, and the defending Central Coast Section
champs. But when the final tick came off the game clock at Andy
Hardin Stadium last Friday night in the opening round of the
section playoffs, it was the No. 8 seeded Pirates of Piedmont Hills
High School that advanced to the next round.
Coach cites lack of mental focus behind loss to Piedmont Hills
The San Benito High football team was at home. They were the No. 1 seed in the tournament, and the defending Central Coast Section champs. But when the final tick came off the game clock at Andy Hardin Stadium last Friday night in the opening round of the section playoffs, it was the No. 8 seeded Pirates of Piedmont Hills High School that advanced to the next round.
While many of the people that packed the stands were shocked to see the home team eliminated from the playoffs by a 21-14 margin, Baler head coach Chris Cameron wasn’t.
“Our kids were kind of floored that we lost, but our mindset just wasn’t there,” said Cameron. “I’ve coached long enough to know. When I look back at the games against Gilroy, Alisal, Palma, Bellarmine or Aptos I could tell that we had the right mindset. We were ready and focused. We just didn’t have it against Piedmont.”
Since Cameron took over the job in 1994, this year marked the first time his team received the top seed heading into the post-season tournament.
“I hope now that I never have the No. 1 seed again. We always seem to do better when we are around No. 4,” said Cameron, who coached the 2005 squad to the CCS Large School Division title from the No. 2 position. “To be honest, I would have rather have been No. 8 and have us go up there (San Jose) and play them. I’m not taking anything away from Piedmont. They drove 50 miles on a bus and beat up a No. 1 seed. We played better in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the mistakes that we made in the opening half.”
In the opening half the Pirates jumped out to a 7-0 lead on just the third play of the game when Piedmont quarterback Danny Cruz connected with his No. 1 receiver Kyle McCarthy on a 66-yard pass play. It was Cruz’s 24th touchdown toss of the season and McCarthy’s 12th trip to the end zone.
In the second-quarter the visiting Pirates extended their lead to 14-0 when Cruz hooked up with Joe Follen on a short pass just two minutes before the half.
Just before the half it looked as though the Balers would cut the lead in half when quarterback Ronnie Fhurong connected with Dru Blake on a sideline pass that Blake took all the way to the Piedmont 5-yard line before he was tackled from behind by Piedmont’s Devon Mynhier.
All of the excitement would soon go for naught as the Balers fumbled on the following play just yards from the goal line. That fumble wasn’t the only miscue by San Benito in the rocky first half. Fhurong was also intercepted on his first pass of the night, which seemed to set the tone early on.
“We fumbled that ball at the five. We dropped a number of balls and we had interceptions,” Cameron said. “We just didn’t execute well. It wasn’t a good game for us.”
In the third quarter the Balers scored 14 unanswered points to knot the game. The Balers first trip to the end zone came when Fhurong ran his way in from 16 yards out. Minutes later, the game was tied up courtesy of a 1-yard burst by senior running back Tim Lango.
The Balers only chance of the game to take the lead came on their first possession of the fourth quarter when they moved down field all the way to the Piedmont 20 before being forced to settle for a 37-yard field goal attempt, which Blake missed wide to the left.
On the ensuing drive the Pirates put the game away for good when Cruz, who has thrown for more than 2,400 yards this season, found Follen again on a short pass pattern that made its way into the end zone.
The final nail in the coffin came when Fhurong was picked off in the final minute of play to end San Benito’s hopes of winning back-to-back section titles.
“It’s been a while since we were eliminated this early,” Cameron said. “Last year we won it all and the year before that we lost in the finals. Overall, it was a great season. We went a lot farther than I thought we would go back on Aug. 1. Back then, my big concern was our size and the defensive line. We had only one senior on the D line but they all came together and played well.”
Next year Cameron will lose seven starters on defense, which includes his entire starting line backing core. On offense, the Balers will lose five more players.
“This team really achieved a lot. The end was disappointing, but I can’t harp on the end. We were in every game that we played this year, including this one. We went 8-3 this year and lost those three games by a total of 18 points. We played hard all year. This was by far the smallest team that I ever put on the field and they always competed week in and week out.”
And they compete year-round too. Just this week Cameron had his team already preparing for the 2007 season.
“We were lifting this morning. We’ll be working more next semester,” he said. “I’ve got some good kids coming up and some good freshman that I want to take a look at.”
