SAN JOSE—Good high school football teams find a way to win—period.
On Friday, San Benito produced one of its grittiest performances in recent memory with a 21-19 non-league win over host Oak Grove.
The Haybalers won despite all but gift-wrapping two of the Eagles’ three touchdowns. But they managed to overcome the costly miscues and will enter Monterey Bay League Gabilan Division play next week with a solid 3-1 record.
“Hell, we just persevered tonight,” Balers coach Chris Cameron said. “Our defense played great, just really outstanding.”
Cameron repeated that last comments several times, and for good reason. San Benito’s defense limited a potent Oak Grove (0-3) offense to just 170 yards, and it accounted for one of the team’s three touchdowns when cornerback Andrew Sotelo
returned an interception 16 yards for a score to give the Balers a 21-13 lead with 7:31 left in the fourth quarter.
The play capped a wild sequence in the game in which San Benito scored twice in a span of three plays. Two plays earlier, R.J. Clark hit Chris Blake down the right sideline for a 90-yard strike that put San Benito ahead for good, 14-13, with 8:14 remaining.
The Eagles scored with 55 seconds to go, but tailback Rasaan Fontenette (95 yards on 22 carries) was stopped at the 2-yard line by several Balers on the attempted two-point conversion run.
“The defense executed pretty well,” said Sotelo, who was one of four Balers in stopping Fontenette on the potential game-tying two-point run. “We picked up the offense because there will be days when the offense picks us up. That’s what teams do—we support each other.”
The team definitely picked up Clark and vice versa. The smooth-throwing left-handed quarterback had two fumbles—although the first was a pitch that the Eagles just made a great play on—that led to two Oak Grove TDs.
However, Clark stayed composed, and when he hit Blake with a perfect throw down the right sideline, the San Benito sideline erupted in jubilation.
“I saw Chris wide open and just threw it in the air because I trust that guy,” said Clark, who completed 3-of-6 passes for 111 yards while rushing for 49 more. “When I threw it, my heart was pounding. Right when it came down in Chris’ hands, I felt a sigh of relief. It was the best feeling in the world.”
Two plays later, the Balers experienced another high when Sotelo was literally shoved into the end zone by several teammates—he intercepted the ball at the Oak Grove 16 and managed to somehow get through several would-be Oak Grove tacklers after teammates pushed him into the end zone starting around the 7-yard line.
“I’ll have to buy the D-linemen some Snickers or something because they were the ones pushing me forward,” Sotelo said. “I was just eyeing him (Oak Grove QB Daryll Fontenette) the whole time, and surprised he threw the ball because I was right by his receiver.”
The Balers’ Justice Felice had his best game since early in the 2013 season, rushing for 91 yards on 18 carries. The senior fullback gained valuable yardage going through the gut of the Oak Grove defense.
Felice rarely went down after first contact and chewed valuable time off the clock on San Benito’s best drive of the game from a time-consuming standpoint—a 16-play, 90-yard drive that took nearly seven minutes off the clock but ended with a missed field goal because the offense stalled once it reached the Eagles’ 10-yard line.
Like most teams, the Balers are a work in progress. However, Friday’s victory could go a long way in setting up a potential league title run.
“This builds a lot of confidence for us because even though we didn’t play our best, we found a way to win,” Sotelo said.
“It was a really great effort by the kids because they were pulling for each other hard,” Cameron said. “Offensively, we did some good things, but those two turnovers are kind of like throat-slitters. But we were able to get some air in us and we did just enough on offense to win.”
San Benito 21, Oak Grove 19
San Benito 0 7 0 14—21
Oak Grove 7 0 6 6—19
Scoring summary
OG—Reyes 45 fumble return (Gomez kick)
SB—Blake 6 run (Miranda kick)
OG—Fontenette 2 run (kick failed)
SB—Blake 90 pass from Clark (Miranda kick)
SB—Sotelo 16 interception return (Miranda kick)
OG—Fontenette 15 run (run failed)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING (carries-yards)
SAN BENITO—Felice 18-91, Blake 5-34, Cameron 4-4, Clark 12-49, Sotelo 1-10, Soto 1-1, team 2-(-15). Totals 43-174. OAK GROVE—R. Fontenette 22-95, Tuiono 1-4, D. Fontenette 3-16, Johnson 2-1, Salazar 5-24. Totals 33-140.
PASSING (comp-att-yds-td-int)
SAN BENITO—Clark 3-6-111-1-0. OAK GROVE—Salazar 1-3-5-0-0; D. Fontenette 5-12-25-0-1.
RECEIVING (catches-yards)
SAN BENITO—Pasiallas 2-21, Blake 1-90. Totals 3-111. OAK GROVE—Mejia 2-18, Hernandez 1-5, Tuiono 1-7, Johnson 2-0. Totals 6-30.
TOTAL OFFENSE (rush-pass-total)
SAN BENITO: 174-111-285. OAK GROVE: 140-30-170.
