Insanity on one side, stunned silence on the other.
As players from San Benito raced out on to the field to celebrate a wild win, Seaside stood in disbelief.
A miraculous second-half comeback that saw the Spartans erase a 21-point deficit ended with San Benito mobbing Zak Hicks.
“Easily the greatest catch of my life,” Hicks said.
Backpedaling into the end zone, Hicks hung on to a 20-yard touchdown pass with no time left on the clock Friday, propelling the Balers to a 30-28 win over at Seaside.
“It was a great, great game,” Seaside coach Al Avila said.
One that left the Spartans in shock after it appeared they had rallied back from a 21-0 deficit to take a 28-24 lead in the fourth quarter.
The Spartans had San Benito pinned back at its own 10-yard line with 1:32 remaining in the game. Yet, a roughing the passer penalty on third-and-long gave it a first down. Two more penalties kept the Balers’ drive alive.
“We have to look at each other,” Avila said. “We had a couple of blown assignments down the stretch.”
And two potential interceptions that were dropped.
Quarterback David Stanton, who completed just two passes through 46 minutes, completed five on the final drive, moving the ball to the 20-yard line with three seconds left in the game.
Stanton, who had hit Cody Freitas on his first three passes of the drive, put the ball in the left end of the end zone where Hicks slipped past his defender to catch the ball as time expired.
Before Hicks could get up and celebrate, 50-plus teammates came charging at him as coaches embraced each other.
“We have no reason to hang our heads,” Avila said.
The loss was crippling for the Spartans, as it knocked them out of title contention in the Monterey Bay League’s Gabilan Division after unbeaten Palma rolled to a 31-21.
Meanwhile, it was a huge boost for the Balers, who improved to 4-4 overall and 2-2 in league play, good for sole possession of third place in the Gabilan.
“A tail of two halves,” Avila said.
Indeed.
The Spartans looked like they were in a fog in the first half, unable to generate any offense while enabling San Benito to run all over them.
Then the fog rolled in and a light went on in the second half for Seaside.
Invisible for much of the first half, the Spartans rediscovered 6-foot-4 receiver Ronnie Turner, who caught three touchdown passes in the second half.
Yet, what triggered the comeback was Seaside’s defense when Fernando Avila intercepted a pass and returned it 50 yards to the 10-yard line.
“We were a different team in the second half,” Avila said.
Defensively the Spartans forced four turnovers.
Avila’s interception set up Lorenzo Johnson’s 5-yard touchdown pass in the right corner to Turner, who outleaped the defender.
That became a common theme on the Spartans next two possessions. After Darryl Choates recovered a fumble, Johnson went right back to Turner for a 31-yard scoring strike.
And when Spencer Tulau forced a fumble on a punt, Johnson — who scored the Spartans’ first touchdown with no time left in the first half — hit Turner again on a 1-yard touchdown catch.
Seaside played with passion and pride in the second half, running off 21 unanswered points in a span of 11 minutes to take its first lead of the game.
A tenacious defense, anchored by Choates, smothered the Balers ground game, which chewed up 125 yards in the first half behind Stanton and Hicks.
