Oak Grove hands San Benito 43-0 loss Friday in San Jose
SAN JOSE
The San Benito Haybalers were hit by a Carr on Friday night, and it wasn’t pretty.
Up against perhaps the best team they’ll see this season, and most certainly the strongest opponent of the preseason, the ‘Balers were delivered a 43-0 drubbing at the hands of the defending Central Coast Section Open Division champion Oak Grove Eagles in San Jose Friday.
Driven by Omari Carr, who sprinted for 177 yards and two touchdowns on just 16 carries, the Eagles pushed and shoved their way to 308 yards on the ground and held the ‘Balers to 97 yards of total offense.
“That’s probably the best Oak Grove team I’ve ever seen,” head coach Chris Cameron said. “We’ve got to move on to league now, but we’ve got to come out with a greater sense of purpose.”
“You’re only as good as your last game,” added the head coach, pointing to the scoreboard, “and that’s our performance tonight.”
San Benito finishes the preseason at 2-2, and will visit Alisal next Friday to open the Tri-County Athletic League season.
After Friday’s decisive defeat, one in which San Benito’s offense had three first downs in the entire game, Cameron is more concerned with how his team will react.
“We got hit with a hard reality shot,” he said. “The question is: What will the mood be on Monday? That’s the big thing. What team is gonna come out to the field on Monday?
“I can’t say it’s a good thing, getting beat 43-0 is never a good thing. But it’s something that leaves a taste in your mouth. And hopefully, we’re gonna do something about that. That’s the big thing. Again, what’s gonna happen on Monday? What football team is going to show up on Monday? Is it a team that will learn from this, and come into league blazing? We’ll find out.”
With San Benito’s offense committing two turnovers and held to just 32 plays from scrimmage – compared to Oak Grove’s 57 – the ‘Baler defense found themselves on the field for the majority of the game and the Eagles took advantage.
After going three-and-out on their opening drive, San Benito punted away to Oak Grove, which began from the ‘Baler 41-yard line. Eight plays later, Eagle quarterback Kenny Arechiga hit Jabari Carr on the hitch, who weaved his way nine yards to paydirt.
San Benito needed to score simply to keep pace with Oak Grove’s high-powered offense, but they fumbled on their next drive, giving Oak Grove possession at the San Benito 37. The ‘Baler defense held this time, and even stuffed fullback Anthony Dean (6-foot, 218 pounds) on a third-and-two, but placekicker Alejandro Duarte punched in a 38-yard field goal attempt to put Oak Grove up 10-0 after one quarter.
With massive lines and speed to burn, Oak Grove’s potent attack revolved around their weapons – the Carr brothers, Dean, Ronnie Isles, Alan Chapman – which were hard to contain on an open field. Case in point, on the first play of the second quarter, Omari Carr ran 49 yards untouched up the left sideline, and put the Eagles up 16-0.
Oak Grove added another score before halftime when Dean pocketed a one-yard rushing touchdown. San Benito trailed 23-0 at the break.
The ‘Balers had a strong drive in the third quarter when quarterback Kyle Vallejo found receiver Evan McFadden on a middle screen. McFadden began to break toward the left sideline but cut back to the right and was brought down 64 yards later at Oak Grove’s 25. San Benito got it down to the Eagle 10, but couldn’t find the end zone.
Oak Grove tacked on 20 more points in the second half.
“It’s already behind us. What’s done is done,” Cameron said. “It’s part of the past now. We have to be able to move on from this right now.”
Defensive lineman Sam Doty, who had another sack on Friday, spoke to his brother Ty after the game. A former ‘Baler himself, Ty Doty, who coaches the freshman team, told his younger brother to keep his head up.
“He kind of had the same deal with Valley Christian when he played here,” Sam Doty said. “He told me that they still made the CCS (playoffs) and everything. So I’ve got to remind the team to go out there and still believe and keep improving as we go along.”
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SB 0 0 0 0 0
OG 10 13 13 7 43
STATS
PASSING
Kyle Vallejo, SB – 4 of 13, 89 yards, 1 INT
Kenny Arechiga, OG – 10 of 17, 73 yards, 1 TD
RUSHING
Kyle Vallejo, SB – 5 rushes, -13 yards
Nick Acosta, SB – 3 rushes, 5 yards
Christian Maravilla, SB – 1 rush, 2 yards
Anthony Padilla, SB – 4 rushes, 3 yards
Sebastian Cathirell, SB – 3 rushes, 7 yards
Jeff Bernaldez, SB – 1 rush, -1 yards
John Pulido, SB – 2 rushes, 5 yards
Omari Carr, OG – 16 rushes, 177 yards, 2 TD
Anthony Dean, OG – 8 rushes, 36 yards, 1 TD
Alan Chapman, OG – 5 rushes, 27 yards
Kenny Arechiga, OG – 2 rushes, -4 yards
Ronnie Isles, OG – 4 rushes, 59 yards, 2 TD
Ritchie Castillo, OG – 2 rushes, 0 yards
Mark Ortega, OG – 3 rushes, 9 yards
RECEIVING
Evan McFadden, SB – 2 catches, 79 yards
Nick Acosta, SB – 1 catch, 9 yards
Sebastian Cathirell, SB – 1 catch, 1 yard
Alan Chapman, OG – 4 catches, 29 yards
Jabari Carr, OG – 5 catches, 35 yards, 1 TD
Omari Carr, OG – 1 catch, 9 yards
TOTAL OFFENSE
San Benito – 97 yards (89 pass, 8 rush)
Oak Grove – 381 yards (73 pass, 308 rush)
JV Note:
The San Benito junior varsity team was shutout at Oak Grove on Friday night, 41-0.
The team finishes the preseason with a record of 1-1-2.
“When you have so much talent on a team,” San Benito coach Luis Espinoza said, “you as a coach try to match your best guys with their best guys, and that’s football.
“I tried to match my guys up with theirs, and we lost. All we can say is, ‘Next week.’ And next week counts. That’s the way we have to look at it and that’s how we coaches are looking at it.”
San Benito will open the Tri-County Athletic League season next Friday at Alisal.
Frosh Note:
The San Benito freshman team lost to Palma on Thursday at home, 23-6.
Coach Herb Bocksnick said his team came out a little flat at the start but picked up the pace and went into halftime knotted at 0-0.
“We gave up a big play at the beginning of the third quarter and just couldn’t finish drives on offense,” Bocksnick said. “Ultimately our kids played hard and fought until the end but just didn’t execute as well as it takes to beat a quality team like Palma. We look forward to our next match-up with them.”
Lucas Haro scored San Benito’s only touchdown on a 20-yard pass from quarterback Ricky Munguia.
The ‘Balers are now 3-1. They’ll open the TCAL Friday at Alisal
