Coming off a historic season, the San Benito High boys soccer team faces an even greater challenge this year—trying to stay competitive in the Monterey Bay League’s Gabilan Division.
After winning the MBL’s lower Pacific Division last season—their first league title in 30 years—the Haybalers were promoted to the top division, where the quality of competition takes a huge jump.
Tony Deras knows that, and he’s not about to view the situation through rose-colored glasses.
“We know we have to be more disciplined, play smart and make less errors,” said Deras, who is in his fifth year as the San Benito coach. “We’re a hard-working team, and I think our talent and strength will be about the same from last year. But we know it’s going to be much tougher in the upper division.”
The Balers return six starters off a team that roared back to win the Pacific a year ago, overcoming what looked to be an insurmountable eight-point deficit in the last three weeks of the regular season to overtake Monterey in the second to last league contest.
Senior midfielder Jose Lopez Munoz plays the game with tremendous mental and physical toughness, as does Leonardo Vaca, who was the team’s third-leading goal scorer last year but has moved to fullback to secure the backline, which includes solid players Mauricio Arevalo, Juan Castellanos and Luis Coronado.
The team has a playmaking midfielder in sophomore Isaias Zamora, a solid goalkeeper in Cesar Perez del Real and a versatile midfielder-fullback in Victor Perez, who hopes to get back in action soon after suffering a broken collarbone during football season.
“We emphasize high intensity in every practice,” Deras said. “That’s the way we’re going to compete in our new division. We’ve got some experience and the guys are hungry, and we’ll need to play smart.”
In a Dec. 4 match against Monterey, the Balers showed their potential and shortcomings all in the span of a 1-0 victory. For the first 60 minutes, San Benito couldn’t generate anything offensively, producing just three shots on goal.
But in the final 10 minutes, it put three shots on goal in rapid-fire fashion. The insertion of Vaca from defender to forward made all the difference, and Deras felt the move was necessary because the team was missing a couple of starting forwards due to injury.
But when Deras saw Coronado was able to be a stabilizing force on the backline during Vaca’s absence—he missed 15 to 20 minutes in the second half after hurting his back—he made the move to put Vaca up top.
Vaca immediately made his presence felt, using his speed and agility to consistently create a host of strong offensive scoring chances. San Benito and Monterey finished 1-2 in the Pacific Division last year, and both got moved up to the Gabilan this season.
“This was a good match to play early in the season,” Deras said. “There was a lot of intensity because of what happened last year. We have plenty to improve on; attacking-wise, we need to do more.”
At a recent practice, Deras watched intently as he arranged a scrimmage. The sun had long set, but the bright lights from the football stadium and from the adjacent parking lot provided enough lighting for the team to practice.
Every couple of minutes, Deras blew his whistle to give his team some pointers. No detail can go unturned, especially this season playing in the MBL’s top division.
