When North Salinas came knocking on San Benito’s door Halloween
night, it found mostly tricks and few treats.
The Haybalers (6-1-1, 3-0 TCAL) continued their dominance this
season with their sixth straight win, taking the 24-21 prize during
homecoming Friday on the slightly muddied field from the previous
night’s rain.
When North Salinas came knocking on San Benito’s door Halloween night, it found mostly tricks and few treats.
The Haybalers (6-1-1, 3-0 TCAL) continued their dominance this season with their sixth straight win, taking the 24-21 prize during homecoming Friday on the slightly muddied field from the previous night’s rain.
“It feels good to beat these guys,” said Baler coach Chris Cameron. “They got a lot of dangerous weapons. They were physical and they got after us. We haven’t seen that for awhile. They pushed us around a little, but we kept battling back.”
San Benito will square off Friday at Salinas in a battle of two teams looking for the league title.
The Balers had just three passes all night, but the ones they had all came at key times.
“We had a couple three-and-out series, but overall our offense moved the ball well,” Cameron said. “We just kept playing. We got a couple of big breaks there at the end of the game.”
The Balers knew they had to contain the speedy Ronnie Drummer. And for the most part, they were able to neutralize his deadly speed, dropping him for losses on several of his attempts.
San Benito limited him to just 73 yards on 16 carries. With the exclusion of his 45-yard touchdown, Drummer would have averaged less than two yards a carry.
“We had the outside linebacker out and were trying to force contain him on the fly sweep,” said junior defender Anthony Vasquez, who had a couple of nice tackles on Drummer. “Every time he would try to bounce out, that is where our containment stepped up, and it led to the win.”
The Vikings recorded just one score in the second half. But it was a big one. North Salinas got into the end zone with 39 seconds remaining in the third quarter on a little screen pass to Drummer, who faked one way and went the other, evading several Baler pursuers.
“We got to honor the trip because they throw a lot of balls over there,” Cameron said. “He is a great athlete making a great play. We had guys running over, but he cut back against every one of them.”
The Vikings, after missing a PAT earlier, tied the game at 21 as Erik Colantro powered his way in for the two-point conversion.
But the Balers weren’t done yet. Senior running back Manny Hinojos picked up 32 yards even with a near fumble.
Nick Bailey hustled down the field and knocked the ball out of bounds to help the Balers retain control at the Viking 30-yard line.
“He busted his tail to get over there and worked it out of bounds,” Cameron said. “It was a great effort.”
A couple plays later, Martin Chapa came in to try the 22-yard field goal attempt. After missing a PAT earlier, Chapa wanted to make sure this one went in.
“The coach told me to get ready on the sidelines because it may come down to a field goal,” Chapa said. “I was a little nervous. It felt good to hit the field goal when it counted.”
But North Salinas still had plenty of time to mount an attack. After a sack by Brett Brennan and Mike Lango, the Vikings were forced to call a timeout with 39 seconds left.
Quarterback Brandon Olden almost found his mark for what would have been a 46-yard touchdown. But the ball was just out of the receiver’s hands even as Ken Romero was right with him. The final pass sailed out of bounds, and the Balers were able to take a knee.
“We were just trying to confuse them and show them something they hadn’t seen before,” said North Salinas coach Tracy Felice. “You drop some, you catch some.”
“We wanted to get in scoring position and put together a nice time-consuming drive,” said Cameron of the field goal drive. “It didn’t turn out to be quite as time consuming as we had hoped. But it works.”
The Balers got on the board first in the game with a 21-yard strike from sophomore Karson Klauer to Breyon Canez, who split the two defenders on the opening drive.
“I was able to pick my spot,” Canez said. “I saw the safety was not coming over. I went vertical. He (Klauer) hit me with the pass, and I dragged the defender into the end zone.”
But North Salinas came right back and took a 7-6 lead with 5:37 left in the first quarter on an eight-yard scamper by Colantro, one of the Vikings talented running backs, who ran it in from eight yards out.
Canez got it done on defense as well. He picked off a ball from Olden as the second quarter opened.
“I thought I had beat it when he threw it,” Canez said. “I got to it and dove in front and came up with it.”
The Balers were able to convert with a 1-yard run by Hinojos for the touchdown. And the Balers went up by a touchdown at 14-7 when he ran the two-point conversion in.
On that drive, backup quarterback Rhet Van De Mark and Klauer hooked up for a 21-yard completion that Klauer brought in while racing down the sideline. It was Van De Mark’s first pass this season and Klauer’s first reception.
“That was just something we put in this week,” Cameron said. “We actually wanted the post down the field, but they had it covered. So our second route was the quarterback going down the sidelines.”
Just as time expired in the first half, the Vikings put together a scoring drive. With five seconds left, North Salinas called a timeout even as the crowd was chanting “Defense.” Merben Woo rushed in from five yards out. But a missed PAT gave a 14-13 advantage to the Balers going in to the locker room.
“It was a great game on both sides,” Felice said. “It could have gone either way at any time. A lot of times in the past few weeks Hollister has been kicking people’s butts. We came in and gave them a good game but just came up a little short.”
The San Benito offense can be tough to stop once it gets rolling, Felice said.
“We were trying to work on containing the sweep and the inside trap that they run so well and are very disciplined at,” Felice said. “We were working on those two plays, and we couldn’t even stop them.”
The Balers scored another touchdown on a 30-yard run by Bailey, who followed his blocker in at the 2:33 mark in the third quarter before the Vikings tied it up with their own drive.
“Our kids played hard especially in the second half,” Cameron said. “But we didn’t come out and play real good defensively in the beginning.”
JV Notes: The JV team defeated North Salinas 20-7.
“Of all the games we played so far, that was probably the best in terms of offense, defense and special teams,” said JV coach Frank Perez.
Armando Guzmun scored a rushing touchdown for the Balers, and quarterback Kevin Maderas found Art Esparza for about a 35-yard reception.
Jeremy Burns on the punt and kickoff teams made some great open field tackles for the Balers. Defensive back Anthony Francis had two interceptions, including one that saved a touchdown.
The Balers are a little banged up right now, Perez said.
“Within the last month we have had about four of our starters injured,” Perez said. “And a lot of our guys go both ways. We have just been trying to survive. It has been a real shuffling act.”
One of the players that had a chance to start Friday because of the injuries was outside back Chase Wood, who had a solid game.
Against Gilroy, the starting guard went out, and tackle Brett Lennard moved over to fill the spot even though he didn’t have much experience there.
The San Benito JV team is 3-5 overall and 1-2 in league. The team plays at Salinas on Friday. Last year the Baler JV team knocked off that previously undefeated team.
Frosh Note: The freshman team defeated North Salinas 21-8 Friday night.
