San Benito takes on Oak Grove again tonight
– last year the Balers lost to the Eagles in the title game
The No. 2 seed San Benito High football team is hoping that
history doesn’t repeat itself again when they take on Central Coast
Section powerhouse and the Large School Division’s top seed, Oak
Grove, in the CCS title game tonight at 7 p.m. at San Jose City
College.
Instead, the Balers are hoping that their surging defense and
strong offensive attack is enough to get them over the hump against
the school that has been their nemisis in recent years.
San Benito takes on Oak Grove again tonight – last year the Balers lost to the Eagles in the title game
The No. 2 seed San Benito High football team is hoping that history doesn’t repeat itself again when they take on Central Coast Section powerhouse and the Large School Division’s top seed, Oak Grove, in the CCS title game tonight at 7 p.m. at San Jose City College.
Instead, the Balers are hoping that their surging defense and strong offensive attack is enough to get them over the hump against the school that has been their nemisis in recent years.
“They will be a total, total challenge for us,” said San Benito coach Chris Cameron. “They are faster than we are and we won’t be able to make any mental mistakes. They’re also well coached.”
A year ago, the Balers lost to the Eagles 24-20 in the title game. In 1999 they succumbed 28-20 to the powerhouse school and lost to the Eagles again in 1996 in the playoff semifinals.
But this year things could be different as the Balers have looked unstoppable since getting new life after a 28-24 win over Palma in the regular season finale.
“Beating them gave the kids a lot of confidence,” Cameron said. “It was a great win.”
Just a week prior to the victory over Palma, the Balers were struggling and looked like they wouldn’t make the playoffs. They were coming off a 28-25 loss at Live Oak on Nov. 4 that left them with a record of 4-5.
But just as quickly as they hit the bottom of the barrel they climbed out of it when it was discovered four days prior to the Palma game that Salinas High was forced to forfeit all of its games due to a player ineligibility infraction.
The Balers’ 17-13 loss to Salinas on Oct. 28 instantly became a forfeit win, which moved them to 5-4 and on the playoff fence.
The win over Palma later that same week then catapulted the Balers to a 6-4 record overall and a 4-1 mark in league – good enough to share the league title with Palma and Live Oak.
“That win over Palma put us in the playoffs without the forfeit, and made our spot in the playoffs feel justified,” Cameron said. “We earned the right to get in.”
No. 6 seed Palma went into the CCS playoffs in the Open Division and faced No. 1 seed Valley Christian in the section championship on Friday night at San Jose City College, which leaves the Balers as the last team competing in CCS from the TCAL.
The Balers road to the championship game started with a 34-10 win over No. 7 seed Alisal. That win was followed by a 39-6 win in the CCS semifinals over No. 3 seed Independence High School last Saturday.
But nothing would feel better than a win tonight over the team that has prevented the Balers in recent years from winning their first CCS title since 2000.
“We’re playing a lot better all the way around now,” Cameron said. “We made a commitment to it. We’re going to have to be able to stop their running back. He’s the real thing. I think it’s going to be a close game, but we’re going to need to do better on special teams.”
Oak Grove coaches did not return a call by press time.
In the win over Independence last week, the Balers struggled on special teams – missing three extra points and fumbling a punt. But the Balers dominated play from start to finish, but against Oak Grove Cameron knows that his squad has to be firing on all cylinders.
And Cameron should know.
He coached the Oak Grove freshman football team from 1983 to 1989 and was an assistant coach on the varsity squad there from 1990-1991 before coming to San Benito High.
“They are coached much better than the teams that we have faced so far in the playoffs,” Cameron said. “I know most of the coaches there and it’s a good program. We’re going to have to play real well against them.”
If the Balers play the way they did against the 76ers, it could be smooth sailing.
In that contest San Benito gave up six points in the opening quarter before proceeding to tear off 39 unanswered points over the final three quarters.
San Benito’s first score came when quarterback Karson Klauer hooked up with Jeff Weltz on a 12-yard strike that knotted the game at 6-6 after a missed extra point.
From there, the Balers went on a scoring frenzy and went up 12-6 just before the end of the second quarter when Klauer made his way into the end zone on an 8-yard scamper. The extra point attempt by Dru Blake missed again.
“We can’t do that against Oak Grove and expect to be successful,” Cameron said.
In the third quarter the Balers went up 18-6 when Klauer hit Eduardo Gutierrez with a 15-yard toss that made its way into the end zone. The Balers then attempted a two-point conversion that failed.
Six minutes later Klauer, who was 9-of-12 for 153 passing yards and four touchdowns that afternoon, hooked up with Arturo Esparza on a 24-yard pass that made the score 24-6.
In the fourth quarter the Balers found the end zone two more times. Once on a 48-yard pass play from Klauer to Jeremy Burns and again on a 35-yard run by Travis Ross, who ran for 71 yards in the game, in the closing minute of the game.
