The chains came out for the measurement, but San Benito
quarterback Karson Klauer’s run came up just a hair short at the
Palma 13-yard line with 2:33 left.
The Chieftains (8-2, 5-0 TCAL) held on to win 7-6 Friday over
the Balers (7-2-1, 3-1-1 TCAL) to win the Tri-County Athletic
League championship.
The chains came out for the measurement, but San Benito quarterback Karson Klauer’s run came up just a hair short at the Palma 13-yard line with 2:33 left.
The Chieftains (8-2, 5-0 TCAL) held on to win 7-6 Friday over the Balers (7-2-1, 3-1-1 TCAL) to win the Tri-County Athletic League championship.
“It is a game of inches in this sport, and it was a game of inches tonight,” said Baler coach Chris Cameron.
The No. 4 San Benito will host No. 5 Milpitas in the first round of the Division 2 playoffs Saturday at 7 p.m., while No. 3 Palma will go against No. 6 Silver Creek in the Division 1 playoffs.
The Balers started the final drive with 5:12 left in the game at Palma’s 35-yard line after the Baler defense had pushed the Chieftains back and then got good position on the punt. Fullback Chris Brigantino, who lead the Balers with 47 yards, had a couple nice runs.
Klauer completed a pair of passes before running for four yards. After a measurement, the Balers were a foot short of the first down. Klauer again tried to sneak his way in on fourth down. The chains were brought out again.
It appeared he might have the first down at the 13-yard line as the nose of the ball from one angle looked over. But the referees found an extra link in the chain and ruled it a Palma ball.
The Balers came up with a big defensive stop and called their final timeout with 1:45 left for one more shot.
But the punt took a Palma roll for about 20 yards, and the Chieftains sent in the blitz to pick up a pair of sacks and move the ball way back.
“Our defense came to play, especially up front,” said Palma coach Jeff Carnazzo. “We kept looking at the videos and knew they had such a great defense and it would be a dog fight.”
Things looked promising early on for the Balers, who recovered a fumble on the punt to set up the only touchdown. Palma’s Ted Taylor fumbled the first chance, but the Chieftains recovered.
An inadvertent whistle forced a rekick. The ball again found its way to Taylor, who again couldn’t hold on to it after a big hit by Breyon Canez on the muddied Andy Hardin field.
That put the Balers in good position at their own 48-yard line. An interference call on a pass intended for Chris Uribe moved the ball to the Palma 37 and gave the Balers the first down.
The Balers moved the ball down with several nice runs. After an incomplete pass from Klauer to Canez in the end zone, Klauer took the ball around the left side for an eight-yard touchdown.
But the Balers, who have had trouble all season converting the extra point, missed their chance. After a bad snap, holder Uribe was forced to try to make something happen.
He almost found a receiver in the end zone, but the ball was knocked away. However, it would not have counted because the Balers were ruled to have ineligible receivers in the back field.
If the PAT would have been good, the Balers might have been able to walk away from the game with a tie. Although a tie would still have given Palma the league title, it might have helped the Balers secure a higher place in the playoffs.
Palma started its touchdown drive after a pass from Klauer that was tipped into the hands of Michael Willrodt for an interception. The Chieftains, which started on their 18-yard line, found some running room on the seventh play of the drive as the second quarter started.
Taylor, whose fumble lead to San Benito’s score, found a hole around the right side on a sweep for the 66-yard touchdown run.
Uribe broke free from his tackle and chased Taylor down, but he couldn’t catch him. Erik Carvalho’s kick was the difference.
“We ran a formational blitz, and we were doing some different things,” Cameron said. “We didn’t have the run force part covered. We didn’t have a force guy coming off the edge.”
Palma methodically moved the ball down the field. Three yards here. Four years there.
“That’s typical Palma,” Cameron said. “Palma goes on one of those drives, and it is like watching paint dry. The time just evaporates. It is always a positive play, and they don’t go out bounds.”
The Balers severely missed running back Nick Bailey, who was out with a shoulder injury. The back field as a whole was a little banged up.
“They were real physical,” said running back Manny Hinojos, who was playing on a sore ankle. “It was a little tough to get your footing on the field. They wanted it a little more than we did. But we will come out fired up next week.”
As the fourth quarter begin, Palma had a chance to add more points on the board, but the field goal fell just short.
“We played a real tough game defensively,” Cameron said. “They were a team that had more weapons and were physically stronger.”
Palma hurt itself with penalties at crucial times. The Chieftains were flagged ten times for 79 yards.
“We didn’t play very well at one point during the third quarter,” Carnazzo said. “The penalties kept killing us. Hollister does a lot of moving around up front. Our linemen got a little jumpy.”
The Balers gained just 14 yard on the ground in the second half.
“We weren’t exactly shoving the ball down their throat,” Cameron said. “We weren’t doing enough on offense to keep things going. Offensively, we hung our defense out to dry.”
JV/frosh note: Both the Baler JV and the freshman teams also lost to Palma. The JV team was defeated 26-6. It finished up its season at 3-7. Nick Bonnaud scored the only touchdown on about about a 75-yard run.
“We didn’t give up until the game was over,” said coach Frank Perez. “Even as time expired, they were still battling. They are a good group of guys who deal with adversity real well.”
