MONTEREY—Jubilation on one side, silence on the other.
That was before the final fireworks were unleashed.
For dramatic finishes, this heart pounding finish will be one for the ages for Monterey, and simply gut-wrenching for the Haybalers.
Needing to go 76 yards in 28 seconds, Carter Aldrete took Monterey down the field in 21 seconds, hitting Matthew Wright on a 34-yard touchdown pass to lift the Toreadores to an improbable 21-15 win over San Benito.
“The big man makes for a big window,’’ said Aldrete, in speaking of the 6-foot-4 Wright. “He waited all night to make a big play.’’
Wright couldn’t have picked a better moment.
“I just went up and got it,’’ Wright said.
Monterey is off to its first 6-0 start since 1997 when it ran the table and went 10-0 in the old Monterey Bay League. It has also won its last six home games. Before Aldrete stepped on the field for his game-winning dramatics, he looked at offensive coordinator Jimmy Hill and said ‘we’ve got this.’
“Oh yeah,’’ Aldrete said. “We don’t give up.’’
Aldrete was 3-of-4 on the drive and added an 18-yard run to move the chains while preserving time on the clock. Within 14 seconds, the Toreadores were at the 34-yard line.
Wright, who had just one catch all night, split out the right side as Aldrete put a pass that only the tight end could catch in the right corner of the end zone.
“It’s a play we work on in practice all the time,’’ Wright said.
When Wright went up for the ball, it fell out of his hands. Yet, before the ball hit the ground, it landed between his legs where he squeezed it.
“I know people were saying I didn’t catch it,’’ Wright said. “But it never hit the ground. That was a catch.’’
Pandemonium ensued as the Toreadores raced to the end zone to embrace Wright.
“This was a wake up call for us,’’ Wright said. “It’s all about practice and we didn’t have a good week of practice. It showed.’’
Since the Gabilan Division was formed, the Toreadores are 3-0 against San Benito.
While the Balers are off to their third straight 0-2 start in the Gabilan Division, the end result has seen them reach the Central Coast Section Division I finals in each of the last two years, capturing the title in 2012.
Yet, for the Balers, this was the second straight game that came down to the final seconds—both of which they have come out on the short of it.
“That’s a damn good team that is well coached and disciplined,’’ Monterey coach Tom Newton said.
For a brief period, it looked like San Benito would be the beneficiary of a muffed punt that was blocked by Bryan Noble and recovered at the 11-yard line.
Two plays later quarterback R.J. Clark hit Andrew Sotelo in the end zone with 34 seconds left. Rather than play for the tie, the Balers went for two with a little flea flicker action as Clark caught the 2-point conversion.
“I don’t know if we deserved to win this game,’’ Newton said. “We were outplayed. We’re a good group of players. But we can’t be pointing fingers. We have to play as one.’’
Aldrete was masterful on the Toreadores’ game-winning drive. Sandwiched in between his 18-yard run were completions to Michael Armstead of 8 and 15 yards to set up the game-winning touchdown.
“We don’t want to make a habit of this,’’ said Aldrete, who recently committed to Arizona State on a baseball scholarship. “This game should not have been this close. We need to clean some things up. It’s not going to get any easier.”
Not with a road trip to Salinas coming in seven days and a date looming with Palma on Oct. 31.
Monterey entered the game averaging 45.8 points a game. Yet, after Aldrete hit Reynolds with a touchdown on the team’s opening drive, the Toreadores didn’t score again until he dove in from two yards out with 8:58 remaining.
The defense rose to the occasion, taming the Balers all night. Asked to make one more play, Reynolds answered with an interception at midfield for Monterey.
Unable to get that first down, Monterey was forced to punt, where the Balers came charging in, blocking it with 1:08 left, setting the stage for a frantic final minute.
