The Haybaler football team is looking like a contender this
year. All the pieces are starting to fall in place for the red and
white.
The Balers are coming off a strong practice Tuesday in
preparation for the big matchup Friday night with visiting North
Salinas. Both coaches and players are optimistic, and are pumped up
for the stretch run.
I’ve been really impressed by what I have seen from this team so
far this year.
The Haybaler football team is looking like a contender this year. All the pieces are starting to fall in place for the red and white.
The Balers are coming off a strong practice Tuesday in preparation for the big matchup Friday night with visiting North Salinas. Both coaches and players are optimistic, and are pumped up for the stretch run.
I’ve been really impressed by what I have seen from this team so far this year.
Since I’ve been here, the team is 3-0 and has outscored its opponents 103-27. Currently, the Balers have the best record in the Tri-County Athletic League at 5-1-1.
I was a little worried when I came here that I would bring the jinx I brought to the Live Oak Acorns when I was there.
In the two and a half years of covering the Acorns including the first couple games this year, Live Oak won just two games. But with a couple more weapons, Live Oak could be really dangerous.
I almost forgot how to cover a winning program and how to write up game stories from a winning perspective. So often I would get in my routine in the fourth quarter of going over my notes and figuring out which questions to ask about what went wrong.
Now I get to try to make sense of what has been going right. Last week I had the privilege to cover my first Prune Bowl game. And it just as exciting to watch as some of the other Bowl games I’ve seen.
However, it didn’t start off too good for the Balers, who immediately fell behind with an 81-yard passing touchdown.
But the Balers went on to score 37 unanswered points to win the game. When you go 99 plus yards across the field, that will take the wind out of any opponent.
Gilroy claimed that the ball carrier broke the plane to the end zone, but that is not what the referee said.
Regardless, you got to give credit to the Hollister defense for causing the fumble when the ball carrier is trying to tuck it in like coaches always stress.
Although the Balers did get stopped a couple times early in the game in the red zone, the team did more things right than wrong – obviously as the score indicated.
There are always things to work on with any teams. If there weren’t, they wouldn’t even need to play the game. But going into the final three games – perhaps the toughest of the season – the Balers are in good position.
The attack is becoming more balanced. After relying heavily on the running game during the start of the year, the Balers have opened it up a little more with the passing game as well.
The defense continues to be tough to crack and should be strong through the rest of this season and into the playoffs.
With the team that showed up this year, San Benito is in position to go deep into November and December into the dead of the California winter with the snow and freezing rain.
Ok, maybe we won’t have snow this year. But you never know. Look who won the World Series.
Speaking of winter weather, no one could have imagined that selecting a new head high school baseball coach would have taken so long after local favorite Neal Andrade resigned to take over as the head coach for Gavilan College.
But as of Tuesday night, no one has yet officially been named as the head coach even though the rumors are flying.
“In the end, San Benito will have a quality baseball coach,” said Athletic Director Randy Logue. “All the candidates are top quality. Any of the four people we interviewed are all good baseball people.”
As always, I am always open to your comments, suggestions and criticisms.
