Down 0-14 early in the first quarter, Hollister outworks San
Lorenzo Valley in second half for the win
Things weren’t looking good for the San Benito High football team early on in Saturday’s week-two matchup with San Lorenzo Valley.
The ‘Balers came out flat and the Cougars capitalized by putting 14 points on the board in the first three minutes of the contest.
But Hollister regrouped to cut the SLV lead to two at 14-12 by the end of the opening quarter and then proceeded to completely shut down the Cougar offense in the second half for the 28-21 win.
“I’m almost glad it happened,” said Hollister head coach Chris Cameron of his team’s slow start on Saturday. “It was a good test of our character. Our kids could have started just tanking once it was 14-0, we could have just rolled over. But as it was, we came out in the second half, shut them out and scored 16 points.”
San Lorenzo quarterback Harlan Prather got off to a quick start by hitting Matt Kiel down the left sideline for a 60-yard score on a drive that took just over a minute off the clock.
Hollister fumbled on second down at the 18-yard line of their opening series and the Cougars recovered, setting up another Prather-to-Kiel scoring play only two plays later.
Down 0-14 very early in the game, the Haybalers looked to be in danger of taking a loss and starting the 2005 season with an 0-2 record.
That wasn’t going to happen.
On their next possession, the Haybalers put together a lengthy drive to get into the endzone and breathe new life into the game. Running back Jeff Weltz, who sat out the season opener with an injury, got the ball on Hollister’s first two plays. Weltz ran for a short gain on his first touch of the season but broke through the line on his second for a 20-yard gain that got the Hollister crowd riled up.
Another 20-yard run by Weltz later in the drive set the ‘Balers up deep in Cougars’ territory and Tim Lango brought the ball down to the one-yard line on a great run on third down that saw Lango put a nice spin move on a pair of SLV defenders to pick up a couple of extra yards. Weltz punched it in from the one on the next play but Dru Blake’s extra point try was wide, making it 14-6 SLV.
The Cougars coughed up the ball on their ensuing possession and Hollister recovered on their opponent’s 38-yard line.
‘Baler quarterback Karson Klauer opened up the drive by finding Anthony Francis with a nice pass, which Francis took 34 yards downfield to the four-yard line. Weltz notched his second TD of the game on the next play but Hollister was unable to get the two-point conversion, leaving the score at 14-12.
San Lorenzo Valley scored another touchdown in the second quarter to stretch its lead to 21-12 and would have likely scored again had it not been for a Mark Sullivan interception in the endzone late in the quarter.
From that point on, the Cougars couldn’t do anything against the ‘Baler defense.
On the Cougars’ first possession of the second half, Francis sacked Prather for a five-yard loss. SLV would go three-and out on the drive.
Klauer worked the field brilliantly on Hollister’s next possession, hitting Francis for eight yards on second down before a third down play later in the drive saw the ‘Baler offensive line give Klauer all sorts of time to sit back in the pocket and make a great pass to Abel Jacquez on the left side of the field.
Jacquez rumbled 27 yards down field for a score that brought the ‘Balers to within two at 21-19.
A solid defensive stand by Hollister on the Cougars’ next possession drew a standing ovation from the large Hollister crowd in attendance as SLV was stumped on three consecutive plays.
Lango set up Hollister’s next score with a 38-yard run on first down, setting up a 12-yard field goal by Blake, who would more than make up for his PAT miss earlier in the contest.
Blake’s field goal put the ‘Balers up by a point and sent the Cougars reeling.
Hollister further frustrated SLV on the very next play from scrimmage as Johnny Sanchez got a hand on a Prather pass.
The ball wobbled towards the ground after the tip by Sanchez and Breyon Canez managed to scoop it up for an interception.
The ‘Balers fought their way downfield to set Blake up for a 28-yard field goal to put Hollister up 25-21 with five and a half minutes left to play.
After another defensive stop, the Haybalers took over and marched the ball downfield to the 25-yard line, leaving it up to Blake’s leg to put the team ahead by seven.
Blake’s aim on the 42-yard try was true and the ‘Balers took a 28-21 lead, which the defense preserved by shutting down the Cougars’ offense once again in the last drive of the game.
