Gilroy QB sets CCS record
It was a game San Benito High would like to forget. It was a
game Gilroy High will never forget.
Last Friday night’s 57-27 Prune Bowl blowout that ended in
Gilroy High’s favor turned out to be one of the worst losses in
Baler history thanks to a 6-foot-3 junior quarterback, who caught
fire and gunslinged his way into the Central Coast Section record
books.
Jamie Jensen’s 486 passing yards, 8 touchdown tosses and zero
interceptions night surpassed Los Altos High School alumni Jeremy
Jordan’s longstanding CCS record of 482 passing yards, which he set
back in 1990.
Gilroy QB sets CCS record
It was a game San Benito High would like to forget. It was a game Gilroy High will never forget.
Last Friday night’s 57-27 Prune Bowl blowout that ended in Gilroy High’s favor turned out to be one of the worst losses in Baler history thanks to a 6-foot-3 junior quarterback, who caught fire and gunslinged his way into the Central Coast Section record books.
Jamie Jensen’s 486 passing yards, 8 touchdown tosses and zero interceptions night surpassed Los Altos High School alumni Jeremy Jordan’s longstanding CCS record of 482 passing yards, which he set back in 1990.
Although the game tape is still under review, not even NFL Pro Bowl quarterback Jeff Garcia had accomplished anything like that during his years at Gilroy High.
“It got to the point that we were almost laughing about it on the sidelines and in the booth,” San Benito High Coach Chris Cameron said. “We had no idea he was about to set a record, but they had so many weapons and were scoring so much I thought they were going to put us in the 70 club, as in 70 points.”
The loss ended any slim hopes that the Balers had of making the playoffs while it propelled the visiting, league-champion Mustangs to the No. 3 seed in the playoffs and gave them a home game on Saturday night at 7 p.m. against the perennial powerhouse Warriors of Valley Christian High.
“I’m rooting for Gilroy to go all the way,” Cameron said. “Defensively, they may be tested. There are some pretty good teams out there. But they have so many weapons I think they can do it. They connected on a number of deep plays on us all night long.”
The loss marked only the second time in the last 14 seasons (2002, 2007) that the Balers failed to make the playoffs. It was also one of the worst losses in Baler history and the second worst that Cameron, who started coaching high school football in 1983, had ever witnessed.
In 1998, San Benito High lost 58-27 to the Palma Chieftains and in 1992, while Cameron was still coaching at Andrew Hill High in San Jose; Cameron was on the wrong end of a 63-0 shutout that Leland High School, which had former NFL player and Iraq War veteran Pat Tillman on the roster, tossed at his team.
Despite the loss, Cameron found some solace in knowing that the season’s 10th and final game still had meaning, despite the many ups and downs of the Balers 2007 campaign.
“You always want that last game to mean something and it did,” Cameron said. “We started the season 2-5 but we had good resurgence down the stretch. We won three of the last five and finished the season strong,” Cameron said. “We just didn’t have the weapons to keep up with Gilroy.”
Jensen finished the regular season with 3,262 passing yards, 30 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Jensen’s passing yardage total was 2,057 yards more than the Tri County Athletic League’s second-place finisher in this category, Salinas’ Michael Sisson.
