No matter how you take it, it’s going to be difficult to
swallow.
The San Benito Haybalers lost Friday night in the annual Prune
Bowl against Gilroy 57-27.
No matter how you take it, it’s going to be difficult to swallow.
The San Benito Haybalers lost Friday night in the annual Prune Bowl against Gilroy 57-27.
While some rivalists (yes, I just made that word up) cannot take a loss to Gilroy on any level in any sport, the true football fans need to take a step back and appreciate what happened Friday for quarterback Jamie Jensen.
Unfortunately, it happened to San Benito. Unfortunately, it happened against Gilroy.
But the statisticians in the South Valley are currently crunching the numbers surrounding the Mustangs quarterback and the game he delivered Friday.
Jensen completed 25 of 34 passes against San Benito. The sports editor at the Gilroy Dispatch, Josh Koehn, compiled 486 yards for Jensen, while Gilroy coach Rich Hammond reviewed game tape twice. Hammond recorded 486 yards both times, and sent the game tape to the San Jose Mercury News for review.
If it all adds up, if Jensen threw for 486 yards, the yardage mark will have set a new record in the Central Coast Section, breaking the previous high of 482 yards by Jeremy Jordan of Los Altos in 1990.
Jensen also threw for eight touchdown passes Friday, which ties a CCS record set by Jon Paye of Menlo, who threw eight scores against Santa Cruz in 1982.
Needless to say, Jensen owes his wide receivers a steak dinner, at the very least.
While some Haybaler fans will be rooting whole-heartedly against the Mustangs, who earned a 3-seed in the Open Division of the Central Coast Section Football Championships, others might actually cheer for Gilroy and their former ‘Baler coach as they look to tame the best the private schools have to offer, err, tame the best the Open Division has to offer.
So take the stats for what they are.
As for San Benito, they never gave up on Friday, because as defensive linemen Kevin Burley said, “… You never know …”
Gilroy was the superior team on Friday, and you have to tip your caps to them. The team is loaded at the skill positions, and they find ways to get their players into space. It’s really as simple as that.
San Benito had three breakdowns in pass coverage that led to three touchdowns on three consecutive offensive plays. They trailed 30-7 as a result of it, but they never gave up.
The ‘Balers eventually went on to score 20 more points. Find me another football team, in their biggest game of the year and trailing by 16 points before halftime, that wouldn’t have rolled over right there.
“We definitely didn’t give up,” Burley said, “and I think that showed a lot of character.”
But while the season ended when no one wanted the season to end, leave it to the Haybalers to start talking about next year approximately three minutes after their 2007 season wrapped up.
Lineman Sam Doty, before I even talked to him just minutes after the game, had already promised the outgoing seniors that San Benito will reclaim the VFW Memorial Trophy next year.
“What we’ve got to do is start training,” Doty said after the game. “Get in the weight room. Get faster. Get stronger.
“I promised all the seniors that we’ll get that trophy back.”
Defensive back Ryan Shorey is itching to beat Gilroy next year as well. Through freshmen football, and then junior varsity football, Shorey has yet to beat Gilroy in a Prune Bowl match.
In fact, the last time he defeated Gilroy in football was in his third year of Pop Warner.
“I’ve only got one more chance,” Shorey said. “We need to lay it all on the line.”
Clearly, the ‘Balers aren’t giving up just yet.
