SAN JOSE
–– There was nothing No. 1 seed Los Gatos could do to stop the
determined No. 4 seeded San Benito football team during the Central
Coast Section Division II semifinals Friday at San Jose City
College.
San Benito (9-2-1) will advance to the CCS championship game
against No. 2 Aptos, who defeated No. 6 North Salinas. The game
will be Friday at San Jose City College at 7 p.m. The Balers, who
last won the championship game in 2000, have been in three of the
last four Division 2 title games.
SAN JOSE –– There was nothing No. 1 seed Los Gatos could do to stop the determined No. 4 seeded San Benito football team during the Central Coast Section Division II semifinals Friday at San Jose City College.
San Benito (9-2-1) will advance to the CCS championship game against No. 2 Aptos, who defeated No. 6 North Salinas. The game will be Friday at San Jose City College at 7 p.m. The Balers, who last won the championship game in 2000, have been in three of the last four Division 2 title games.
“We looked at this game as the championship game,” said Baler coach Chris Cameron. “We didn’t think we played our best football game last week. But we stepped it up this week. We just outlasted them.”
The Haybalers seemingly could do nothing wrong in the 40-21 win, consistently denying the potent Wildcat offense, which was averaging 39 points per game coming in.
The Balers moved the ball offensively with a solid team effort. Los Gatos (9-3) had allowed 13 points per game coming in. San Benito’s defense was just tenths of a point behind in the average points given up.
Containing Los Gatos senior running back Danny Bates, who holds the individual single-season rushing record for the school, was the first thing on the preparation checklist this week.
Bates has 30 touchdowns and ran for about 2,400 yards this season, but the Balers held him to 100 yards on 20 caries Friday. He was also prevented from crossing the goal line.
On one drive in the third quarter, Bates got the ball all three times and was stopped all three times without picking up the first down.
“We didn’t spring Danny,” said Los Gatos coach Trudy McCulloch. “He ran hard like he always does. But we didn’t do a good job with our blocks. We put the ball on the ground too many times. We made mistakes, and I don’t think they made any.”
While Bates took on the majority of the Los Gatos work load, San Benito went with the platooning running game. Fullback Chris Brigantino lead the Balers on the ground, finishing two yards shy of 100, while running back Nick Bailey had 92 yards.
Sophomore quarterback Karson Klauer came up with his biggest game of the year. He was 7 for 10 for 152 yards. He threw for two touchdowns in the second quarter.
Senior Ken Romero, playing both cornerback and receiver, had a hand in almost every aspect of the game. He had a 38-yard punt return, an interception, a 12-yard touchdown and even a 46-yard touchdown pass to Manny Hinojos.
Los Gatos took the early lead in the game when quarterback Eric Rollin found a wide open Michael Brienzo for a 42-yard touchdown at the start of the second quarter.
But San Benito answered right back with a pair of touchdowns before the half. The first score came just 53 seconds after Los Gatos took the lead. Klauer found Gabe Gaitan on a little quick route up the middle for the 55-yard score at 10:04.
Romero scored the second Baler touchdown of the first half. Defender Matt Kinser got his hands on him, but Romero still managed to reel it from 12 yards out.
“We knew that pass was coming,” McCulloch said. “We knew what play they were going to throw, and the kid knew as well.”
Baler linebacker Chris Stephens picked up a fumble and returned it eight yards to set up the Romero touchdown.
“I came off the outside on a blitz,” Stephens said. “I picked up the ball and ran as fast and as hard as I could. Before I knew it, I was on the bottom of 20 guys.”
The Balers were up by a slim 15-7 going into the locker room at the half after Chris Uribe found Mike Savin for the two-point conversion.
“We were going to go a little conservative in the second half, but offensive coach Rich Dukes said we should take some chances in the second half,” Cameron said.
That strategy paid off right out of the shoot. On the third play of the drive, Romero took the handoff and faked the run but threw instead to Hinojos for the score.
“There were a couple things we hadn’t seen yet, so we made some changes,” Cameron said. “We talked about running the ball a little more to the weak side instead of just going strong side. We have ran that play for years, but we just changed the blocking scheme.”
With 3:13 left in the third quarter, the Balers posted their largest lead of the night at 28-7. Defensive lineman Tony Hernandez stripped Rollin of the ball, and Vince Sardam ran it in from eight yards out.
But Los Gatos got right back into the game with a 33-yard touchdown to Matt Martini – one of two connections between the pair in the fourth quarter.
The Balers, however, found a couple straws to break Los Gatos’ back late in the game. On one drive, the Balers were called for three consecutive false starts before Klauer completed a third-and-22 pass to Romero for 38 yards. Brigantino ran it in for the 5-yard touchdown.
“Normally we know Klauer’s voice and count pattern,” said offensive lineman Jon Lopez. “Their linebackers were shouting ‘Yellow.’ It doesn’t sound much alike, but is was working.”
Ed Merlo recovered a fumble on a punt at the 16-yard line to set up Francisco Aviles’ 4-yard run to put the Balers up 40-14 with 2:19 to go.
The final touchdown drive was setup by an Anthony Vasquez sack – the Balers fourth of the day.
“It felt great to get to him,” Vasquez said. “They didn’t know how to block us. They didn’t know how to play Baler football.”
