Inside the Salinas High “Pit,” the San Benito football team doesn’t need to search far for success, having gone 5-0-1 since 2001 in the Cowboys’ home. On Friday in the Central Coast Section Division I semifinals, the Balers extended that recent history with a dominate 30-13 win to advance to their seventh CCS title game since 2000.
The Balers (7-5) will play Milpitas (9-3), who defeated Sequoia 34-19, in the CCS title game at 7 p.m. Saturday. The game will be held at Independence High in San Jose.
“We played the best game of our season tonight,” SBHS head coach Chris Cameron said. “We hit on all cylinders.”
It was a complete reversal of the contest earlier this season between the two teams played in Hollister – a game that Salinas won 26-6. Instead it was the Cowboys who got on the board first, only to see the Balers rally off 20 consecutive points to take control of the game.
The game didn’t start too promising for the Balers after they needed three plays to gain four yards on the game’s first drive. Salinas then took four plays to go on the board thanks to senior Everett Ball, who scored on an 18-yard run untouched.
But that was all the impact Ball had during the night. Everett – who ran for a team-high 1,452 yards during the season, including 151 against SBHS in October – was limited to only 46 yards on 13 carries.
The Balers responded right back, though, as David Stanton hit Cody Freitas with a 45-yard reception to put the Balers in scoring position. Stanton then scored the first of his three touchdowns two plays later on a six yard run. The Balers added a two-point conversation to take an 8-7 lead, something they would never relinquish.
San Benito controlled the line of scrimmage throughout the night, holding the heavy running game of Salinas to only 115 yards. To supplement the strong run defense, San Benito forced four turnovers throughout the night.
“Our defense has progressed so much in the second half of the season,” said SBHS safety Cody Cameron, who picked off a fourth-quarter pass. “Our game plan was to pound them up front and swarm to the football and obviously we did that. We did good in all phases.”
After the first quarter touchdown, the Baler defense allowed only four more first downs throughout the night, never allowing the Cowboys to find any offensive rhythm. The Cowboys finished with only 187 yards of total offense.
The Balers forced their first turnover at the turn of the first quarter. Stanton, again, scored six plays later to give San Benito a 14-6 lead early in the second.
The Balers’ offense played perhaps their most complete game despite injuries to leading rusher Damien Botelho and junior Zak Hicks.
San Benito relied on a heavy running game behind Paris Edwards, who ran for 76 yards on 22 carries, and sophomore Justice Felice, who was pulled up from the junior varsity roster earlier in the week.
With less than two weeks of varsity practice, Felice played a key role in the Balers victory. After fullback Jon Hawkes couldn’t play because of an injury, Felice played most of the night in the backfield. The sophomore took 13 carries for 63 yards.
“That kid played a big role, “ Chris Cameron said. “The team rallied around him tonight. I’m sure he was nervous in the first quarter but he played through it and got comfortable. He grew up tonight.”
But it was the Baler quarterback who continued to be San Benito’s driving force on offense. Stanton, who continued to light up the scoreboard in the postseason, accounted for all four San Benito touchdowns. In two postseason contests, Stanton has been a part of seven of the Balers’ eight touchdowns.
On Friday, Stanton ran for three scores and threw a 30-yard strike to Freitas to end the Balers’ scoring near the end of the fourth quarter.
“We came out with a lot of confidence and we did work pretty much,” he said. “We ran all over them. We just wanted to win. And we just did everything possible to get the victory.”
After struggling to start the year replacing injured starter Josh George, Stanton has led the Balers to victories in five of their last six games.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Stanton said. “I never expect to even play this year and to go all to the way to the CCS finals – it’s a big deal. It’s intense.”
Stanton finished going 5-for-11 for 92 yards, while running for a game-high 120 yards.
Overall, the Balers finished with 374 yards of total offense, including 282 yards on the ground. It was a complete team effort in the win, Cody Cameron said.
“Our offense put in work. Our defense put in work. Our special teams put in work,” he said. “Even when we were down … we came out in huge situations. Everyone came out and played as one unit. That was a huge part of the game we all played together.”
The victory sends the Balers to the CCS title game for the second time in four years. In 2009, SBHS lost to Milpitas 28-10 in the title game.
But the Balers expect a much better showing in 2012.
“There is going to be so much emotion,” Cody Cameron said. “We have to do the same exact thing. They are an extremely good team.”
And the records will be meaningless, Chris Cameron said.
“We are rolling,” he said. “All those losses in the season don’t mean anything now. It’s a new season and we are 2-0 now. We have one thought in mind right now and that’s to win next week no matter who we are playing. “
