The long road to the championship ends on the field tonight in
San Jose
On September 4, 2004, a very short-handed San Benito High football team took to the field against Valley Christian for its first game of the season.
The result of that contest, a 41-0 loss to the Warriors, almost doesn’t make any sense when you look at where the Haybalers are at today.
San Benito went on a rampage after that first game, defeating San Lorenzo Valley in week two by a score of 13-7, then tying Wilcox in week three 28-28 before defeating their next six opponents.
Now, they’re playing for the ultimate prize: The Central Coast Section crown. And a very tough Oak Grove team stands in San Benito’s way of obtaining that crown.
But there aren’t any David vs. Goliath references being thrown around the Haybalers’ locker room as the team prepares for its biggest challenge of the year.
These guys are ready to play and they know that if they compete the way they have been in recent weeks, they’ll have a good shot at the win.
Obviously, it takes a special group of athletes to bounce back from what might have seemed like a devastating loss in week one to get to the title game. But this isn’t simply a group of athletes.
It’s more like a family.
“All of us, we’ve grown up together,” said San Benito’s senior linebacker Anthony Vasquez. “We’ve all known each other growing up and that’s what makes us more of a tight group than a lot of other teams. We all played Pop Warner together, freshman ball together and we’ve all been growing up as a football family since we got here.”
This mentality is evident on the field. There’s no infighting, no getting down on a teammate who makes a mistake. The members of this squad trust one another and they always prop each other up.
The Haybalers have certainly come a long way since week one. And Hollister fans who make the trip to San Jose tonight to watch the game can expect to see their team play like champions, win or lose.
The Balers have come too far to have it go down any other way.
“It’s been a test of will this season,” said San Benito head coach Chris Cameron. “Our coaches and players have done an outstanding job all season long getting better and better each week. They’ve put a lot of time in since January on to get ready for this season. So much has been invested by everyone. The guys just haven’t quit.”
For the team’s seniors, tonight’s game will conclude with some tears being shed, no matter what the scoreboard says. They’ve won and lost as a family for years and, after tonight, it will be all over. And for a team as committed to each other as this one is, that’s not going to be easy to deal with.
But getting a win and bringing the CCS championship back to Hollister will go a long way in softening the heartache that is sure to follow tonight’s contest.
“This game means a lot to all of us, not just the seniors,” Vasquez said. “A win in the CCS championship would make our whole year.”
