The San Benito High football team had a chance to measure itself against one of the best teams in Northern California on Friday in a Central Coast Section Open Division I playoff semifinal at San Jose City College.
It didn’t go well. Top seed Bellarmine, a perennial section power, throttled the No. 5 seed Haybaylers, 40-7.
“Bellarmine was fast off the line, quick and a solid West Catholic team,” said Balers receiver Daniel Hopkins, who had four receptions for 50 yards. “They’re a very good team of course, and they made things tough for us.”
Did they ever. The Balers (7-5) could only muster one first down in the first half and trailed 27-7 at intermission. San Benito was held to a season-low 158 yards of total offense and was once again plagued by special-teams play. Two glaring mistakes on punt attempts basically gift-wrapped the Bells two touchdowns, making an already uphill battle for the Balers seem like climbing Mount Everest.
“Our coaches definitely prepared us well, and we gave it all we had,” Hopkins said. “There are no regrets at all.”
Bellarmine set the tone early, as Kyle Macauley returned a punt 55 yards for a touchdown after San Benito went three-and-out on the opening series of the game. The Bells rushed for 233 yards, moving the ball with regularity and busting off a huge gain on occasion. Hunter Nye led San Benito with 88 yards on 16 carries, including the team’s only TD, a 2-yard run with 2 minutes, 58 seconds remaining.
Hopkins set up the score with an athletic, leaping 32-yard catch along the left sideline. R.J. Clark was 5 of 6 for 49 yards, and linebacker Michael Camacho blocked a point-after attempt and had some strong tackles. The Balers were riddled with injuries in the last couple weeks of the season, diminishing their bid for a monumental upset against the Bells.
“We had a lot of guys banged up and hurt, and they did a good job of playing through them,” Hopkins said. “We had another good season and some key wins, and we’ll take some great memories away from the way we played.”
Game Box
San Benito 0 0 0 7—7
Bellarmine 7 20 13 0—40
Scoring summary
B—Macauley 55 punt return (Bunce kick)
B—Garcia 30 run (kick blocked)
B—Garcia 37 run (Bunce kick)
B—Garcia 2 run (Bunce kick)
B—Fernandez 1 run (Bunce kick)
B—Ogbogu 5 run (kick blocked)
S—Nye 2 run (Miranda kick)
RUSHING (carries-yards): SAN BENITO—Nye 16-88, Cameron, 5-14, Rodriguez 3-5, Green 5-6, Clark 11-(-4). Totals 40-109. BELLARMINE—Garcia 13-118, Buenrostro 5-27, Fernandez 2-4, Crummey 2-5, Suarez 1-(-1), Manigo 3-4, Burrill 1-16, Serrano 3-18, Ogbogu 3-(-2), Martig 7-45, Sevor 1-1. Totals 41-233. PASSING (comp-att-yds-td-int): SAN BENITO—Clark 5-6-49-0-0. BELLARMINE—Martig 0-3-0-0-0. RECEIVING (catches-yards): SAN BENITO—Hopkins 4-50, Green 1-(-1). BELLARMINE—0-0. TOTAL OFFENSE: SAN BENITO 109-49-158. BELLARMINE 233-0-233.
