Trailing by 13 at halftime, the Balers scored 14 points in the
third quarter and held on to a 14-13 victory over Salinas in the
CCS Division I semifinal; San Benito advances to championship game
against Milpitas next week
SAN JOSE
It’s not too difficult to imagine how the San Benito High football team felt at halftime.
Coming off perhaps their most forgettable first half of the season, in which the offense compiled 58 total yards and just two first downs, the Balers trailed league rival Salinas 13-0 at the break during the Central Coast Section Division I semifinal in San Jose on Saturday — the Cowboys depositing all their points in the last five minutes of the second quarter.
“We had a rough first half,” senior linebacker Michael Murphy said. “We just came out (in the second half) and told everyone, 24 minutes …”
Good thing. It took at least 23 minutes to officially put the Cowboys away Saturday at San Jose City College.
Sparked by Salinas’ muffed punt to open the second half, the Balers quickly pocketed 14 unanswered points behind the arm of Tyler Decker to take a one-point lead during the third quarter, then used stifling defense and a huge fourth-and-two stop in the fourth to preserve an improbable, come-from-behind 14-13 victory over the Cowboys.
“It all just came together,” Murphy said. “We all just came together as a family.”
While Murphy teamed up with linebacker Taylor Coustette to stop Salinas’ Alvin Jelks on fourth-and-two late in the fourth quarter, junior backup quarterback Tyler Decker connected on a pair of touchdown passes in the third quarter to James Flook and Andre Cornell, essentially stealing the lead and momentum away from Salinas.
Decker, who hadn’t thrown a completion in the seven quarters of football since taking over the signal-caller spot from senior Trevor Fabing (shoulder), finished the game with 68 yards and two touchdowns on 3 of 7 passing.
“Both of them were just good catches.” said Decker, who was 0 of 2 last week against Independence. “This just feels good.”
And top-seeded San Benito (10-2) will live to see another 48 minutes of football as a result. The Balers advance to the Division I championship and will square off against No. 3 Milpitas (10-2), which edged No. 2 Piedmont Hills (9-3) by a 15-14 margin on Friday.
The D-I final will be held Saturday at San Jose City College. Kick-off is 7 p.m.
“They’re a beatable team,” San Benito senior linebacker Robert Pinedo said simply.
Little of what transpired during Saturday’s first half suggested Salinas was a beatable team, however. Although San Benito’s defense forced one turnover and held the Cowboys to just one first down in the opening stanza, two turnovers by the Baler “O” in the second supplied Salinas with short field position both times, each leading to scores.
“We were kind of getting down on ourselves,” said fullback Nick Acosta, who had 78 yards on 17 carries Saturday. “We were kind of flat. We really didn’t come out as well as we should have and we didn’t come out and play with heart like we should have.”
A scoreless first half ended when Decker fumbled an offensive snap and Cowboy Christian Ruelas recovered, giving Salinas the ball at the Baler 14. While San Benito’s defense held — safety Sal Ornelas delivered a key backfield tackle on third-and-five — kicker Kevin Baker split the uprights on a 30-yard field goal attempt to put Salinas up 3-0 with 4:58 remaining.
The Cowboys added to their lead when they got the ball back with 1:26 remaining in the half, and took all of 14 seconds to find the end zone when senior running back Alvin Jelks ran off right tackle, made one move to bounce out toward the right sideline, then sprinted 76 yards to paydirt.
Jelks finished with 145 yards rushing — just the second running back this season to eclipse the century mark against San Benito.
“I think we both have two very good defenses,” Salinas head coach Steve Goodbody said, “and you can see that by the score.”
But before it’d get better, things got even worse for the Balers when, on their ensuing offensive possession, Decker’s intended pass was deflected at the line of scrimmage and picked off by Christian Padilla at the San Benito 40. A decent return gave the Cowboys the ball at the Balers 21-yard line with 55 seconds left, and although San Benito’s defense held once again, Baker made it a two-score game when he connected on a 32-yard field goal.
But similar to last week’s first-round game against No. 8 Independence, in which they trailed 9-7 at halftime, the Balers’ 13-point deficit at the break on Saturday stirred San Benito’s seniors once again.
“We just had a talk and everyone started stepping it up,” said senior defensive lineman Adam Robles, who recovered a Salinas fumble during the first quarter. “It’s all (defensive lineman) Jacob Benitez. He motivates us every game, every single game. He said we’re not playing like a family.”
Benitez broke his hand during practice earlier this week, Robles said, and did not play Saturday.
“Some big speeches again like last game,” Acosta said. “And we came out hard and with heart — some big smashmouth football.”
“They wanted this game bad,” Flook said of the seniors. “They wanted to keep playing and they didn’t want to end their season on a loss.
“I knew that.”
After sophomore linebacker Ryan DiSalvo recovered a muffed punt during San Benito’s opening offensive possession in the second half, Flook helped aid those seniors when he hauled in a 28-yard touchdown pass from Decker down the left sideline, leaping just a little higher than Salinas defensive back Brandyn Crosby for the Balers’ first score.
“Just one-on-one — Decker threw it up there and I went up and got it,” said Flook of the score, his first touchdown this season. “But they’re a pretty good team. They’re solid.”
It was Salinas’ special teams that made the game a little more interesting on the very next possession, however, when a bad snap on fourth-and-five sailed over punter Eloy Portela’s head. The ball bounced around Salinas’ 20-yard line and Portela was unable to corral the loose football, eventually opting to kick it through the back of the end zone for a safety.
“Punter’s got his back to the guys coming,” Goodbody said. “I think he made a great decision. It’s much better than picking it up and you get a blocked kick and put them in a position to score right away.
“When we get a couple other situations it changes the ball game, but they did everything they needed to do to win.”
The Balers received the football as a result of the two-point play and wasted no time finding paydirt when Decker hit the senior wideout Cornell just 51 seconds after the safety. While Decker was hit on the play by 245-pound lineman Gabriel Avila, he nevertheless delivered a strike to Cornell on a post pattern down the middle to give San Benito a 14-13 edge with 3:09 left in the third.
“It was the same thing as the Palma [play],” said Cornell, who scored a 71-yard touchdown on a similar post pattern against the Chieftains earlier this season. “Decker read the safety. He came up, bit on it, and Decker just threw it and I was there.
“There were a lot of long faces (at halftime), but coach pumped us up and we just took care of business.”
As did San Benito’s defense. After allowing 152 total yards of offense in the first half, the Balers held Salinas to just 61 yards in the third and fourth quarters. Clinging to just a one-point lead for the remaining 15 minutes of regulation, San Benito never allowed Salinas to threaten — the Cowboys entered Baler territory just once in the second half.
“Both teams played hard, played within one point,” Goodbody said. “They made some adjustments in the second half, and we never had really good field position in the second half and it put us in trouble.”
Salinas’ final drive, its one last-ditch effort, began at its own 31 with 4:45 remaining. But the Cowboys were unable to get a first down, and were stopped on fourth-and-two when Jelks tried to run off right tackle once again — a similar off-tackle play that yielded a 76-yard touchdown earlier in the game. This time, though, Murphy wrapped up the legs and Coustette delivered the tackle for no gain.
The Balers managed to run out the clock on the ensuing offensive series, picking up a key offsides call on Salinas during a fourth-and-four play that supplied San Benito with a fresh set of downs, not to mention a surprising one-point victory.
“It was 24 minutes for our last game or 48 minutes for another game,” Murphy said. “I don’t know how to really put it. But basically we finally just realized, for the seniors, that this was our last game if we lost.”
Said Pinedo, “We weren’t gonna go out like that.”
Notes:
San Benito defeated Salinas 29-10 during Tri-County Athletic League play on Oct. 30 … This is the Balers’ first trip to the CCS championship since 2005, when they defeated Oak Grove 27-21 in the Large School Division.
SALN 0 13 0 0 13
SANB 0 0 14 0 14
SCORING SUMMARY
Second Quarter
KICK (4:58) — SALN, Kevin Baker, 30-yard field goal is good; 3-0, SALN.
RUSH (1:12) — SALN, Alvin Jelks, 76-yard touchdown, PAT (Kevin Baker) is good; 10-0, SALN.
KICK (:32.4) — SALN, Kevin Baker, 31-yard field goal is good; 13-0, SALN.
Third Quarter
PASS (7:14) — SANB, Tyler Decker to James Flook, 29-yard touchdown, PAT (Tino Granados) is no good; 13-6, SALN.
SAFETY (4:00) — SANB, Salinas punter Eloy Portela kicked ball through back of end zone; 13-8, SALN.
PASS (3:09) — SANB, Tyler Decker to Andre Cornell, 42-yard touchdown, PAT (Tino Granados) is no good; 14-13, SANB.
SALINAS STATISTICS
Passing: Junior Cortez — 0 of 1. Rushing: Brent Almario — 10 carries, 3 yards; Adan Iracheta — 7 carries, 34 yards; Alvin Jelks — 28 carries, 145 yards, 1 touchdown; Junior Cortez — 1 carry, 12 yards; Myles Coleman — 4 carries, 10 yards; Josh Estassi — 1 carry, 6 yards; Brandyn Crosby — 1 carry, 3 yards. Receiving: N/A.
SAN BENITO STATISTICS
Passing: Tyler Decker — 3 of 7, 68 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception; Andre Cornell — 0 of 1. Rushing: Tyler Decker — 11 carries, 8 yards; Nick Acosta — 17 carries, 78 yards; Cody Hendricks — 3 carries, 8 yards; Wayne Urbina — 1 carry, 6 yards; Junior Davila — 2 carries, 2 yards; Andre Cornell — 1 carry, 9 yards. Receiving: Junior Davila — 1 reception, -2 yards; James Flook — 1 reception, 28 yards, 1 touchdown; Andre Cornell — 1 reception, 42 yards, 1 touchdown.
TOTAL OFFENSE
Salinas — 213 yards (0 pass, 213 rush)
San Benito — 179 yards (68 pass, 111 rush)
TURNOVERS
Salinas — 1
San Benito — 2
SACKS
Salinas — 2 (Ramon Castillo, Blake Aldrete) for -7 yards.
San Bento — 0
