With a trip to the CCS Division I championship on the line, the
top-seeded Balers (9-2) will square off against No. 4 Salinas (7-4)
Saturday at San Jose City College, less than a month after the two
rivals met up at The Pit in Tri-County Athletic League play.
HOLLISTER
Truth be told, it’s always difficult to beat a team the second time around.
Just last week, for instance, the Central Coast Section Open Division included a pair of match-ups between Palma and St. Francis, Mitty and Valley Christian — two teams that had previously played each other in the regular season.
And as if on cue, the winner during the regular season proved to be the loser in the playoffs.
“Palma gets beat by St. Francis after pretty much taking it to those guys earlier in the season, and Mitty gets beat by Valley Christian,” Chris Cameron said.
The San Benito head coach already has his talking points for this week’s game.
With a trip to the CCS Division I championship on the line, the top-seeded Balers (9-2) will square off against No. 4 Salinas (7-4) Saturday at San Jose City College, less than a month after the two rivals met up at The Pit in Tri-County Athletic League play.
Cameron is aware of how difficult it is to defeat the same team twice in a given season. But with San Benito’s 29-10 victory over Salinas on Oct. 30 barely even a memory, the Balers will need to figure out how to make it happen, or otherwise suffer an end to their season.
“Obviously, we’re gonna have to be more productive on the offensive side of the ball,” Cameron said of the Balers, who compiled 184 yards of total offense and committed two turnovers last week in its first-round game against Independence.
“They’re coming into this thing having played well, beating North Salinas and then just crunching Hill the other night,” Cameron added of Salinas. “They’re feeling pretty good about themselves …”
Since their late October loss to San Benito, the Cowboys edged cross-town rival North Salinas 24-22, then pounded a visiting Andrew Hill squad on the ground last week to the tune of 477 yards rushing, 0 yards passing, according to the Salinas Californian.
Nevertheless, the lopsided run-to-pass ratio equaled a comfortable 52-24 victory for the Cowboys in the first round of the Division I playoffs.
Although Salinas did throw the ball 11 times against San Benito in October, last week’s all-rush, all-the-time strategy should be fine with the Balers come Saturday. The San Benito defense has allowed just one running back — Marquis Brooks of North Salinas — to eclipse the century mark on the ground this season, an impressive feat that includes stout backs like Wilcox’s Anthony Herrera, North Salinas’ Michael Benabides, Palma’s Jack Baird and Salinas’ Alvin Jelks.
Jelks, who is the Cowboys’ go-to back and racked up 1,376 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns this season, was kept in check by San Benito’s defense the previous time they met, running for 68 yards on 20 attempts.
“They want to run the football,” Cameron said. “There’s no doubt about that.”
The Balers are coming off a tight 13-9 win against No. 8 Independence last Friday, a game in which San Benito trailed 9-7 at halftime before Cody Hendricks scored the go-ahead touchdown late in the third quarter.
Staying with the offensive side of the ball, the Balers will likely be without starting quarterback Trevor Fabing, who suffered a type II separated shoulder in Week 10 against Gilroy. The senior signal-caller sat out last week’s game against Independence, and will not start Saturday against Salinas.
Junior backup Tyler Decker, who had 12 carries for 46 yards against the 76ers, will line up behind center for the second straight week.
“I just need to work on some things still, just getting my reads down 100 percent, ” Decker said on Monday night after practice. “And I’m hoping this week will be dry, but I’m excited.”
With just two pass attempts last week, Decker fumbled what would have been his third pass when a wet football slipped out of his hands and into Independence’s possession.
“I was little bit nervous. That was my first playoff game,” Decker said. “But I feel good. We get five days of practice to get ready more.”
Whether Decker has more than two pass attempts this week remains to be seen. But Cameron said Salinas’ strength defensively is their secondary.
“They’re a good, tough, physical football team everywhere. But on defense, their secondary is possibly their strength, I think,” Cameron said.
In their previous contest, though, the Balers compiled 294 yards on the ground, including Nick Acosta’s season-best 215 yards, which included an 82-yard touchdown run.
“We have to be much better offensively and execute a whole lot better than we did,” Cameron said Monday, referring to last Friday’s game against Independence. “And that all starts with having a good week of practice.”
“The team we’re gonna play is a lot better than the team we played last week.”
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The CCS Division I semifinal between No. 1 San Benito and No. 4 Salinas will be held at San Jose City College on Saturday. Kick-off is 3 p.m.
The winner will advance to the CCS Division I championship against either No. 2 Milpitas (9-2) or No. 3 Piedmont Hills (9-2).
