The San Benito High football team improved to 8-0 overall Friday
night after it defeated the host Salinas Cowboys 29-10 at
”
The Pit
”
SALINAS
Prior to the start of the second half Friday night, with the visiting Haybalers holding a narrow 9-3 lead over Salinas, San Benito linebacker Michael Murphy walked over to quarterback Trevor Fabing and patted him on the shoulder pads.
“You know if we score more points we win, right?” Murphy said with a smile.
Whether the bit of sarcasm was received with a laugh is unknown, but San Benito’s second-half response to Salinas Friday night was rather apparent — and it certainly was received with a few beaming expressions afterward.
“God, we responded great,” San Benito head coach Chris Cameron said.
Trailing by a 10-9 deficit early in the third quarter — just the second time all season San Benito has trailed an opponent — the Balers awoke when bruising fullback Nick Acosta delivered the brunt of the offense’s blow. Running roughshod on the Cowboys to the tune of 232 second-half yards — all of which came on the ground — San Benito posted 20 unanswered points and remained undefeated on the season with a crucial 29-10 victory over Salinas at The Pit.
Yes, scoring more points often yields victories.
But playing from behind — even if the deficit lasted for all of two minutes and 54 seconds — may have just been the kick San Benito needed. The Balers hadn’t trailed in a football game since their season opener against Andrew Hill, a deficit that lasted one minute and 29 seconds.
“It shows our character,” San Benito linebacker Robert Pinedo said. “We’re a tough group of kids and we get the job done, even though we face adversity only once in a while.”
Similar to that first game, though, San Benito responded to adversity in an instant on Friday night.
“The kids really responded real nice there and we played real physical after that,” Cameron said. “We basically took them out of the game.
“Our defense played real well, and we got it clicking toward the end.”
Salinas grabbed a 10-9 lead with 8:41 remaining in the third quarter when quarterback Junior Cortez faked the hand-off to lead back Alvin Jelks up the middle, then sprinted around the end toward the right sideline for a 14-yard touchdown. Kevin Baker added the point-after to supply the Cowboys with a surprising one-point lead.
But the Balers, who had gone three-and-out on its previous three possessions, found the spark when Acosta shed several tacklers off the right side and rumbled 62 yards — from the San Benito 19 to the Salinas 19.
Three plays later, the senior fullback dove up the middle for a 1-yard touchdown, a 15-10 Baler cushion and a lead San Benito never relinquished.
“We didn’t have him wrapped up and he made us pay,” Salinas head coach Steve Goodbody said.
Acosta finished with a season-high 215 yards and two touchdowns on just 17 attempts, including an 82-yard dash to paydirt later in the fourth quarter that increased San Benito’s lead to 19.
“We kept it up all four quarters, and because we kept it up we were able to finally get that drive when we needed it the most,” San Benito center Mark Starritt said. “They were fighting hard and we were fighting hard, but we got that last push.”
The key victory pushes the Balers out to a perfect 8-0 record, 4-0 in the Tri-County Athletic League, and sets up a showdown with undefeated Palma (4-0 TCAL) next Friday at the Salinas Sports Complex.
The Chieftains defeated Gilroy 35-7 on Friday night, and improved to 6-1-1 overall.
“Palma, Palma, Palma,” San Benito linebacker Taylor Coustette said after the game Friday night. “We’ve got to go out and get them. We’ve got a target on our chest and they say they’re the ones that are gonna knock us off our horse.
“And that’s not happening.”
With the Balers battling a 2-5-1 Gilroy squad in Week 10, and the Chieftains up against a 1-6-1 Alisal team, next week’s match-up between the two rival schools could very well be for the TCAL title.
“We need to come out and smash them in the mouth,” Pinedo said.
Such was the case on Friday night as well. On just the second play of regulation, Cortez fumbled the hand-off exchange and Baler defensive lineman Marcos Silva corralled the loose football. The quick turnover set up a 13-yard option run by San Benito quarterback Trevor Fabing one play later, and gave the Balers a 7-0 lead just 51 seconds into the game.
“We got off to a good start with that touchdown, but everything went downhill from there,” said Fabing, whose offense was held to just 69 yards in the first half. “It was the little things on offense — knowing the formation, knowing who was in motion … we had great field position three times in a row and we couldn’t take advantage at all.”
After both teams exchanged three-and-out possessions — not to mention a key Dustin Franco punt that pinned the Cowboys at their own 1 — the San Benito defense then lived up to its billing when Pinedo led a group of Balers into the Salinas backfield and gang-tackled Jelks in the end zone for a safety.
Although the nine points was all San Benito would muster until Acosta’s rampant runs in the second half, the Balers defense never allowed Salinas to get in a groove. Held to 101 yards of total offense in the game, Salinas was kept to just 47 yards and a single first down in the opening half.
Meanwhile, Alvin Jelks, who compiled 188 yards of rushing and eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for the second straight season last week against Alvarez, was kept in check by San Benito to the tune of 68 yards on 20 carries.
“We made too many errors, and when you do that against a good ball club, you’re gonna pay for it,” Goodbody said. “The Balers made us pay for it.”
Although the Cowboys struggled offensively in the first half, return man Brandyn Crosby supplied a boost when he brought back a Baler punt 37 yards to the San Benito 15. Three plays later, kicker Kevin Baker split the uprights on a 26-yard field goal with 21 seconds left in the half, sending Salinas to the locker room down 9-3.
And while the Cowboys garnered the one-point lead early in the third quarter, on a drive that was aided by a personal foul penalty on San Benito, the Baler defense was locked in for the remainder of the game.
“We played real good, thanks to Michael Murphy,” said Pinedo, who was eager to spread the compliments to his teammates. “We stopped them and came together. It’s a family thing.”
Indeed. Linebacker Enrique Ramos forced a fumble during a Salinas punt return, while strong safety Conner Stevens picked off an errant Cortez pass at the end of the third that set up another score — Cody Hendricks’ 2-yard burst up the middle to paydirt just four plays later.
“And Nick (Acosta) did a great job for us,” Fabing said. “He stepped up big.”
Acosta, who left the game with an apparent leg injury just two plays before Hendricks’ touchdown, returned to the game two series’ later and delivered a season-long score — 82 yards off the left tackle, and practically untouched, no less.
“He’s always big,” Cameron said.
While Salinas (5-4, 3-2 TCAL) will enjoy a bye next week after nine straight games, San Benito will return to action at the Salinas Sports Complex against host Palma on Friday.
Kick-off is 7:30 p.m.
“We haven’t been outplayed in the fourth quarter,” Cameron said. “It’s been fast starts and good finishes, but we have a little lull in the middle two. We’re gonna need to fix that next week, but this was good, a good satisfying victory.”
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
SANB 9 0 6 14 29
SALN 0 3 7 0 15
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
RUSH (11:09) — SANB, Trevor Fabing, 13-yard touchdown, PAT (Tino Granados) is good; 7-0, SANB.
SAFETY (6:12) — SANB, Robert Pinedo; 9-0, SANB.
Second Quarter
KICK (:21.9) — SALN, Kevin Baker, 26-yard field goal is good; 9-3, SANB.
Third Quarter
RUSH (8:41) — SALN, Junior Cortez, 14-yard touchdown, PAT (Kevin Baker) is good; 10-9, SALN.
RUSH (5:47) — SANB, Nick Acosta, 1-yard touchdown, two-point conversion failed; 15-10, SANB.
Fourth Quarter
RUSH (9:24) — SANB, Cody Hendricks, 2-yard touchdown, PAT (Tino Granados) is good; 22-10, SANB.
RUSH (3:36) — SANB, Nick Acosta, 82-yard touchdown, PAT (Tino Granados) is good; 29-10, SANB.
SAN BENITO STATISTICS
Passing: Trevor Fabing — 1 of 8, 7 yards, 1 interception. Rushing: Trevor Fabing — 10 attempts, 16 yards, 1 touchdown; Nick Acosta — 17 attempts, 215 yards, 2 touchdowns; Junior Davila — 3 attempts, 20 yards; Cody Hendricks — 5 attempts, 22 yards, 1 touchdown; Wayne Urbina — 2 attempts, 9 yards; James Flook — 2 attempts, 12 yards. Receiving: Junior Davila — 1 reception, 7 yards.
SALINAS STATISTICS
Passing: Junior Cortez — 1 of 11, 6 yards, 1 interception. Rushing: Junior Cortez — 7 attempts, 10 yards, 1 touchdown; Alvin Jelks — 20 attempts, 68 yards; Josh Estassi — 4 attempts, 8 yards; Brandyn Crosby — 2 attempts, 6 yards; Adan Iracheta — 4 attempts, 2 yards; Christian Padilla — 1 attempts, 7 yards. Receiving: Brandyn Crosby — 1 reception, 6 yards.
TOTAL OFFENSE
San Benito — 301 yards (7 pass, 294 rush)
Salinas — 107 yards (6 pass, 101 rush)
TURNOVERS
San Benito — 2
Salinas — 3
SACKS
San Benito — 1 sack (Taylor Coustette) for -7 yards.
Salinas — 2 sacks (Brandon Garis, Alfredo Sabino) for -12 yards.
JV Note:
The San Benito High junior varsity football team fell behind 14-0 in the first half and simply couldn’t recover against host Salinas Friday night, as the Cowboys staved off the Balers’ best efforts en route to a 26-6 victory.
“The first 14 points were off turnovers,” San Benito head coach Matt Andrade said. “We coughed it up and gave them a short field.”
San Benito’s Anthony Cervantes put the Balers on the scoreboard in the third quarter with a 3-yard touchdown run to make it 14-6, but the Cowboys were able to tack on two more scores in the second half for a comfortable 20-point cushion.
“We’re not the type of team that can come back from two touchdowns and pull it out,” Andrade said. “We’re more of a pound-it-out team — score first and ball control.”
The loss puts San Benito at 2-2 in the Tri-County Athletic League, 5-3 overall. The Balers will visit Palma next Friday at the Salinas Sports Complex. Kick-off is 5 p.m.
Frosh Note:
The San Benito High freshmen football team lost to host Salinas 50-28 on Thursday in Salinas.
The Balers will visit Palma next Friday at the Salinas Sports Complex. Kick-off is 3 p.m.
