The San Benito Cardinal junior pee wees were able to take a
victory away from the Oak Grove Revolution last Saturday, although
the Cardinal tiny mite and pee wee teams fell short of a win in
American Youth Football action.
SAN JUAN BAUTISTA
The San Benito Cardinal junior pee wees were able to take a victory away from the Oak Grove Revolution last Saturday, although the Cardinal tiny mite and pee wee teams fell short of a win in American Youth Football action.
The Cardinals will host the Palo Alto Knights next weekend at Anzar High School in San Juan Bautista.
A rundown of last weekend’s action:
Tiny Mite
Oak Grove West 24, San Benito Cardinals 0
The San Benito Cardinal tiny mites faced off against the always tough Oak Grove West (OGW) Rookies last Saturday and put themselves in an early hole by fumbling on the first play of the game, resulting in the Rookies scoring a defensive touchdown to jump out to an early lead en route to a 24-0 victory.
The San Benito defense steadied the team by playing very well and kept the Rookies in check for the rest of the first half as the Cardinals went into halftime trailing 6-0.
The Cardinals offense was plagued by turnovers and penalties for the entire game and, with the exception of a few nice plays, could not get a sustained drive going. Tiny mite tailback Victor Jacinto ran the ball hard for first downs on several occasions, while the Cardinal defense, led by the solid play of Mack Stiers, Zach Fierro and Matthew Curayag, hung in there for the balance of the game. Ultimately, though, the OGW Rookies were able to capitalize on very good field position and coasted home with a 24-0 win over the Carinal tiny mites.
The Cardinals will try to get back on track next week when they will square off against the Palo Alto Knights on Saturday at Anzar High School in San Juan Bautista. Kickoff is 9 a.m.
Junior Pee Wee
San Benito Cardinals 13, Oak Grove West Revolution 6
The San Benito Cardinal junior pee wee team opened the regular season against the Oak Grove West Revolution last weekend and opened with a 13-0 lead en route to a 13-6 victory.
After a scoreless halftime, the Cardinals scored the game’s first two touchdowns in the second half. The Revolution then scored a late touchdown to bring the final score to 13-6.
Third-year verteran running back Michael Vanderlei scored for San Benito, with the point-after attempt made by Nate Pizana. First-year running back Brandon Bumanlag brought in another touchdown for the Cards.
Coach Albert Rodriquez and Dan Kennedy were rewarded with some ice-cold water poured over them after the game.
Pee Wee
Oak Grove West 7, San Benito 0
Although low scoring, the San Benito Cardinal pee wees’ second game on the schedule against perennial powerhouse Oak Grove was an exciting, hard-hitting, smash-mouth contest — a 7-0 loss for the locals.
San Benito countered Oak Grove’s roster depth and player size advantage with speed and aggressive hitting.
The first quarter was scoreless as defensive players Alex Ruiz, Andrew Sosa and Raul De la Cruz teamed up to shut down Oak Grove’s running attack. Oak Grove was able to put up some points on a 37-yard breakaway run to the outside for the game’s only score in the second quarter.
As the game went on, the physical play of the game intensified with San Benito’s linebackers Zack Alnas and Jamie Garcia taking charge. Garcia led the Cards with six tackles.
The Cards’ offense drove into scoring position in the third quarter, highlighted by Roger Ortega’s 14-yard run, but the drive stalled.
On a possible game-changing play, safety Kevin Casillas jarred the ball loose from an Oak Grove runner, but it flew out of bounds before the Cards could recover it.
Cornerbacks Will Lanning and Marcus Skiver shut down the outside runs and wide receivers for the remainder of the game, with Lanning making two touchdown-saving tackles. The Cards had the ball with 1:48 left in the game, but could not score.
Offensive lineman Ryan Dukelon, Sean Mills and Daniel Pasillas battled the huge Oak Grove defensive line in the trenches all day.
The pee wees’ next game is at Anzar High School in San Juan Bautista on Saturday against the Palo Alto Knights. Kickoff is 2 p.m.
