It was only a year and a half ago when the San Benito Cardinals
took flight for the very first time, and it may be safe to say the
inaugural season was a learning experience, at least for the junior
pee wees.
After the junior pee wees fell by a 28-7 margin to the Silicon
Valley Tigers in the postseason last year, the local 9-, 10- and
11-year-old gridders avenged their loss with a rousing 34-7 victory
on Saturday at San Jose High Academy, and will advance to the
Division II National Championships in Orlando, Fla., on Dec. 5 as a
result.
HOLLISTER
It was only a year and a half ago when the San Benito Cardinals took flight for the very first time, and it may be safe to say the inaugural season was a learning experience, at least for the junior pee wees.
After the junior pee wees fell by a 28-7 margin to the Silicon Valley Tigers in the postseason last year, the local 9-, 10- and 11-year-old gridders avenged their loss with a rousing 34-7 victory on Saturday at San Jose High Academy, and will advance to the Division II National Championships in Orlando, Fla., on Dec. 5 as a result.
“That’s like our Super Bowl,” Cardinals junior pee wee head coach Donald Reyes said.
The Cardinals, of American Youth Football and Cheer, are expected to be one of just four Division II representatives in Florida when the week-long tournament kicks off next month. And considering two of the team’s six victories this season came against Division I opponents, San Benito seems poised to make a run at the national title.
“We had no idea we were gonna make it this far,” Reyes said. “It’s just our second year in the league, but we had 10 or 11 kids back from last year’s team.
“These boys worked their butts off.”
Advancing to the title game against a Tigers team that posted a 21-point victory on San Benito just one year earlier, the Cardinals used last year’s experience to their advantage by matching speed with speed on defense to shut down Silicon Valley’s passing attack.
“This year, we capitalized on it,” Reyes said. “We got on the board pretty quick.”
Jumping out to a 13-7 lead at halftime after R.J. Clark broke touchdown runs of 65 and 28 yards in the first and second quarter, respectively, San Benito scored 21 unanswered points in the second half, including a game-breaking run by Tyler Rodriguez to start the third quarter.
“We adjusted some of our backers on defense,” Reyes said of the second half. “We put more pressure on the quarterback.
“And the offense was clicking already.”
After the Tigers punted the ball to the San Benito 5 to open the second half, penalties pushed the Cardinals back to their own 1 when Rodriguez broke a 99-yard touchdown run to put San Benito up 20-7.
When the Tigers got the ball back, they were positioned at their own 20 and staring at a 13-point deficit. And when Elias Sernas and Rodriguez teamed up for a sack, pinning Silicon Valley back to its own 10-yard line, Clark picked off the ensuing pass and returned it for a touchdown.
On the one-point conversion, Donovan Renteria received a pitch play to put San Benito ahead, 27-7.
“Silicon Valley is a passing team,” Reyes said. “So we countered with a zone … match speed with speed.”
The Cardinals’ defense forced another short field later in the fourth quarter as well. Following a 15-yard pass from quarterback Elijah Garcia to Diego Fischer, the San Benito signal-caller hit Rodriguez for a 15-yard touchdown pass, his second score of the day.
Renteria converted the one-point play to put the Cardinals up 34-7.
“We knew they were gonna give us a good game,” Reyes said. “But in the third and fourth quarter, we pretty much just took it from there.”
The D-II champion Cardinals will now advance to the national championships in Florida the week of Dec. 5-12. The junior pee wees are fundraising for the trip. For more information or to donate, contact Frank Casillas at (831) 801-7430.
“They’re really confident and really happy,” Reyes said. “They want to go to Florida.”
San Benito Cardinals
52 – Zack Alnas
3 – Xavier Alvarez Jr.
43 – Michael Camacho
26 – Kevin Casillas
5 – R.J. Clark
86 – Diego Fischer
64 – Ricardo Garcia
7 – Elijah Garcia
9 – Jamie Garcia
57 – Carlos Gonzalez
41 – Rudy Hernandez
82 – Nicholas Jackson
81 – Michael Lyter
72 – Kyle Manley
85 – Matthew Manley
55 – Sean Mills Jr.
16 – Abel Pasillas Jr.
45 – Donovan Renteria
40 – Elisha Reyes
1 – Tyler Rodriguez
36 – Andrew Rostran
15 – Alex Ruiz
31 – Elias Sernas
54 – Kyle Stevenson
62 – Tyler Devin White
