Football player Tino Granados won a bet earlier this season;
he’s since turned into the top kicker in CCS
HOLLISTER
Tino Granados had modest intentions.
His goal was to never become quarterback or running back for the San Benito High football team. He never wanted to line up in the secondary or in the trenches, or play wideout or tight end.
But when San Benito senior defensive lineman Adam Robles and others proposed a friendly bet, Granados had to find a position, and he may have just found his calling.
“I made a bet with a couple football players,” Granados recalls. “I had to buy dinner if I didn’t make the team.”
Or so the story goes.
“They kept saying I wouldn’t make it,” Granados said. “I proved them wrong.”
At 5-foot-11 and 150 pounds, Granados’ options on the field may have been limited, especially considering the junior had never played football before. But as the old betting adage goes, always go with what you know.
A soccer player by trade, Granados made the obvious choice.
Said Granados, “He said they needed a kicker, so I said all right.”
For Robles and others, this may have been one bet worth losing.
Granados has transformed into a worthy and reliable option on the field, another offensive threat for the Balers, and the best kicker San Benito has had in recent years. Through seven games, Granados is 30 of 32 on point-after attempts, 5 of 8 on field goals.
“Best of the best,” said San Benito head coach Chris Cameron, who’s coaching in his 16th season this year. “He’s the best kicker we’ve ever had, without a doubt.”
To date, Granados has split the uprights from 33, 35, 37, 40 and 42 yards, and has missed from 23, 34 and 42 yards. He’s scored 45 points for the Balers this year, which is first on the team, but also first in the Central Coast Section and eighth in the state of California among kickers.
“I have a lot of confidence in him,” Cameron added. “He’s cool under pressure.”
San Benito’s fans have also taken notice. During a game against Lincoln earlier this year, a game in which Granados was 8 of 8 on point-after attempts, a fan in the grandstands shouted, “We’ve got a kicker!”
“Before the kick, I just get in my own world,” said Granados, who also boasts a cheering section during home games.
David Clay, who’s coached kickers and snappers for the last three years at San Benito High, said Granados is the best he’s had the opportunity to coach.
“I saw him the first day, and I was like, “whoa,'” said Clay, who’s been roaming the San Benito sidelines since Cameron’s first year. “He just gets it. He has a real unique ability when the game’s going on to just turn everything off and look at what’s in front of him and make it happen.”
Granados is often seen preparing on the sidelines, almost completely unaware of his surroundings or what’s happening in the game itself. Clay said once the offense crosses midfield, “then he starts getting in that mode.”
“Once we get closer to the 30, he’s totally into thinking, ‘I can kick a field goal from there,'” said Clay, who noted that Granados has hit distances of 50 yards in practice. “Usually during the week, I find a distance that I think he’s 100 percent money on. Once we get to that point, I tell coach Cam he’s good from there.
“Most of the time he’s pretty good for 45 yards or better. ”
Turf or natural grass, Granados said it doesn’t matter where he kicks, although he prefers the center or the left hash mark, despite being a righty.
“The right hash mark, I don’t like those,” he said. “I’ve already missed two of those and they were like 10 yards.”
Working on lunges, squats and the leg press during zero period in the morning, Granados is on the field for three hours a day, practicing “Around the World” kicks from almost every point on the field — sideline to sideline — inside the 30. Clay also sets up corner boxes inside the 10-yard line, and has Granados place the ball within the marked area for kickoff attempts — a “coffin kick” of sorts.
With 44 kickoffs to his name, Granados has 10 touchbacks this season and is ranked No. 2 in the CCS in yardage.
“I like our chances,” Clay said. “You turn our defense loose, and our defense is gonna give our offense back the ball with field position.
“Our goal is to keep it inside the 20 and buy some field position for the offense.”
Playing soccer since he was 10, Granados always thought of football as a “rough sport.” But now he’s thinking about kicking at the college level. Able to forget a missed field goal before it crosses the goal line, Granados may just have the mental makeup to kick it at the next level, Clay said.
The kickers coach is hoping to see a game-winning, 50-yard field goal this season — a far cry from what began as a friendly bet.
“I’m pretty confident,” Granados said. “But I’m just looking for the touchdown (first), then I can get my points, too.”
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The San Benito High football team is on bye this week. The Balers will return next Friday, Oct. 30, when they will visit Salinas to take on the Cowboys at The Pit. Kick-off is 7:30 p.m.
