One week after it dismantled a visiting Wilcox team to the tune
of 34 points and 317 total yards
— its best offensive showing on the brief season — the Balers
couldn’t find the end zone Friday against a high-powered Palo Alto
team that started small and finished big by scoring 16 unanswered
points in the second half en route to a 23-6 victory.
HOLLISTER
Frustration didn’t take long to set in for the San Benito Haybalers on Friday night. Missed opportunities and a lack of execution left many wondering what could have been.
One week after it dismantled a visiting Wilcox team to the tune of 34 points and 317 total yards — its best offensive showing on the brief season — the Balers couldn’t find the end zone Friday against a high-powered Palo Alto team that started small and finished big by scoring 16 unanswered points in the second half en route to a 23-6 victory.
“It was a closer game than that,” Baler quarterback Tyler Decker said afterward. “It was a lot closer than what the scoreboard showed.”
The game was within reach for the Balers, who trailed by a 7-6 margin at halftime and prevented the visiting Vikings from adding to their slim lead until the waning seconds of the third quarter, while also keeping it a single-possession game until midway through the fourth quarter.
“Our kids came out and played really hard,” San Benito head coach Chris Cameron said. “We played hard and we hit them hard, and I think they knew that. But we made a lot of mistakes, execution-wise, offensively. The kids played hard and hard and hard, period. But a lot of mental-execution mistakes.”
The Balers didn’t commit a single turnover in the game, but they were limited to just 96 total yards of offense and five first downs. Missed assignments, costly penalties or a timely quarterback sack, meanwhile, each tended to rear its ugly head at a most inopportune time for the Balers.
“We didn’t take advantage of a lot of opportunities,” said Decker, who was sacked four times on Friday, including one by Nathan Hubbard for a safety in the third quarter that pushed Palo Alto’s lead to 10 points. “Stuff just wasn’t going right. We made a lot of mistakes on offense — small stuff, fundamental stuff — that we shouldn’t be making.”
While Hubbard’s two-point tackle made it a 16-6 game midway through the fourth, Cameron felt the game-changer came late in the third quarter when defensive end Kevin Anderson, a 6-foot-4, 245-pound Stanford commit, blocked a San Benito punt attempt that supplied the Vikings with the football at the Baler 30.
“The blocked punt was the beginning of the end, looking back on it,” said Cameron, whose team still trailed 7-6 at that point. “We were able to dodge some other things, but we didn’t dodge that one.”
Anderson appeared to get a hand on a blocked punt during the previous attempt, too, but the Vikings were called for running into the kicker on fourth-and-15. The penalty netted San Benito only five yards, though, while punter Tino Granados had to be tended to by trainers, and as a result was forced to sit out the following punt attempt.
Anderson left no doubt on the re-kick.
“He was coming like a freight train,” Cameron said.
For the Balers, the game quickly spiraled from there, while Palo Alto’s narrow one-point lead quickly blossomed.
Viking quarterback Christoph Bono, son of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Bono, tossed a perfectly placed pass to 6-foot-4 receiver T.J. Braff on a 14-yard out route in the end zone that supplied the Vikings with a 14-6 lead — just 60 seconds and four plays after Anderson’s blocked punt.
And once Hubbard recorded a safety two possessions later — the ball was backed up at San Benito’s 6 after the Baler defense stopped Palo Alto on a fourth-and-4 attempt — Bono led the Vikings on a 70-yard drive that culminated with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Braff again.
“I’m just hoping we pick it up next week heading into league,” said San Benito cornerback Shadoe Valenzuela, who recovered a loose football for the Balers and was involved in several tackles on the night.
San Benito wraps up its non-conference slate with a 2-2 record, and will open Tri-County Athletic League play next Friday at Alisal.
Kickoff is 7:30 p.m.
Anderson also anchored Palo Alto’s meaty defensive line, which kept the gaps plugged and kept San Benito’s run-heavy offense in check all game. The Balers averaged just 2.02 yards per carry Friday, with senior back Cody Hendricks leading the way with 58 yards on the ground.
“Defensively, we played pretty well,” Palo Alto head coach Earl Hansen said. “Other than the second quarter, I don’t think they were able to move the ball much.
“But we kept them out of the end zone. Anytime you can do that, that’s a good thing.”
It was the first time this season San Benito has been kept out of the end zone.
The visiting Vikings, meanwhile, who are ranked No. 5 by CalPreps.com and are the highest rated public school in the Central Coast Section, took a narrow 7-6 lead at halftime before opening up the passing attack in the second half. Bono racked up 207 yards and three touchdowns in the air on 21 of 30 passing.
The 6-foot-2 senior signal-caller also orchestrated an 80-yard opening drive in which he was 5 of 5 for 72 yards, with the capper coming on a 32-yard touchdown pass to Davante Adams down the left sideline on a third-and-10 play.
Adams was his favorite target on the night, catching 10 balls for 118 yards.
San Benito’s defense, despite the impressive opening drive by Palo Alto, kept the Balers in the game with its usual brand of physical football by pressuring Bono in the pocket and clamping down on the Viking receivers. In fact, after allowing 80 yards on the opening drive, the Balers held Palo Alto to just 106 yards of total offense in the first half.
And the opening touchdown to Adams almost never happened. On the previous play, a Viking reception on the right sideline was greeted with a hard hit by the Balers, who jarred the ball loose and recovered the football deep in their own territory. But a penalty on San Benito (illegal use of the hands) negated the turnover, allowing Bono to hook up with Adams one play later.
“There were a couple of plays here and there that would have been big for us if we didn’t get flagged,” Valenzuela said. “But that’s part of the game. We just need to learn from our mistakes.”
Linebacker Damon Perez did recover a loose football later in the second quarter for the Balers, though, who as a result set up shop at Palo Alto’s 19 and eventually settled for a 36-yard field goal from Granados.
Granados tacked on a 26-yard field goal late in the second quarter to pull the Balers to within one point, but it was as close as they would get.
“They were pretty good,” Valenzuela added of Palo Alto’s offense. “Our defense stepped it up, though. I don’t think they were expecting that, for us to come out that strong.”
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
PA 7 0 7 9 23
SB 3 3 0 0 6
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
PASS (7:11) — PA, Christoph Bono to Davante Adams, 32-yard touchdown, PAT (Christoph Bono) is good; 7-0, PA.
KICK (:03) — SB, Tino Granados, 36-yard field goal; 7-3, PA.
Second Quarter
KICK (2:50) — SB, Tino Granados, 26-yard field goal; 7-6, PA.
Third Quarter
PASS (:12) — PA, Christoph Bono to T.J. Braff, 14-yard touchdown, PAT (Christoph Bono) is good; 14-6, PA.
Fourth Quarter
SAFETY (7:16) — PA, Nathan Hubbard; 16-6, PA.
PASS (3:31) — PA, Christoph Bono to T.J. Braff, 6-yard touchdown, PAT (Christoph Bono) is good; 23-6, PA.
PALO ALTO STATISTICS
Passing: Christoph Bono — 21 of 30, 207 yards, 3 touchdowns. Rushing: Christoph Bono — 6 attempts, 9 yards; Morris Gates-Mouton — 8 attempts, 60 yards; Dre Hill — 7 attempts, 27 yards. Receiving: Dre Hill — 4 receptions, 17 yards; Michael Cullen — 4 receptions, 43 yards; Davante Adams — 10 receptions, 118 yards, 1 touchdown; T.J. Braff — 3 receptions, 27 yards, 2 touchdowns.
SAN BENITO STATISTICS
Passing: Tyler Decker — 4 of 7, 25 yards. Rushing: Tyler Decker — 12 attempts, -7 yards; Cody Hendricks — 14 attempts, 58 yards; James Flook — 4 attempts, 1 yard; Anthony Cervantes — 2 attempts, 3 yards; James Sanchez — 1 attempt, 4 yards; Michael Bocksnick — 2 attempts, 12 yards. Receiving: Brandon Rodriguez — 1 reception, 1 yard; James Flook — 1 reception, 7 yards; Cody Bentson — 1 reception, 7 yards; James Sanchez — 1 reception, 10 yards.
TOTAL OFFENSE
Palo Alto — 303 yards (207 pass, 96 rush)
San Benito — 96 yards (25 pass, 71 rush)
TURNOVERS
Palo Alto — 2
San Benito — 0
SACKS
Palo Alto — 4 (Nathan Hubbard, Sam Moses, Tory Prati 2) for -23 yards.
San Benito — 3 (Enrique Ramos, Marcos Silva, Damon Perez) for -20 yards.
PENALTIES
Palo Alto — 5 for -25 yards.
San Benito — 7 for -45 yards.
