With its second shutout of the year, the San Benito football team showed in its first round win over Alisal that despite a 6-5 record, the Balers are on well their way to redeeming a subpar season.
And that road to redemption returns to Salinas on Friday, as the Balers will travel to Salinas High for the second game of the year between to the two league foes. In October, the Cowboys (7-4) defeated the Balers 26-6 in Hollister.
But the Balers are a much different team than the last time the Cowboys saw San Benito. After winning five of its last six games, San Benito is playing its best football at the right time of the year.
After Friday’s 28-0 upset win over Alisal in Salinas, the Balers are flying as high as they have this year.
“I’m hoping that we play a cleaner game,” said head coach Chris Cameron after last Friday’s win. “I think we will battle them tougher. I don’t know how they’ve been playing since then … so they will look a little different but so do we. We will see what happens. I’m looking forward to the game.”
In that early season game, San Benito took an early 6-0 lead but allowed Salinas to score 26 unanswered points in the second half. San Benito turned the ball over four times in the loss.
It was the first of two losses to open the Monterey Bay League season for San Benito.
With more experience for David Stanton at quarterback, and a strong defense led by Cody Cameron, who has a team-high four interceptions, the Balers expect a much better game Friday.
To do that, though, the Balers will need to slow down Everett Ball, who ran for 225 yards on 24 carries in last week’s 49-0 rout over Fremont. In the early season game, Ball was explosive against the Balers, finishing with 151 yards on 18 carries. Most of his damage came in the second half.
This week, though, the Balers should enter the game with more health thanks to the return of starting linebacker Fabian Gonzalez, who missed the October game. Starting wide receiver Rob Soto also did not play in the contest.
Since that game, the two teams have only lost to Palma and Monterey. Since 2001, the Balers have gone 5-0-1 at Salinas High, including last year’s 28-7 win and 2005’s forfeit win. The Cowboys have won the last three games in Hollister.
The winner of Friday’s game will play the winner of Milpitas (8-3) and Sequoia (9-2) in the Division I championship game.
