For the second-consecutive game, turnovers and too many big plays allowed by the San Benito defense handed the Balers a non-league loss. This time, San Benito fell 37-20 to Willow Glen in San Jose on Friday. The Balers are now 1-2.
Despite the defensive struggles slowing the short passing game of Willow Glen, the Balers offense once again showed some explosive signs, running for 285 yards on the ground. The Balers used eight different ball carriers to spread the wealth, as San Benito kept pace with the Rams for the game’s first two quarters before turnovers and injuries limited the Balers.
“Offensively, overall I think we played pretty well,” head coach Chris Cameron said. “The turnovers hurt us but we moved the ball really well … I thought offensively we played hard and we played physical. And that’s what I want to see out of us.”
Before the turnovers and injuries slowed the Balers offense, San Benito traded scoring drive for scoring drive with the Rams in the first two quarters.
Willow Glen opened the game with a quick five-play scoring drive led by junior Matthew Toscano, who gave San Benito fits all night. On the drive, Toscano accounted for 60 of the 72 yards, including the final seven yards on a short pass to Josh Landers.
The Balers answered right back. Scoring on five plays as well, the Balers moved down the field on the ground. The drive was highlighted by a 15-yard run from Paris Edwards to bring the Balers into striking distance. Quarterback David Stanton did the rest, scoring on a 15-yard run up the middle on an option play.
“I just read my guy,” he said. “He went one way so I hit the hole and scored.”
Stanton ran for 52 yards on nine carries, scoring twice on similar option reads. He went 4-11 through the air for 52 yards
The Balers, though, had no answers for Toscano and the Rams’ short passing game. Toscano completed his first 13 passes – finishing 19-for-21 – before throwing his first incompletion in the second quarter. Despite 21 throws, Toscano threw for only 157 yards.
“To their credit, I think they did a great job in terms of the game planning I’ve seen out of them this week compared to the last two weeks,” Cameron said. “The kid took a beating last week because they had him sitting back in the pocket. He got shelled. This week, they really rolled him out a lot and gave him a lot of empty backfields. It caused us to spread out a little more.”
The two teams traded two more touchdowns late in the first quarter and second quarter to even the game at 14, before the Balers started to make some mental errors.
“We had some young kids come around and play pretty well from what I saw on the field,” Cameron said. “But I mean, we took a step forward on offense in terms of our physicality but we need to finish the drives. We need to finish the drives. We can’t turn the ball over. We can’t take a penalty. We had some stupid things that took over.”
Down 20-14, San Benito coughed up its first turnover as they were driving into Rams’ territory. A few plays later, Willow Glen extended its lead to 23-14. It was the first of three fumbles for the Balers.
“We can’t fumble the ball three times like that,” Stanton said.
San Benito’s next turnover came during the opening drive of the second half as the Balers broke into Rams’ territory down 23-14. The Rams began to pull away two plays later when Tyler Howe took a pitch and ran 53 yards for a 30-14 Rams lead.
As the turnovers started to mount, so did the Baler injuries. The Balers also lost two key defensive seniors in Jorge Perez and John Barrera early in the game.
By game’s end, San Benito also lost runners Edwards and Zak Hicks to injury.
Edwards left the game in the fourth quarter after rushing for 85 yards on 10 carries. Hicks was limited, taking only three snaps and rushing for 19 yards.
Those injuries didn’t limit the Balers offense, though, as they relied on Damien Botelho to carry the load, rumbling for 89 yards on 15 carries.
San Benito scored its final points midway through the third quarter when Stanton ran for 13 yards up the middle. San Benito wouldn’t pull any closer, though, as Willow Glen responded two drives later with a 44-yard run from Toscano.
To be successful during league play, the Balers need to get better on defense, Cameron said.
“It’s going to take a while because the guys need to mature,” he said. “We are going to have to get a whole lot better a lot faster.”
They will get that chance Saturday, when the Balers travel to Los Altos at 1:30 p.m. for their final non-league game.
