North Salinas looks for a challenging homecoming game
When the San Benito High School football team walks out onto
Andy Hardin Field tonight against North Salinas it will mark the
first time the Balers have set foot on their home turf since the
end of August.
North Salinas looks for a challenging homecoming game
When the San Benito High School football team walks out onto Andy Hardin Field tonight against North Salinas it will mark the first time the Balers have set foot on their home turf since the end of August.
Tonight’s homecoming game will also be a homecoming of sorts for North Salinas High coach Steve Zenk, who coached both the San Benito High offensive and defensive lines four seasons ago before taking the head coaching job with the Vikings.
Recently, we had a chance to talk with Zenk about the intricacies of tonight’s showdown with the Balers – a team that he has never been able to beat in his three years at the helm of the North Salinas High football program.
Q: You’ve never been able to beat San Benito High in the three years that you’ve coached the Vikings. Is it an advantage to square off against a team you’ve coached before?
A: Whether I coached there or not, it’s not like there’s a secret to what they do. They are really, really physical on offense and really, really physical on defense.
Q: The Balers are 2-3 overall this year in part because they played a difficult non-league schedule. What would you say is Hollister’s greatest strength heading into Friday night’s game?
A: The Hollister defense.
Q: How do you game plan for the Balers?
A: You plan on being surprised. They’ll do something new on defense. They’ll do something that we haven’t seen. They do a lot of great things there, coaching wise, to put their kids in the best position to succeed.
Q: So how do you prepare for that?
A: We try to look at our tendencies and ask ourselves what they will try and do to exploit them. We watch what Tod (Thatcher, Balers defensive coordinator) is doing with the defensive line or on defense and we try and adjust to that.
Q: What do you need or what do you plan to do to beat them?
A: We’re going to run the football at them, that’s what we do. That’s what we’re going to do.
Q: Last year you lost to San Benito High by a score of 13-3. This year, you were 5-1 a few weeks ago before finding out that you had to forfeit a game because of player ineligibility. With that said, you have played well overall while the Balers have seemed to struggle at times. Are they more vulnerable this year?
A: I’ve watched Chris Cameron (Head coach, San Benito High) coach every year, and every year that I’ve not coached there. And there is no doubt that he’ll have them playing their butts off this week. They haven’t gotten a lot of breaks this year and some things have gone against them but they are better than their record. I have a hard time not having a lot of respect for Hollister, regardless of their record or anyone else’s record.
Q: How will you game pan for them from a defensive standpoint?
A: We need to make sure that we are in a good position – the right position to make a play. We’re going to have 11 guys going for the football on every play, nothing fancy.
Q: The game is in Hollister and it’s their homecoming game. Describe what it is like to play in Hollister, a city that loves its football.
A: My two favorite places to play are in Hollister and at Salinas High. Both schools get great crowds that are into football. Whether you’re booed or cheered it’s still a lot of fun to have that kind of atmosphere at a game. I’m looking forward to it.
