San Benito (3-1-1) had everything working for them the entire
night against Alvarez (1-3).
Salinas – To put it bluntly, Alvarez had no chance against San Benito Friday night in the Haybalers’ 47-6 victory.
San Benito (3-1-1) had everything working for them the entire night against Alvarez (1-3).
For the first time this season, the Haybalers got off to a running start scoring 21 of their 47 points in the first half.
San Benito marched up and down the field nearly uncontested.
To say Coach Chris Cameron was pleased with the out come would be an understatement.
Cameron had three goals for his players after taking down Bellarmine 17-7 on Sept. 24.
First, he wanted to score on the opening drive, accomplished by senior running back Charles Thompson, who scored from 10 yards out. On top of scoring early, Cameron wanted to score often, at least 30 points – again accomplished.
Second, he wanted to play everybody. Done. San Benito handed the ball off to nine different players, played two quarterbacks and used two field goal kickers.
Third, he wanted to shut out the Eagles. Well, two out of three isn’t bad.
But Cameron could look past the lone touchdown and say his team rose to the occasion and played a great game.
Once again junior quarterback Karson Klauer shined.
He completed 10-of-13 passing for 120 yards and a touchdown. He was picked once in the second, but a superb defensive stop made it a mere blemish on the night.
Klauer helped his own cause by running for two touchdowns. The first in with 6:41 to play in the half to extend the lead to 21-0. The second came on Klauer’s last series of the night by running five yards in the third quarter, pushing the lead to 34-0
Behind Klauer was a well rounded supporting cast including junior running back Jeff Weltz who ran for 42 yards on one carry for a touchdown in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, putting the final score at 47-6.
Also having a good night was Thompson who ran for 31 yards and two touchdowns. After the opening drive score, Thompson ran 20 yards in the opening drive of the second half giving the Balers a 27-0 lead.
Leading the receivers was senior Alex Gonzalez who caught six Klauer passes for 64 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown came at the end of the first quarter, giving San Benito a 14-0 lead.
They never looked back.
Defensively, the team was golden once again.
Only surrendering 173 yards and one touchdown, the Baler D made sure the offense would not need to work very hard.
The defense also came up with two turn overs leading to seven Baler points.
The first came in the third quarter when junior defensive lineman Vince Sardam fell on a fumble. Hollister would make the turnover pay, scoring a touchdown to extend their lead to 34-0.
Late in the fourth quarter, the defense struck again when junior defensive back Eddie Gutierrey came up with an interception, killing the final Alvarez drive and effectively ending the game.
While San Benito shinned, Alvarez looked lacking in more ways than one.
At times the Eagles were undisciplined.
Following an incomplete pass in the first quarter, the play was clearly dead, but one Eagle defender took it upon himself to spear the Baler receiver into the sidelines.
Two plays later, Hollister scored on a 10-yard run from Thompson.
That would only be the beginning. Three more personal fouls were called against Alvarez, including two unsportsman like conduct calls in a row in the third quarter.
It was unclear exactly what caused the first call, but it was clearly against the Eagles and they clearly were not happy about it.
After voicing their opinions to the official, another flag was thrown, putting the ball on the Eagle seven yard line setting up a Klauer five-yard touchdown run.
Cameron was quick to point out more calls could have been made, but he was pleased that his players were not reacting and causing more trouble.
“The kids kept their cool,” Cameron said. “They did a great job and kept their poise with all (that was) going on in the game.”
Alvarez had one bright spot.
After watching the score extended to 41-0 on a 28-yard run from senior Jeff Hawks, who took over for Klauer in the third quarter, near the end of the third quarter, Alvarez put together a scoring drive of their own.
Starting from their own 15, the Eagles ran 16 plays spanning nearly nine minutes in the two quarters for a one yard touchdown run from sophomore quarterback Adrian Estrada.
But only Alvarez’s pride was salvaged suffering their worst defeat of the season.
San Benito will take a break Friday and will take on Gilroy (4-0) at Gilroy to open their TCAL season October 15.
