Osborne, in for injured Ross, set to start in Friday’s league
opener at home against Live Oak
Last week’s dominating 26-19 win over the lowly Monterey
Toreadors was just a pre-test.
The real examination for Lee Osborne, the San Benito Haybalers
newly anointed quarterback, begins tomorrow when the Tri County
Athletic League officially opens at home against Live Oak.
Osborne, in for injured Ross, set to start in Friday’s league opener at home against Live Oak
Last week’s dominating 26-19 win over the lowly Monterey Toreadors was just a pre-test.
The real examination for Lee Osborne, the San Benito Haybalers newly anointed quarterback, begins tomorrow when the Tri County Athletic League officially opens at home against Live Oak.
Starting in place of injured quarterback Gordon Ross, who hurt his right pectoral muscle during practice before the Monterey game, Osborne and the Haybalers churned out 443 rushing yards over the winless Toreadors last Friday at Monterey Peninsula College.
Running back Trenton Young pounded out 226 yards and one touchdown on 25 carries, while Osborne chipped in with 181 yards and one touchdown on 16 carries.
The win upped the Haybalers’ overall record to 2-2-1 while the Toreadors fell to a dismal 0-4-1 in non-league play. This week both teams open league play as the Haybalers host the Live Oak Acorns in the Tri County Athletic League and the Toreadors go against the Monterey Bay League’s North Monterey County Condors.
The Acorns will come into tomorrow’s game desperate to turn around misfortunes during league play. Two weeks ago, the Acorns salvaged a tie with the Condors, but last week the Acorns missed out on notching its first win of the year against the Alisal Trojans with a 21-20 loss.
Although Live Oak will be overmatched in almost every position on the field, it doesn’t seem to matter to this feisty bunch. The Acorns players are buying into Coach Glen Webb’s game plan and seem to be willing to run through a brick wall for the coach in order to get a win.
Both games are slated to start at 7:30 p.m.
Tomorrow when the Haybalers and the Acorns line up on the Andy Hardin Stadium football field, the more confident team should be the ones draped in red-and-white, especially after last Friday’s overpowering performance.
Granted the Toreadors are not the stiffest of competitors, but with a team in need of a breakout performance like the Haybalers were last week, this game could not have been scheduled for a better time.
Monterey’s porous run defense was the perfect remedy for Young, who has been salivating at the chance to rip off a few big runs. Young went to the well early and often as his offensive line pushed around the Toreadors’ front line and left gaping holes for the bulky running back. Young recorded multiple runs of 30 yards or more.
His 30-yard jaunt through the teeth of the Toreadors defense set up the Haybalers’ first TD of the night – a bruising one-yard run by Young early in the second quarter. The Haybalers failed to convert the extra point, but in this game it would not matter.
San Benito went up 13-0 midway through the quarter on an eight-yard TD run by Osborne. Osborne, on an option play, kept the ball, turned up field and used his breakaway speed to outpace the Toreadors secondary.
Osborne struck again just before the half when his 78-yard gain preceded an Armando Larez two-yard touchdown run. Larez finished with 35 yards and one TD on 16 carries.
“I just try and stay on the same page with the guys on the field,” said Osborne, who last played quarterback in his first year. “We connect out there. When Gordon (Ross) got hurt, I knew once the game started we would have to take our game to another level.”
The Haybalers went up 26-0 at the top of the third quarter when Osborne reeled off a 44-yard touchdown run one play after Young aroused the crowd with a 40-yard run.
“He had a big game,” Osborne said.
The Toreadors made a run late in the game, but the 26-point deficit proved too much to overcome.
