San Benito survives early 5-1 deficit to top Salinas; boys’
second comeback win over Cowboys gives team solid position in
TCAL
Hollister – So often, the sequel falls short of the original. That definitely wasn’t the case at the San Benito pool Tuesday.
Three days after their thrilling battle in the Monterey Bay Varsity Tournament, the San Benito and Salinas boys’ water polo teams were at it again, with the stakes much higher this time. Fortunately for the ‘Balers, they once again downed their rival with a fourth-quarter comeback, prevailing 11-8 in a critical Tri-County Athletic League contest.
“Real hairy,” San Benito coach Tom Agan said after his team won despite trailing 5-1 midway through the second quarter. “Any time you’re down what, four goals, that’s tough to come back from. … It’s a huge win.”
With the victory, the ‘Balers not only improved to 4-0 on the year, but they also gained a heavy advantage over Salinas in the teams’ battle to earn the No. 1 seed for the TCAL Tournament. With Live Oak having left the league, San Benito and Salinas look to be the strong favorites in a league otherwise packed with building programs.
After falling behind 3-0 in the first quarter on the heels of missing all 10 of their shots, the ‘Balers had quite a mountain to climb. And by the time Salinas went up 5-1 with Kris Evered’s fourth goal of the contest at the 3:10 mark of the second quarter, San Benito’s prospects were looking quite grim.
But the ‘Balers climbed to within 6-3 after a Blane Curtice steal set up a Rory Bloch goal with 36 seconds left in the half. And once the second half got underway, San Benito just kept coming.
The ‘Balers (1-O TCAL) scored twice in the third quarter to trail 6-5 heading into the fourth and tied the game with David Smith’s first of two goals early in the final period. And then, in the highlight of the game, Bloch gave his team the lead at 7-6 with an arcing goal.
Bloch, who appeared to be trapped against the right side of the pool by Salinas’ Sean Pezzini, lobbed a shot high in the air that fell just beyond Cowboys goalie David Morton’s reach and into the net with 4:54 remaining.
“I took a quick look at were the goalie was and I saw he was too far out of the cage,” said Bloch, who tied Evered with a game-high four goals. “It was the first lead of the game and everyone was pumped after that.”
Though the Cowboys briefly tied the game with a goal a minute later, San Benito continued its surge with four goals in the next three minutes to stun its rival.
“I think we’re a second half team,” Smith said. “We have a lot of endurance. (The Cowboys) are sprinters, but in the end, we have a lot more endurance.”
Agan said the difference in the ‘Balers’ play in the two halves was a matter of opening up the offense to the team’s drivers, rather than forcing the ball into two-meter plays that were too predictable.
Salinas coach Gary Figueroa said his youthful team is still figuring out how to learn from its mistakes, the most significant of which he termed “hesitancy” and “bad defense in the second half.” After the Cowboys, who give significant playing time to four sophomores, lost their late lead in the second round of the tournament Saturday and then had a repeat performance Tuesday, Figueroa also said San Benito’s determination was the difference. “Give credit to the ‘Balers,” he said. “They upped their game and we didn’t respond in kind.”
Jason Andrade scored three goals for the ‘Balers, including two in the second quarter, and Curtice also contributed two scores.
After entering the game in the second half, San Benito goalie John Kaplanis saved 10 shots to help spearhead the ‘Balers’ strong defensive half. “I thought we were working well on defense,” Kaplanis said. “Everyone played a little smarter and our offense stepped it up.”
Eric Cunanan scored three times for the Cowboys, who dropped to 0-1 in league play.
Agan said with Salinas out of the way, his team should be in prime position come the league tournament so long as it takes care of its business the rest of the way. “If we do a good job, we should go in as the No. 1 seed,” he said. “I don’t want to take away from our other opponents, but I think we’ve seen the strongest opponent in our league.”
JV Note: The San Benito boys’ JV water polo team dropped its opening game of the season, falling 10-6 to Salinas in Hollister. Field player George Coelho led the ‘Balers with two goals and Kyle Reuther had a strong game as goalie, preventing the Cowboys from scoring even more goals. San Benito hosts a TCAL JV tournament Saturday.
