Based on the standings, Friday night’s San Benito-Alisal football game looked like a mismatch.
And it was. For the second consecutive home game, the Haybalers overwhelmed their opponent to the point where a running clock was used in the fourth quarter. Despite not scoring an offensive touchdown in the first quarter for the eighth time in nine games, San Benito rolled to a 35-0 victory.
“Once you get the taste of winning, you don’t want to stop,” said Balers tailback Zak Hicks, who had touchdown runs of 11 and 34 yards to go along with a 21-yard TD reception.
Alisal entered the contest in last place in the Monterey Bay League Gabilan Division, and after a thorough whipping, it stayed there. San Benito, meanwhile, improved to 5-4 overall and 3-2 in league play. The game was actually deadlocked at 0-0 after the first quarter, but the Balers put up 21 points in the second and 14 more in the third to make it a runaway.
Hicks finished with 85 yards on 11 carries, and R.J. Clark had an electrifying 88-yard TD run just before halftime that was set up moments earlier by a Guillermo Regalado interception. San Benito’s defense was stout, limiting Alisal (2-7, 0-5) to a paltry 58 yards of total offense.
Like clockwork, the Balers are playing their best at just the right time — near the playoffs. With a showdown looming next week against Palma, San Benito is as confident as it has been all season.
“It would’ve been nice to win a league game earlier or win one of those other non-league games, but we’ll take the way we’re playing right now,” said Balers coach Chris Cameron, whose team beat up on Monte Vista Christian, 48-10, in its previous home game two weeks ago. “On R.J.’s touchdown, our guys blocked that play perfectly. Perfect.”
San Benito certainly is not the team that was making fundamental mistakes consistently earlier in the season. The Balers have been precise with their toss plays to their running backs, and nowhere was that more apparent than in their latest win.
Both of Hicks’ running TDs came on toss plays, as did Clark’s. Quarterback David Stanton accounted for the other running score, a 13-yarder, when he faked out the entire Alisal defense on an option keeper before going untouched into the end zone.
“Basically, we got really strict with our toss plays,” Hicks said. “If we couldn’t figure out how to execute our best play, then we didn’t deserve to win any games.”
San Benito figured it out all right, just like it’s done so many times in the past.
