MORGAN HILL
–– San Benito survived an onslaught of tricks Friday night to
defeat Live Oak, 32-14
”
They battled their (tails) off,
”
said Baler head coach Chris Cameron.
”
They never gave up. They had more stuff up their sleeves than I
could hide in my whole body. They had tricks everywhere. Their
staff never gave up, and their kids never gave up. That’s a solute
to those guys.
”
MORGAN HILL –– San Benito survived an onslaught of tricks Friday night to defeat Live Oak, 32-14
“They battled their (tails) off,” said Baler head coach Chris Cameron. “They never gave up. They had more stuff up their sleeves than I could hide in my whole body. They had tricks everywhere. Their staff never gave up, and their kids never gave up. That’s a solute to those guys.”
Not wanting history to repeat itself, Cameron carefully analyzed the recent and not-so-recent meetings between the two clubs this week to try to find a way to counter the trickery.
“I knew they were going to come out and pull out all the stops,” Cameron said. “In 1995, they had a big halfback pass for a touchdown, and we were down 21-0 in the first quarter with three big-shot plays. In 1997, they had a hitch-and-go in the fourth quarter.”
The Haybalers (4-1-1, 1-0 TCAL) looked like they were in control going into the half up 19-0 against the Acorns.
Nick Bailey rushed in for his first of three touchdown from nine yards out after quarterback Karson Klauer found Ken Romero on a 21-yard slant. The score put the Balers on the board first as the second quarter started.
The Acorns, who are on a 20-game winless streak, were hoping to go into the half down 6-0, but the Balers had other plans. With 43 seconds to go, Klauer looked down the field but didn’t find anyone open so he took off and ran down to the six-yard line. Bailey ran it in from there.
Seconds late, linebacker Chris Stephens recovered a fumble and ran it back 25 yards to the one-yard line where Bailey ran it in for the score.
“Their attack creates a lot of problems,” said Live Oak coach Glen Webb. “You can spend all week trying to work on the counter, sweep or Wing-T. Then they throw in the option for the knockout punch.”
The Balers were up by what appeared to be a comfortable 25-0 advantage when Klauer turned a fourth down into a 33-yard touchdown with 9:48 left in the third.
But the Acorns dug deep into the playbook, going with several different quarterback options and completing receptions on a couple fake punts.
Live Oak starting quarterback Steve Conner found Shaun Standridge in the corner of the end zone, and the Acorns were able to convert the two-point conversion on a catch by Shaun Krilanovich with 1:05 left in the third quarter.
Live Oak then recovered a fumble. On a handoff, Daniel Salinas found Standridge for the second touchdown – an eight-yard reception at the start of the fourth quarter.
With a late dive, Breyon Canez broke up the two point conversion that would have brought the Acorns within nine points.
But the Balers came right back, marching down the field and scoring on a one-yard run by Chris Brigantino to take a 32-14 lead.
“That drive is one thing I am happy about,” Cameron said. “It was a nice answer.”
The Acorns had another chance to score, but Conner’s pass was picked off by Canez at the San Benito 10-yard line.
“We didn’t play real well mentally,” Cameron said. “Physically, we were hitting and tackling pretty well. But we got a lot of guys to the ball. We haven’t given up an offsides in a long time. If we play a Palma or Valley Christian or someone else with a few more weapons, we get lit up big time tonight.”
Although kicks are the first thing the Balers work on in practice, the team missed two PATs and one field goal in the game.
“They took it to us in the kicking game,” Cameron said. “We’re going to work on our PATs this week and try add a bigger since of urgency to them. We need to get back to focus – playing intensity football from the first snap.”
The Balers square off next week against the Gilroy Mustangs, who lost 20-7 in their first league game against Salinas.
