High School Sports

Coming off arguably its greatest season in school history, the San Benito High girls’ water polo team hit some rough water just three weeks into the 2013 season.

The Haybalers started the season 0-5 overall and 0-3 in Monterey Bay Gabilan Division play before earning their first win on Thursday, prevailing 8-3 over visiting Santa Cruz.

“It’s really a great relief for the team,” said Riley Drexler, who scored two goals in the victory. “Now we can focus more on playing our game, and feel less stressed trying to get that first win.”

The Haybalers won their first-ever Central Coast Section playoff match last year, beating Palo Alto, 9-8, in the opening round of the Division I playoffs. Of course, that squad had record-breaking goal-scorer Caitlin Shafer, who tallied 213 goals to break the single-season Monterey Bay League record.

Shafer is now playing at Loyola Marymount University, and a team simply doesn’t replace a player who scored 485 career goals. However, if San Benito coach Hayley Vandercook is supposed to be worried, she certainly isn’t showing it.

“Our team is getting better at learning how to step up in Caitlin’s place,” said Vandercook, who is in her sixth year coaching the team. “We lost our top two players, but we have some very good players coming back. I’m confident they’re only going to improve with each game.”

Especially Drexler, who only started playing the sport in her freshman year. The junior utility/two-meter defender decided to try out for water polo because she definitely prefers moving in the water compared with moving on dry land.

“I hate running,” she said. “Even when I played soccer, I was a goalie. I just hate running.”

Drexler scored both of her goals against Santa Cruz in the second period, the first of which came on a breakaway after she stole the ball at mid-pool. Moments later, Drexler displayed a nice touch, lofting a beautiful floater from eight meters away over the Santa Cruz goalie to make it 3-0 with 5:40 left until halftime.

Drexler then delivered the assist on a give-and-go sequence with Erin Hepner to make it 4-0 at the intermission. Santa Cruz finally scored its first goal with 6:45 left in the third, but San Benito ended the period with three unanswered tallies to essentially seal the outcome.

“Our defense is usually good, but I think against Santa Cruz we were really good,” Drexler said. “We got in their passing lanes and shut them down from scoring.”

The Balers received goals from five different players, including two from super sophomore Grace Larson. Hepner, Heather Smith, Hayleigh Smith and goalie Rachel Smithee are expected to play vital roles this season.

Vandercook said the 6-foot-1 Smithee is a Division I prospect, and the junior certainly looked the part against the Cardinals, repeatedly stuffing their scoring chances.

“We’re definitely lucky to have Rachel back in the cage,” Vandercook said.

The Balers need to rely on their speed and keep their passing crisp to move up in the Gabilan Division, which Vandercook fully expects her team to do.

“This convincing win over Santa Cruz shows we’re putting it all together,” she said. “I feel good where we’re headed. Our record doesn’t show much right now, but I have all the confidence in the world the girls are going to be right where they need to be later in the season.”

In a short period of time, Drexler has proven to be a potential breakout star. A key reserve on last year’s team, Drexler has made dramatic improvements in every facet of her game after her club season playing for Otter Bay in Monterey.

And to think: It was a little over two years ago when Drexler had never felt so nervous when she tried out for the water polo junior varsity team.

“At that point I didn’t even know how to tread water,” Drexler said. “I was just learning the rules, and hadn’t swam in a while. Afterwards, I was dead. I just went home and slept.”

Fortunately for the Balers, Drexler’s love for the game only grew from that point on.

The Anzar High cross-country boys and girls’ teams are primed for one of their best seasons in school history.

Both squads are the defending Mission Trail Athletic League champions, and remarkably, neither team lost much in the way of depth.

Although the Anzar boys lost their top runner, Diego Leon, they returned the rest of their starting lineup. The girls lost just one starter as well, bolstering the belief that each squad can have a historic 2013 season.

“Everyone is looking forward to repeating as league champs,” said Daniel Lowell, who coached the program for the last four years before handing over the reins to David Harris this season. “Another goal is to make it to state. The boys missed by a couple of points last year, and I believe it’s going to be a season of redemption for them and a number of runners on the team.”

Lowell said the team’s top three runners — sophomore Nat Hsia-Coron, senior Diego Avila and senior Christian Monroy — are fairly close in ability and will be pushing each other to put up times under 17 minutes.

However, Avila has emerged as the team’s No. 1 runner. Hsia-Coron ran a personal-best 18:11 at the Earlybird Invitational at Toro Park’s 3.1-mile layout on Sept. 7, and Lowell expects his times to go down drastically as the season goes along.

Hsia-Coron’s older brother, Aaron, was a former Anzar standout, winning the 2008 Central Coast Section Division V championship. A year ago, Monroy was the team’s No. 2 runner, Hsia-Coron No. 3 and Avila No. 4.

The Hawks also expect to receive strong contributions from sophomore Charles Winterbottom, junior Joshua Jojosselyn, freshman Jacob Avila and senior Alex Samuels, who was the team’s No. 5 runner last year.

“Both Diego and Charles battled injuries last year, so we’re looking for them to really peak and hit their personal-best times this season,” Lowell said.

The girls’ team returns its top runner in junior Yvette Felix, who has only improved with each training session. From the start of the 2012 season in August to the end of the season in late November, Felix saw her times drop by four minutes.

“Yvette’s sole purpose when she trains is to win races,” Lowell said. “You don’t get that too much from high school kids anymore. Yvette has the drive and is a tough competitor, and she puts in the extra work to be successful.”

Other top runners on the girls’ side include Christina Huerta, Jeniesha Parra, Julia Katz, Carly Zako and Noemy Vasquez.

The girls are also fielding a full junior varsity team this season, while the boys have a partial team, Lowell said. The increased number of athletes coming out for cross-country at Anzar is proof the program is thriving.

“We almost have two full teams with the boys and girls, which hasn’t happened in many years,” Lowell said.

The boys and girls train together, whether it’s at Toro Park, the Juan Bautista de Anza Trail, or around Anzar and Gavilan College.

“Pretty much anywhere there’s a good place to train, the team will go there,” Lowell said.

During her junior season, Erica Chapa asked longtime San Benito girls volleyball coach Dean Askanas if she could eventually become a setter.

“He kind of gave me a blank stare and laughed a little bit,” Chapa said. “Then he said, ‘Like, really?’ I said yes, thinking it was a good idea.”

Good indeed. An athletic 5-foot-8 senior, Chapa ranks first on the team in assists (167), second in service aces (nine) and fourth in digs (66). The Haybalers (4-4) play in the Harbor Invitational on Saturday.

“My reasoning to set was to hopefully play college volleyball,” Chapa said. “I know I’m not tall enough to play the front row in college (from her normal opposite position), and setting would give me the best chance to play at the next level.”

It’s only appropriate that Chapa was thinking ahead, because that’s exactly what she does every time she steps on the court. Setters are essentially the quarterbacks of a volleyball team because they have to constantly make the correct decisions for the team to succeed.

Every time a setter receives a pass, the player has to think about a number of things. Who do I set the ball to? Does my outside hitter want a high-arcing set or a quick, low one? Should I dump the ball and go for the point myself?

These are all things Chapa has to process in mere seconds literally hundreds of times during a match, but she’s been more than up to the task so far. What has impressed Askanas the most is Chapa’s ability to run the offense at a quick tempo.

“Erica plays with exceptional speed,” he said. “It’s the first thing you look for in a setter. A setter can have great hands, but if they’re slow and can’t make things happen, then they’re not going to be very effective. You can teach a setter to have acceptable hands, but you can’t teach a slow setter to play fast. Erica is an aggressive and fast athlete.”

Despite having never played setter before — Chapa only started playing volleyball in the eighth grade — she made meteoric improvements in her game within the last couple of years by watching endless video of herself along with setters from her club team, Adrenaline.

Chapa studied the game before honing her skills through hours of practice. Until recently, Chapa never thought volleyball would end up being her best sport. She played a number of sports growing up, including basketball, soccer and softball.

Chapa was a standout goalkeeper for the San Jose-based Portuguese Athletic Club team, which won six tournaments and was the top-ranked team in Northern California four years ago, Chapa said.

But shortly after that club season — Chapa was an eighth grader at the time — the team disbanded, setting up her volleyball career. That same year, Chapa decided to try out for the Spring Grove School volleyball team, and it was love at first spike.

“Before that, I had only played some volleyball in P.E. classes,” said Chapa, who admitted she had no idea if she was good enough to play at San Benito. “When I made the JV team as a freshman in high school, that’s when I realized I could be good at volleyball.”

Chapa has developed a good chemistry with San Benito outside hitters Alexandria Smallwood and Marisa Villegas, who rank first and second on the team in kills with 67 and 52, respectively.

“It’s important to talk and work with your hitters because they want the ball in a certain spot, and it’s up to me to deliver it to them,” Chapa said.

“A great setter can make an average hitter look good and a good hitter look great because she can put the ball right in the hitter’s wheelhouse,” Askanas said. “And that’s what Erica has been doing.”

Although Chapa loves volleyball, there’s a chance this might be her last year of playing the sport in organized competition. Some of the universities she wants to attend — including Long Beach State, Arizona and UC Santa Barbara, just to name a few — field top-notch Division I programs.

Chapa’s career goal is to become a coroner, a dream that started when she was in the sixth grade. For now, Chapa will stick with dissecting the competition on the volleyball court.

Even though the Anzar and San Benito football teams are both coming off blowout losses last week — the Hawks lost to Trinity Christian-Monterey 36-0 and the Haybalers dropped a 28-7 decision to Palo Alto — they have no time to feel sorry for themselves.

Both squads face stiff competition on Friday, as Anzar (0-1) hosts Woodside Priory-Portola Valley (2-0) at 5 p.m., while San Benito (1-1) hosts perennial Central Coast Section power Los Gatos (0-2) at 7:30.

“The areas we struggled in, those are the areas Los Gatos is going to look to exploit,” Balers coach Chris Cameron said. “So we’ve got to improve on those aspects so it won’t be as exploitable.”

San Benito simply was out-manned against a superior Palo Alto team that featured four-star quarterback Keller Chryst, who completed 10 consecutive passes spanning the first and second quarter on his way to a 17-for-24, 212-yard performance.

San Benito scored its lone TD courtesy of Zak Hicks’ 1-yard run off left tackle with 1:23 left in the game. Palo Alto outgained the Balers, 317-161. Justice Felice led the Balers once again with 67 yards on 14 carries, while Hicks rushed 13 times for 58 yards.  

Instead of dwelling on the loss, Hicks said the coaches and players look for small, incremental ways to improve themselves on a day-by-day, game-by-game basis. The senior also noted he can hardly wait to play in front of a home crowd.

“Hollister is football country,” Hicks said. “We’re going to get back out there on the green grass, and everything is going to feel all right. Our goal is to capitalize on the little things we did well against Palo Alto, and build off that.”

Speaking of building, that’s exactly what Anzar is aiming for after being shutout last week. The final result was misleading in this regard: The Hawks weren’t close to being at full strength, as five of their starters were ineligible to play due to grades.

Hawks coach Luis Espinosa said the five players will gain eligibility Oct. 5, meaning they’ll have to miss the next two games. It didn’t help matters when starting middle linebacker Joseph Banuelos suffered a strained MCL in the first quarter against Trinity Christian, and was lost for the game.

“We’re going to take our lumps in the first few weeks,” Espinosa said. “Trinity was a good team, and we were just one step behind them. But once we get back to full strength, we’ll be ready to go.”

The Hawks face a Woodside Priory team that returned all starters off a squad that won last year’s Mission Trail Athletic League championship with a perfect 5-0 record in league play.

“They’re going to be a handful,” Espinosa said. “They’re definitely the team to beat again.”

Unlike most teams that play 8-man football, Woodside Priory hardly passes the ball. The Panthers are run-oriented, and no one in the Mission Trail has been able to stop them recently.

Last week in a 64-0 blitzing of East Palo Alto Phoenix Academy, Panthers quarterback Will Latta attempted just one pass, completing it for 10 yards. Woodside Priory rushed 26 times for 266 yards, a hefty 10.23 yards per carry average. James McDaniel led the way with 180 yards on 17 carries.

“He (McDaniel) has a lot of speed, so hopefully we can slow him down and score some points,” Espinosa said. “We take pride in our defense. A lot of teams in our league score over 40 points a game, but we rarely give up 40.”

Espinosa is hoping the team’s size — “We’re the biggest team in the league,” he said — will be an advantage going forward. Matt Yarbrough, a 5-foot-10, 240-pound junior center-nose guard, rarely loses a one-on-one battle.

Offensively, Pedro Montejano led the Hawks with 62 yards on nine carries last week. Senior quarterback Sam Jimenez (4 of 11, 16 yards) couldn’t get the offense going, but that was more of a team issue than an individual one.  

“We are a young team, but we have high expectations,” Espinosa said.

PALO ALTO — In loss there is gain.

That’s the attitude the San Benito High football team has to take following a 28-7 defeat to Palo Alto on Friday night. The Haybalers (1-1) were never really in this one, falling behind 21-0 at halftime.

It was the second straight game in which they got off to a slow start — they trailed 14-4 at halftime of last week’s 31-14 comeback win over Pioneer — but this time they paid for their shortcomings.

“Those were really haunting,” San Benito coach Chris Cameron said, referring to his team’s three turnovers, two of which Palo Alto (1-0) converted into 14 points. “We definitely didn’t help ourselves, but we played a great football team. Bottom line, they’re just better than us.”

Vikings quarterback Keller Chryst, a 6-foot-4, 230-pound senior who has committed to play at Stanford, was as good as advertised, completing 17-of-24 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns.

Chryst routinely put the ball where he wanted, throwing sharp and accurate 10 to 15-yard outs to a host of dangerous wide receivers. He also broke and eluded several would-be San Benito tacklers, displaying tremendous athleticism and strength in the process.

“They ran their outs at will, like it was nothing,” Cameron said. “We had no answer.”

The Balers totaled just 63 yards of offense in the first half and 161 for the game. Their lone score came on a Zak Hicks 1-yard touchdown run with 1:23 left in the game. San Benito put together four solid drives in the second half, but was unable to finish on three of them.

After Palo Alto went up 28-0 with 2:51 to go in the third quarter, the Balers went 70 yards on 14 plays before David Stanton threw an interception in the end zone on a fourth-and-7 from the 15-yard line.

Stanton had as many completions — he finished 1 of 12 passing — as interceptions, epitomizing the team’s titanic offensive struggles. Justice Felice (67 yards on 14 carries) and Hicks (58 on 13) paced a San Benito running game that came to life in the second half.

“We’re a small-town team playing a big time team in Palo Alto, and it was a great experience,” Hicks said. “We struggled a bit, but they were the better team obviously.”

Despite the loss, Cameron said there’s a reason why he put teams like Palo Alto and Los Gatos — next week’s opponent — on the schedule.

“It’s a chance to improve and see how other teams are looking to exploit you,” he said. “We’re going to gain a lot from this loss. We’ll get better, that’s for sure.”

With only 10 players on his roster, San Benito High girls volleyball coach Dean Askanas has to pull up a junior varsity player and use one of the assistant coaches just to hold an intra-squad scrimmage.

But make no mistake: The Haybalers — despite their somewhat thin roster — won’t be making any excuses. That’s not the way Askanas operates.

“We have a very athletic group, athleticism at almost every position,” said Askanas, who is in his ninth year as San Benito’s coach. “This is the smallest roster I’ve had here, and 13 would be an ideal number. But it just didn’t work out that way this year because some girls from the JV weren’t ready to come up, and we had another player who tore her ACL over the summer.”

Askanas would love nothing more than to make a return appearance in a Central Coast Section tournament championship match.

The Haybalers — who were 4-3 entering Thursday night’s match at Homestead-Cupertino — last reached the CCS finals in 2008, when they finished as the Division I runner-up for the second straight year after winning it all in ’06.

“We want to be playing for that championship again,” Askanas said. “If we can improve our middle blocker position and get healthy, we’ll be a real contender.”

San Benito has two big-time offensive talents in senior outside hitter Alexandria Smallwood and freshman outside hitter Marisa Villegas, who rank first and second on the team in kills, with 57 and 55, respectively.

“Allie is probably the strongest hitter on our team,” Askanas said. “She’s also passing really well and is mentally tough. Marisa is probably the most talented and strongest freshman I’ve had in my 22 years of coaching. She’s exceptionally fast, she’s got great hand-eye coordination and she doesn’t get fazed mentally, either.”

Senior setter Erica Chapa has elevated the level of her teammates’ play by making sound decisions and playing at a quick pace that keeps the opposing team on its heels and constantly guessing defensively.

Chapa plays all six rotations — meaning she never leaves the floor. The Balers have also been buoyed by the play of sophomore middle blocker Haley Leifheit and senior opposite Serena Adame.

“Haley still has to work on her blocking skills, but if she sticks with it, she’s a potential collegiate player,” Askanas said.

After the Homestead match, the Balers won’t have another match until they play in the Harbor Invitational on Sept. 21.

It’s the day before the start of the 2013 football season, and Chris Cameron has a certain glean on his face as he hands out jerseys to his players in the musky smelling San Benito High football locker room.

Now in his 20th year as the Haybalers’ coach, the 50-year-old Cameron approaches every task with joy, no matter how menial the task is.

“I love the game, but more importantly, I love seeing kids grow up,” Cameron said. “I’d like to think as coaches we could have a positive influence on kids.”

Haybalers fullback Justice Felice — he rushed for a game-high 106 yards on 15 carries in last week’s 31-14 win over Pioneer — paid Cameron and the rest of the San Benito coaching staff the ultimate compliment after the Balers’ season-opening victory.

“We learn so much from them, and it really makes a difference,” Felice said. “They had a huge impact on us at halftime (during the Pioneer game). We weren’t playing that well in the first half, but coach didn’t have to yell or scream much. He and the rest of the coaches just showed us proper technique and things we needed to work on.”

Something clicked, because the Balers ran roughshod over the Mustangs in the final two quarters, outscoring them 27-0 to win going away. The good coaches make the proper in-game adjustments; the great ones teach it in a way that the players absorb and translate onto the field. 

It’s no coincidence Cameron has developed an ability to motivate teenagers to continually improve and play at a higher level, because he views the football field as the ultimate classroom experience.

“When it’s fourth and goal and you need one yard to determine your destiny, that’s when true character comes out,” Cameron said. “You can either go in the tank or rise up to be a leader, and that stuff doesn’t happen within the walls of an English class or a typical classroom environment. It happens between the white lines. We practice Monday through Thursday, and Friday is our test.”

Cameron, who is an on-campus P.E. teacher, starts building a rapport with his returning players and any newcomers in January, in one of his classes. At the end of April, there’s a short spring football session that allows Cameron to get his players on the field twice a week. That spring session bleeds into the seven-week summer session — “Everyone in town knows we’re out there on the field at 6 a.m.,” Cameron said — during which time the players are getting bigger, stronger, faster and mentally tougher.

“You want guys to invest a lot of time in this, because then it’ll be harder to quit when things get tough,” Cameron said. “It’s hard work and a lot of sweat, and it’s proven to be a pretty good formula.”

Of that, there is no doubt. Under Cameron, the Balers have won three Central Coast Section championships, to go along with five runner-up finishes. Cameron knew he wanted to be a coach when he was a senior at Leland High. A heady player, Cameron could see plays transpire before they developed.

“I knew during double days (the summer before my senior year) what I was supposed to do and what everyone else was supposed to do,” Cameron said. “I absorbed everything.”

Including the way to run a program. Cameron spent nine years coaching as an assistant under former legendary Oak Grove-San Jose coach Ed Buller, and two as the head coach at Andrew Hill-San Jose before taking the position at San Benito. Cameron and Balers athletic director and defensive coordinator Tod Thatcher coached together at Oak Grove, and they already had a blueprint for success.

“When we came here, we wanted to establish an Oak Grove-type program,” Cameron said. “That meant getting the kids to buy into a certain work ethic and commitment. We don’t always have the biggest team, but our kids play really hard. How do I measure success? It’s getting better every week.”

Which is exactly what the Balers did last year en route to winning the CCS Division I title over Milpitas.

“Each year you need to suck more life out of your guys, in terms of playing harder,” Cameron said. “Last year’s team had a great understanding of that. They competed and understood what the coaches wanted them to do.”

Cameron loves his players, especially when they exceed their potential. And he doesn’t like to take credit for anything — he even called the Freelance and politely asked to not have a story focused on him — noting a coach should never get too much credit for a team’s success.

“It’s all about the players,” he said.

Cameron was particularly proud of his team’s performance against Pioneer, which looked like the superior squad in the first half. However, the Balers simply willed themselves to victory in the final two quarters, displaying a physicality and mental toughness that has become synonymous with San Benito football.

“We were running at will in the second half,” Cameron said. “After they prepared in practice all week, all of our guys won their battles.”

And passed the first of many tests.

NOTES: San Benito has a Sept. 13 showdown at Palo Alto and its heralded quarterback, Keller Chryst, who is one of the top-rated players at his position in the nation. Game time is 7:30 p.m. This will be the Vikings' season opener.

In the Haybalers' 31-14 win over Pioneer last week, quarterback David Stanton rushed for 50 yards and threw for 119 more in the comeback victory. San Benito trailed 14-4 at halftime before literally running all over the Mustangs in the second half. Out of the 28 plays the Balers ran, 26 were runs. 

The Anzar High girls volleyball program is the only sports team at the school that plays in an upper-tier division while also fielding a junior varsity team — no small feat considering the Hawks are perennial contenders in the Central Coast Section playoffs.

“We take pride in being that one team sport that has both a varsity and JV team at Anzar,” said Anzar co-coach Chris Wardlaw, who has been with the program since 2001 and is in his third separate coaching stint with the team after not leading the squad in 2005 and last season. Tom Schatz is Anzar’s other co-coach.

“Our feeder schools know we’re good, and the younger girls on those teams see their older sisters playing at Anzar, and they want to do it. It’s a cycle that repeats itself, and that’s why we rarely have a bad season.”

No kidding. The Hawks have missed the playoffs just twice in the last 12 years and notched another solid season in 2012. Anzar finished 23-6 overall — 12-2 in the Mission Trail Athletic League — and advanced to the quarterfinals of the CCS Division V tournament. 

Simply put, the Hawks are buoyed by an influx of fresh talent every season. That’s why Wardlaw wasn’t worried even after he lost every single starter off last year’s team, along with a number of key reserves who saw significant action.

“It’s a unique situation having to replace your entire starting lineup,” Wardlaw said. “We lost some players to graduation, but we also lost a number of players who were expected to be impact starters for this season. Three girls moved (out of the area), one is doing independent studies and another transferred. We’ll still be fine, though. We have a lot of raw talent, and the question is how quickly can we mold it.”

Most of — if not all — of the players on Anzar’s roster play club volleyball, meaning the Hawks are loaded with experienced athletes who play the sport year-round.

“We’ve got a lot of height and some great athletes,” Wardlaw said. “Almost all of the great girl athletes at our school, we can get on our team.”

Key impact players on this year’s team include junior libero Emily Papenhausen, junior outside hitter Karina Campos and senior opposite Kris Johnson-Powell. Last year, Papenhausen finished with 336 digs and 25 service aces, ranking third and fourth, respectively, in those categories.   

"She's the best ball control player on our team," Wardlaw said. "She will undoubtedly lead our team in passing and digs."

Wardlaw feels confident he'll receive steady production from his taller frontline players, even though they lack varsity experience. Ashley Devery, Mariah Dugas, Tera Reed and Leslie Martinez are all 5-foot-10 or taller and possessing vast offensive hitting potential.

In 2012, the San Benito girls tennis team advanced to the Central Coast Section playoffs for the second time in 11 years under coach Ed Cecena.

In high school tennis, depth matters, and that’s what the Haybalers had a year ago. However, San Benito graduated its No. 2, 3 and 4 singles players, leaving a void that Cecena hopes can be filled with hard work and determination.

“Sometimes the difference between a win and a loss comes down to simply competing,” said Cecena, whose team opened its season Monday with a 7-0 win over Pajaro Valley. “I think our girls can get to that level where mentally they’re fighting really hard for every point. It’s going to take that type of effort for us to reach our goals.”

Cecena holds a voluntary practice on Saturday, which gives his players a chance to improve their skills and further hone the mental aspects of the game. After all, it takes some serious mental toughness for a player to show up for a Saturday practice.

In terms of goals, San Benito’s top priority is to stay in the upper-tier Gabilan Division, developing players in the process. The Balers return only one singles player — senior Kelsey Slavich — but she’ll be manning the top spot.

Relying more on guts and guile than raw talent, Slavich rarely beats herself. She places the ball well, utilizes a lot of underspin and often lets her opponents commit the errors.

Players who will be vying for permanent spots in the singles lineup include Gwendolynn Fernstrom, Rachel Brigantiono, Cathy Frusetta and Makayla Irving, who couldn’t play last season due to injury. On Monday, Irving rolled to a straight-set win at No. 4 singles.

Cecena is hopeful that all of his players continue to develop their physical and mental skills — especially the latter — because it’s the mental side that often helps a player get through a three-set match.

Rachel Logue, Jessica White, Katarina Ortiz, Leeann Gutierrez and Julia Duggs are some of the top players who will fill out the doubles lineup.

“Rachel and Makayla are two athletic girls who compete very well,” Cecena said. “That’s what you want from your athletes at this level.”

San Benito 7, Pajaro Valley 0

SINGLES — Slavich def. Guillen 7-5, 6-7, 11-9 (super tiebreaker as third set); Frusetta def. Rodriguez 6-4, 6-1; Fernstrom def. Kianyvela 6-2, 4-6, 10-7; Irving def. Ocampo 6-1, 6-0. DOUBLES WINNERS — Logue-Ortiz 3-6, 6-4; 10-6; White-Brigantiono 6-3, 6-4; Leeann Gutierrez Julia Duggs 6-2, 6-2.

SAN JOSE — San Benito High football coach Chris Cameron started jumping up and down and yelling “Yes” even before Haybalers fullback Justice Felice received the handoff.

Moments later, Felice scored on a 13-yard run, and the Haybalers were on their way to a 31-14 win over host Pioneer on Friday in the season opener for both teams. San Benito’s victory was even more impressive considering the fact that it trailed 14-4 at halftime.

“We just needed to settle down,” Cameron said, referring to his team committing ill-advised penalties that negated a couple of potential touchdowns in the first half. “We did some things really well (in the second half), and they had no answer for it.”

San Benito’s running game was simply unstoppable in the final two quarters, with Felice (15 carries for 106 yards) leading the way. His aforementioned 13-yard touchdown run — which cut San Benito’s deficit to 14-11 — nonetheless set the tone for the rest of the game, as it came on the opening drive of the third quarter.

On the possession, the Balers ran nine plays that covered 79 yards — on all runs — starting a flurry that saw San Benito score the game’s final 27 points. With the offensive line opening up huge holes, the Balers gashed Pioneer for 267 yards on the ground.

San Benito ran 28 plays in the second half, 26 of which were runs. The Balers basically ran four plays off their run game: A dive, toss, option and option keeper. They adjusted their blocking schemes at halftime, and the result was noticeable.

“We just needed to play better – it was that simple,” Felice said. “With this being the first game, I was a little nervous at first, and maybe I wasn’t moving my feet as well as I should have like the coaches told me to.”

The Balers scored on every possession in the second half, except the final one when they ran out the clock. They took their first lead since the opening minutes of the first quarter on David Stanton’s 5-yard touchdown run, making it 17-14 with 2:24 left in the third quarter.

Chris Blake added a 9-yard TD run and Stanton — who also completed 5-of-14 passes for 119 yards — capped the scoring with a 13-yard run. That came one play after teammate Andrew Sotelo returned an interception 25 yards to the Pioneer 13-yard line.

San Benito’s defense was stout, limiting the Mustangs to 244 yards of total offense. The Balers’ only points of the first half came courtesy of their defense, via safeties.  

Cody McGrew blocked a Pioneer punt out of the end zone for the Balers’ first safety, and Ben Cobb recorded San Benito’s second safety when he tackled Pioneer quarterback Zach Silva in the end zone in the opening minute of the second quarter.

“Some of our guys could have tanked, but what you saw was a group who played really hard,” Cameron said. “Hopefully we flushed some of our mistakes out of our system, and we’ll play a bit cleaner next week.”