High School Sports

For the third straight season, the Anzar High football team has started the year with a roster of 30 players or more. That's actually not too shabby for an 8-man football team. The Hawks play their season opener on Saturday at Fresno Christian, and coach Frank Reyes believes he’s got quality talent in those numbers.

The San Benito High girls volleyball team had one of its best seasons in program history a year ago, as it went 31-7 and won a Monterey Bay League Gabilan Division championship. However, the Haybalers simply weren’t good enough in a three-set blowout loss to Menlo-Atherton in a Central Coast Section Division I playoff semifinal.

A new era has begun at San Benito High with the ascension of coach Bryan Smith, who took over in the off-season after Chris Cameron stepped down after 22 years. Even though Smith will bring his own coaching style to the Haybalers, don’t expect them to turn away from their roots.

San Benito High won’t field a girls water polo team this year. A shortage of players and a look toward the future ultimately were the reasons why the school decided to cancel the 2016 season.

Entering its second year as a program, the San Benito High field hockey team promises to make opponents pay if any of them takes it lightly.

San Benito High wrestling coach Steven Salcedo never thought he would see this day. Same goes for junior varsity football coach Chris Cameron. The list goes on and on, with scores of people within the Haybalers athletics program dying to see the school replace the archaic weight room and wrestling facility with a modernized version.

On July 12, Drew Williams became just the second player in San Benito High’s rich baseball history to earn an invite to play in the prestigious Area Code Games in Long Beach. The Area Code Games are an invite-only showcase event featuring approximately 200 of the top high school players in the nation.

After establishing himself as one of the best pitchers in the Central Coast Section this past season, Diego Fisher was rewarded with an offer from UC Davis that he couldn’t turn down. Fisher, an incoming San Benito High senior, received an offer from the Aggies after taking an unofficial visit to the school on July 15.

The San Benito High football team participated in the second annual USA Football/Max Preps Media Day presented by the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium on July 13. In all, 33 teams from Northern California and as far away as central Oregon took the stage in a press conference setting to answer questions from a dozen media members.

When the San Benito High boys cross country team made the CIF State Championships two years ago, coaches Ryan Shorey and Leanna Morgan had a feeling the girls team wouldn’t be that far behind. Their intuition proved to be spot on.