San Benito suffers 28-21 loss to Palma; ‘Balers fall out of
first
Salinas – They were able to play themselves out of a self-inflicted hole once. But a second comeback proved too much for the ‘Balers as they suffered a 28-21 loss to Palma in a clash of Central Coast Section football titans at the Salinas Sports Complex on Friday.
Done in by a fumble deep in its own territory and two interceptions, San Benito surrendered 14 points to turnovers to fall out of first place in the Tri-County Athletic League.
“Turnovers killed us,” ‘Balers co-captain Tim Lango said. “We lost the turnover battle, so we lost the game.”
Despite seeing its high-powered offense largely bottled up by an aggressive San Benito defense, Palma (6-1, 4-0 TCAL) took a 21-7 lead into halftime thanks to two game-changing special teams plays. First, Chieftains junior Nate Ramirez returned the opening kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown. And then, after punting with a 14-7 lead and a minute left in the first half, Palma recovered a fumble on the return at the ‘Balers’ 11-yard line and scored another touchdown two plays later.
But San Benito (5-2, 2-1 TCAL) calmly took the field for the third quarter and, on the team’s second play, quarterback Ronnie Fhurong connected with wing back Jordan Klindt on a 64-yard touchdown reception.
“That play just started the momentum coming towards us,” said Klindt, whose score helped pull San Benito within 21-14.
Once the ‘Baler defense stuffed Palma on three plays, San Benito got the ball back and marched 47 yards in eight plays to tie the game on Lango’s 8-yard touchdown run with 5:47 left in the quarter.
But the surging ‘Baler offense stalled with a three-and-out possession and then an interception at the start of the fourth quarter.
After harassing Chieftain quarterback Brian Reader all night, San Benito’s defense came up with the big play it needed, forcing a fumble that the ‘Balers recovered at their own 21-yard line. But Palma answered with the decisive play of the night, as Chieftains linebacker Jeff Davis batted a Fhurong pass in the air and then corralled the ball to return the interception 13 yards for a touchdown with 8:04 left.
San Benito couldn’t manage another first down, and the Chieftains drove to within the ‘Balers’ 5 before running out the clock.
“You know going into this game that you’re going to have to play four quarters against them,” Palma head coach Jeff Carnazzo said.
‘Balers head coach Chris Cameron said it was unfortunate that a few key plays ruined an otherwise inspiring effort. “We were holding our own with them,” he said, “playing toe-to-toe.”
San Benito’s defense allowed just one touchdown drive of more than 11 yards, holding Palma to a manageable 274 total yards of offense. The ‘Balers ran for 131 yards and totaled 216 yards.
With Alisal’s 29-22 win at Gilroy, Palma moved into sole possession of first place in the TCAL.
The ‘Balers know they need to rebound quickly as they host Alisal (5-2, 2-1) on Oct. 27.
“It’s always tough to lose to Palma, but it’s in the past,” San Benito junior Zach Canez said. “We have to focus on our next opponent now.”
