The Acorns pulled out every trick in the book, but in the end it
was not enough to stop San Benito from winning 32-14.
The Acorns pulled out every trick in the book, but in the end it was not enough to stop San Benito from winning 32-14.
Despite a 0-4-1 non-league record coming into the homecoming game, the team played like it was battling for the league championship.
Live Oak (0-5-1, 0-1 TCAL) used nearly every play in the book against the Haybalers, running a number of reverses and fake punts that kept drives alive and kept Hollister on its heals.
The first quarter looked promising for the Acorns as the defense traded stops. In the second quarter, Hollister began to break the game open when it put together a 50-yard scoring drive, despite a touchdown saving tackle made by defensive back George Quezada.
Nick Bailey rushed for three second-quarter touchdowns for the Balers.
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, the Haybalers were about to punt, but Live Oak was called for offsides that resulted in a first down.
Hollister quarterback 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 later, Hollister knocked the ball loose after a Steve Conner pass and ran the ball to the one-yard line for an eventual touchdown.
“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 Acorns came out fired up after a nice fireworks show. But the Haybalers got another touchdown on a 54-yard scoring drive with a 33- yard touchdown run by quarterback Carson Klauer.
Live Oak seemed to be on the ropes as they had to recover their own fumble and Conner was sacked to end their drive.
But the Acorns’ next drive was capped off with a 29-yard pass to Shaun Standridge for a touchdown and two-point conversion to draw within 25-8.
Hollister then coughed up the ball, and Live Oak recovered on the Haybaler 22-yard line. Two plays later, Conner connected with Standridge again to cut the Hollister lead to 25-14. The Acorns missed the two-point conversion that would have brought them within nine points.
That would be the end of Live Oak’s scoring as Hollister quickly responded with a 74-yard drive of their own.
Live Oak had a couple bad breaks that killed any hopes of a comeback that Live Oak had. Conner was intercepted, and the two teams exchanged fumbles to close out the game.
Despite coming up short, Webb was proud of his team’s effort against the dominant Hollister team.
“This was the best game we played, and it was against a team that is likely to go deep in the playoffs,” Webb said.
Defensive Back Miguel Ayala was optimistic about the team’s performance and felt good about the team’s chances Friday against North Salinas.
“Every week we’re building more,” said Ayala. “We haven’t broken the ice yet.”
Haybaler head coach was not pleased with his team’s performance, despite the win. He said that the team was not in the game mentally. They played a good, physical game, but their heads were not in it.
“We played a good team (Friday),” said Haybaler coach Chirs Cameron, whose team is 4-1-1. “We got lit up. They had more stuff up their sleeves than I could hide in my whole body. The staff and the kids never gave up.”
