Hollister High School football lost its home opener Sept. 8 to Valley Christian 12-6. It was the Balers’ second loss after defeating Oak Grove in the first game of the season in August.
The Valley Christian Warriors sealed the win with back-to-back plays by tight end Tyler Bourland, who used his height of six feet, five inches to out-jump defenders, ending in a 60-yard-play with 24 seconds left in the game to give Valley Christian its second touchdown.
The Warriors came to Hollister winless after two games and scored the first points with 19 seconds left in the first half.
With about a minute left in the first half, Valley Christian took over the ball on the Balers’ 49-yard line after Hollister turned it over on downs following a bad snap in a fourth-and-6 play on the Warriors 33-yard line.
Valley Christian’s drive seemed to be coming to a halt on the Balers’ 36-yard line as they faced a fourth-and-8 but running back Uchenna Eke followed a blocker on the left sideline and outran the defenders to the endzone with 20 seconds left on the clock.
“Good game, a lot of inconsistencies,” Hollister coach Bryan Smith said. “I thought our defense played really well, and we had opportunities to score and win and we didn’t take advantage.”
The Balers first clear opportunities to score came in the first two drives of the second half.
The first drive was set up by a 37-yard kick return by Andrew De La Cruz. But on a second-and-7 play from the 12-yard line, Valley Christian recovered the ball following a bad snap that Hollister quarterback Abel Galindo could not handle.
The Warriors returned the favor three plays later when the Balers recovered the ball on Valley Christian’s 24-yard line following a bad snap.
Though Hollister faced a first-and-goal from the 1-yard line, they settled for a field goal.
“We had a lot of opportunities to score in the red zone,” running back Michael Reyes said. “We shot ourselves in the foot.”
Reyes rushed for 27 yards on 15 carries. Galindo had 32 rushing yards.
The Balers scored their second field goal to tie the game 6-6 with about six minutes left in the game. It was set up by the defense forcing Valley Christian to punt from their endzone.
“Our goal was to score four touchdowns, we didn’t score a single one,” Smith said. “Hats off to their defense. They did a good job there. We were too inconsistent on offense.”
Hollister had three turnovers in the game and totaled 79 rushing yards and 34 passing yards.
What was consistent was the Balers’ defense as they kept up the pressure and forced three consecutive three-and-outs until Valley Christian’s game-winning drive.
Our defense played very well,” Smith said. “Obviously you gotta play every play, but our defense played extremely well tonight.”
Hollister will face Monterey High School at home on Sept. 16.
“I don’t want to lose at home the rest of the season,” Reyes said. “We’re going to bounce back.”
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