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Despite a second-half surge, the Hollister Balers fell to the Monterey Toreadores 22-25 on Oct. 18—homecoming night. The Toreadores took the lead with less than a minute left on the clock on a 1-yard run. Monterey had two clutch plays in its fourth-quarter 65-yard winning drive. The first came when they were facing a fourth-and-five play and completed an 18-yard pass.
Two plays later, the Toreadores found themselves facing a second down with 15 to go on Hollister’s 47-yard line. This time, they beat the Baler defense for a 26-yard completion.
“Kids played extremely hard, great effort, great intent, Hollister coach Bryan Smith said. “But we weren’t able to finish … the game.”
With 42 seconds left on the clock and no time outs, the Baler offense was unable to advance the ball before turning it over on downs.
With only 69 total yards in the first half and having fallen behind 7-19 halfway through the third quarter, the Balers were looking for a spark. Three plays later, Sophomore running back Cole Seymour provided it by finding a hole in the defense and dashing for a 50-yard touchdown to get the Balers within five points.
“As soon as I hit it and saw green grass I just took off,” Seymour said.
Smith said he needs to find ways to give Seymour more touches. “He is young,” Smith said. “He gets better every game, he’s physically a good back in our league and he’ll continue to grow.
Seymour found the endzone again on Hollister’s next possession with a 11-yard run capping a 70-yard drive and a 2-point conversion to give the Balers a 22-19 lead with less than five minutes on the clock.
“I feel like that was a good learning experience, a hard-fought game,” Seymour said.
Seymour finished the night with 95 yards on 10 carries. Fullback Jason Casey contributed with 41 yards on 11 carries.
“We just started playing offense too late,” Smith said.
Hollister completed two passes for 11 yards in the first half and rushed for 58. In the second half, the Balers had no passing yards and rushed for 135 yards.
For the Balers defense, it was a tale of two halves. In the first half, they allowed Monterey to rush for 198 yards and two touchdowns. However, the Baler’s defense limited the air attack to 26 yards. Defensive back Toure Ajamu Jr. helped the offense with a pick-six in the eighth play of the game.
In the second half, the defense limited Monterey to 31 rushing yards but gave up 96 yards on four passes.
“Our guys did a good job,” Smith said. “They played really hard and just weren’t able to finish the deal tonight.”
Hollister is now 1-2 in league play and 4-3 overall. Its next scheduled game is against Palma in Salinas on Oct. 25.
BenitoLink thanks our underwriter, Hollister Rotary, for helping expand the sports coverage around San Benito County. Rotary is a nonprofit organization that conducts humanitarian projects, encourages high ethical standards, and works toward world understanding. All editorial decisions are made by BenitoLink.Tagged:balers, Hollister High School footballEditHollister High builds its 2024-2025 Varsity Football team
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