The annual Prune Bowl football game between the Gilroy Mustangs
and the Hollister Haybalers dates back to the 1920s.
GILROY – Pride: a sense of one’s own dignity or worth.
Tradition: a long established custom or practice handed down from generation to generation.
Trophy: a memorial of victory erected on the battlefield.
All three words define what the annual Prune Bowl between the Gilroy Mustangs and the Hollister Haybalers means to the players who play in it, coaches who coach in it, and the fans from both sides who attend it.
After this Friday’s game in Mustang Stadium, four Gilroy High football coaches – Darren Yafai, Tim Pierleoni, Eric Lopez and Greg Garcia – will have done all three.
Lopez – one of three GHS defensive coordinators – remembers playing against Hollister in the annual Prune Bowl like it was yesterday.
As a junior two-way lineman for the garlic gridmen during the 1993 season, Lopez (Class of ’94) came off the bench late in the fourth quarter with Gilroy down, 3-0.
“We started to move the ball on my side. I just got in there and I was motivating our O-line,” Lopez said. “It was third and 15 from the 15-yard line and my brother (Cesar Lopez) scored the winning touchdown.”
In his senior year, Lopez did everything he could to retain the Prune Bowl trophy – but the Mustangs could not hold on to a 17-14 halftime lead and lost 35-17 to Hollister.
“When I was in junior high, my older cousin played at the high school. I just knew from then they told me you don’t lose to Hollister,” Lopez said. “You’ve got to find a way to get up for this game because you play for that trophy.
“Even if you win league it doesn’t matter, without beating Hollister that’s not a good season.”
So last year when Lopez was in San Diego, he kept in constant contact while the Prune Bowl was being played and, even spoke with Coach Yafai, following Gilroy’s 37-21 victory in Haybaler Country..
“I was calling every five minutes to ask what’s going on. You should have seen my phone bill,” said Lopez, not minding the long-distance charges. “After the game, I talked to Darren and I said, ‘you did it’ and he was like ‘yeah, we won.’ I wish I could have been there.”
And this Friday night at 7:30 p.m. when the Mustangs and Haybalers meet, Lopez hopes to be part of another Gilroy Prune Bowl victory.
“It’d be huge for us to get another win. We need this win,” said Lopez of the 1-5 squad. “Not just because it’s Hollister, we need another win to get these guys going.”
Coach Yafai (Class of 1985) was a starting wide receiver in Gilroy’s 50-28 victory over Hollister and he coached last year’s squad to victory in the Prune Bowl.
“We didn’t throw the ball much so I specialized in stock blocking,” Yafai said. “That was our best team that we’ve probably had in the past 30, 40 years.”
Adding to the intensity that day, the Mustangs entered the stadium the back way around the tennis courts. Gilroy went on to win the MBL Championship that year, but Hollister won the CCS Championship with its only loss coming in the rivalry game.
“They were a dynamite team and we beat them 50-28. In a game like this you throw the records out the door,” said Yafai, comparing the Prune Bowl to the Cal-Stanford Big Game. “I’ve seen the lesser of those two teams win that game a bunch. Just like this I’ve seen better Gilroy teams lose to Hollister and vice versa.”
That year the Prune Bowl VFW trophy returned to Gilroy just like last year when the Mustangs took it back after a two-year stay in Hollister. During this week’s practices, the trophy – which was in the trophy case in the gym all year – was out on the athletic fields with the Mustangs.
“I think the kids really get a kick out of the heritage and history of this game, and of the rivalry,” Yafai said. “We talk about the history all the time. This is deeply-involved town pride and rivalry that dates back to the 19-teens and 1920s.”
But Coach Yafai has not always been on the garlic side. In his first full year of teaching, Yafai taught and coached football at Hollister – which dropped a 7-3 decision to Gilroy that year.
“So I was on the other side,” Yafai said. “I was actually coaching Hollister High football when Eric (Lopez) and Greg (Garcia) were juniors and when Gilroy beat Hollister 7-3 in a real close game.”
This season, Coach Yafai is banking on a big effort from his struggling group – which could turn things around with a Prune Bowl triumph.
“It will sure give us a boost. We need a boost right now. Things haven’t gone our way,” Yafai said. “We’re a team that’s had some key injuries and key losses, and we haven’t found our groove yet.”
Coach Garcia (Class of ’95) was a teammate of Coach Lopez’s at Gilroy High during the 1994 season. And although he was a reserve linebacker, the Prune Bowl meant everything to him.
“The Prune Bowl has a big history even my grandfather when he played for Hollister High School played in it. He comes back and talks about history when they used to come out with their equipment, throw it on the ground and pick out what you wear,” Garcia said. “He still talks about it when he played and they won. My father (John Garcia) also played for Gilroy High and coached football for Gavilan College for years.”
The history runs deep and the tradition continues to grow with each Prune Bowl game played.
“A lot of these kids have lived in this town for a long time,” Garcia said. “A lot of familiar names and those go back I’m sure their parents and grandparents played at either school.”
Coach Pierleoni (Class of ’81) went to Gilroy High School and played offensive tackle and defensive end for four years. Oddly enough, Pierleoni never got a full game in against Hollister as injuries plagued his scholastic career. His freshman year, he broke his hand. His sophomore year, he hurt his ankle. His junior year he hurt his back and, his senior year, he played only four downs.
“That game is always the game on the schedule because it’s been so many years. They had the parade before,” Pierleoni said. “When I was a kid, I could remember driving to Hollister and (seeing things) spray painted on the road, ‘Baylers Rule.'”
In his senior year, Gilroy won 41-28 as the two best running backs in CCS – Gilroy’s Peter Hernandez and Hollister’s Allan Weaver – played against each other.
“Peter Hernandez is probably the greatest running back in Gilroy High history,” said Pierleoni, who coached last year’s team to victory. “It’s a big game just because of who Hollister is. They’re a big-time program. It’s a legitimate program. It’s a measuring stick for us. They’re coached great. They’ve got great players.
“They’ve been there. They’ve done we want to do,” he added. “For us to beat a team that’s that good, that’s something for us to take a little pride in.”
This year, the Mustangs come in trying to stop a four-game losing streak that dates back to a week-two win over Santa Cruz. But once again, Gilroy will be relying heavily on senior tailback J.L. Mangono – who had the biggest game in his high school career in last year’s Prune Bowl victory.
“Part of that’s because he has a lot of friends who are from Hollister. He has some friends and family ties to the Hollister community. That’s part of it and part of it is he’s an emotional kid that loves the game of football,” said Coach Yafai of Mangono. “He has buddies on that team, friends of the family on Hollister that he’s played against. But if you pick that one game that he would want to win bad it would be this game.”
The Haybalers bring All-League fullback Trenton Young, All-League center Clay Peer, and starting quarterback Lee Osbourne with them to try and return the favor to the Mustangs on their home turf.
It’s all about pride, tradition and trophy. And both teams want to walk away with the ultimate prize – the Prune Bowl VFW Trophy.
