BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | THE MONITOR
EDIBURG — Junior running back Hearlin Benavides broke the Edinburg High School record for rushing yards in a season on Thursday night.
“It means the world to me,” Benavides said. “I couldn’t have done it without my team, without my offensive line. All credit to my offensive line. I wouldn’t have done it without them.”
Benavides’ 94 yards and two touchdowns weren’t enough, as the Bobcats fell to the Los Fresnos Falcons 34-14 in a Class 6A Division I bi-district game at Richard R. Flores Stadium.
“It’s tough,” Edinburg coach J.J. Leija said. “These guys fought really hard. We went to the dressing room down three touchdowns, but we said we won’t give up. These guys played tough. That’s all I can ask.”
Benavides finished the season with 1,682 yards. The previous record, set by Orlando Montalvo in 1975, was 1,652.
“That’s amazing,” sophomore running back Erik Cano said. “It shows the kind of guys that we have on the team. That guy is a hell of a player. I’m not going to lie. He loves football.”
Benavides’ performance was one of many positives the Bobcats will take away from their playoff experience.
The Bobcats are young. Benavides, along with quarterback Matt Cruz, wide receivers Kandon Dortch and Antoine Woodard, and Cano are all underclassmen who will be playing next year. The defense is also really young, with only a few seniors.
“I think we are going to be moving up in the world,” Leija said. “We have some good kids. We played a lot of sophomores tonight. We have a lot of juniors that will be moving up. So we are looking for good things from Edinburg High School.”
Edinburg High struggled to start the game. The Bobcats twice had the ball past the Los Fresnos 40-yard line, and on both occasions they turned the ball over on downs.
Edinburg High’s woes were in the passing game. Junior Matt Cruz went 1 for 8 through the first quarter and a half before being replaced by senior Danny Shawnee.
Los Fresnos got going when senior quarterback Charles Chapa started rolling. He opened the scoring with a 40-yard pass to sophomore Nicholas Valencia. Junior Alberto Banuelos had a 6-yard touchdown run before Chapa closed out the half with an 8-yard touchdown run to give the Falcons a 19-0 halftime lead.
Early in the first half, EHS junior offensive tackle Jorge Ayala went down with an injury and did not return. Ayala’s injury played a large part in slowing down the Bobcats’ offense.
“Jorge was a big part of our line this year,” Benavides said. “Him going out hurt us. Big time.”
Edinburg High didn’t help itself with penalties, either. The Bobcats finished the game with nine infractions for 85 yards, but three false start penalties came on third-and-short situations, and the Bobcats were unable to convert on any of those drives.
“We got carried away with emotions and stuff like that,” Leija said. “That hurt us. We had that big one right before half that led to a touchdown. Then, we got carried away.”
Benavides finished the season with 17 touchdowns. His dominance opened up a lot of things for the Bobcats, including the emergence of Cano.
“Coming into the season, I was expecting not to play much,” Cano said. “I got given chances, and with him pounding it and pounding it, the defense tired out. It was possible for us to succeed.”
Cano credits Benavides with helping him. Cano came into the year as a wide receiver and had played quarterback before that, so he had to learn the running back position on the fly.
With a full offseason for Cano and another big year expected from Benavides and all of the other returners, the Bobcats are excited about next season.
“More positive things to come,” Cano said. “As a team we will be back and better. We just need to keep pushing.”