MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
BROWNSVILLE—With the stakes high in a crowded District 32-6A playoff race, the San Benito Greyhounds rose to the occasion and imposed their will on the Hanna Golden Eagles.
Led by the legs of quarterback Smiley Silva and running back Kyler Castilleja, the Greyhounds cruised to a 49-19 district win over the Eagles on Friday night at Sams Memorial Stadium.
Silva rushed for 209 yards and four touchdowns on 16 carries, and Castilleja compiled 146 all-purpose yards and two total touchdowns.
“We were fortunate to be successful against a really good program,” San Benito coach Dan Gomez said. “It’s a program that has good athletes and a program that’s directed by a great coach with a lot of class. We were able to be successful. We’re fortunate tonight.”
With the Hanna offense struggling for the better part of the final three quarters, its defense struggled to get off the field throughout the night as San Benito controlled the pace on the ground throughout.
“We had a good game plan. We knew what they were going to do when they lined up in formation,” Hanna coach Mark Guess said. “It’s 32-6A football, sometimes teams will impose their will on you. We did a lot of that last year, and we had it done to us in this game. I’ll put it on me. I need to coach better and get these guys ready to play better. We just have to get it done. We just have to make plays when it’s our turn to make a play.”
The Greyhounds improve to 2-1 in district play and sit in second place with two games to play. Hanna falls to 1-2 along with Rivera, Los Fresnos and Harlingen South.
Hanna will face Los Fresnos this week and end the season against South.
“We have to win a couple of games here if we want to get that playoff run for the third year in a row,” Guess said. “That’s definitely our goal at this point, to get in. We really feel like we have a good opportunity to. We played two buzzsaws, and Los Fresnos is always going to be a tough game for us.”
Silva hit Castilleja for a 58-yard catch-and-run on San Benito’s fourth play from scrimmage to make it 7-0 with 10:36 to play.
Later in the quarter, Hanna took the lead on a 45-yard run by quarterback Victor Campos to tie the game at 7 with 6:09 to go in the first quarter, but Silva answered with a 73-yard run of his own 22 seconds later to make it 14-7.
Campos led a nine-play, 63-yard drive on the ensuing possession, culminating with a 1-yard shovel pass to Ernesto Mendoza as he was being sacked at the San Benito 1 to make it 14-13 with 2:20 left in the first after a missed point-after attempt.
The ’Hounds blew the doors off the game soon after, scoring 21 unanswered points during the second quarter. Silva scored on runs of 36 and 7 yards in the quarter and Castilleja added a 9-yard touchdown of his own, making it 35-13 at the half.
Hanna had four drives during the second quarter, including an eight-play possession aided by San Benito penalties while trailing by one point, but came up empty.
“We couldn’t get momentum on our side,” Guess said. “We’d make something happen and we’d get a presnap penalty, or we’d miss a tackle or miss a play on third down defensively. We had third-and-long a few times, and we couldn’t get San Benito off the field. We just have to keep playing and playing hard. I’m still proud of our kids because they keep fighting until the end.”
Hanna made it 35-19 after scoring on its opening possession of the second half on a 1-yard run by Marlon Dominguez, but managed nothing else as San Benito put the game away on rushing scores from Silva and backup quarterback Elijah Hernandez during the fourth quarter.
“Everybody came together and played ball at the right time,” Gomez said. “The coaching staff did a great job on both sides of the football and the kids executed the game plan. That’s why we were fortunate to come out with the victory.”