KEVIN NARRO | Valley Morning Star

SAN BENITO — The San Benito Greyhounds continue to roll in District 32-6A.

The Hounds are currently 5-0 in league play (8-0 overall) and are entering the final two weeks of the season.

Tonight the Hounds will welcome the Weslaco Panthers, who are riding a two-game win streak and are currently in the playoff mix. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 at Bobby Morrow Stadium.

Harper eclipses 1K mark: This season has been a solid year for Hounds running back Tyrone Harper. The senior has run through and around opposing defenses. On the year Harper has five 100-yard games and has scored three touchdowns in three games this season.

In Week Nine, Harper eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark with a 10-carry, 158 yard performance against Brownsville Hanna en route to a 51-27 statement win over the Eagles. The key to the Hounds’ offense is their up-tempo style offense, and Harper has fit the bill on the ground and through the air.

This year Harper has played a larger role in the passing game, hauling in 13 receptions for 233 yards and four touchdowns. Harper will look to keep his strong season going against the Panthers defense.

San Benito as a unit leads 32-6A in rushing and passing. The Hounds are averaging 412 yards per game, while airing out 1,106 yards and 2,195 yards on the ground.

Air-Retta: Quarterback Erick Retta has also checked in a fine senior campaign. The Hounds’ signal caller has thrown for 1,141 yards and 14 touchdowns to just one interception. Retta is averaging 142 yards a game along with a crisp 125.5 QB rating.

Retta also presents a rushing attack thanks to his quick feet and great peripheral vision. On the year, Retta has rushed for 361 yards and three touchdowns.

KEVIN NARRO | Valley Morning Star

LYFORD — The 2017 volleyball season has been quite the turnaround for the Lyford Lady Bulldogs.

Lyford’s season is alive and well after winning its bi-district match against Santa Getrudis on Tuesday and it also saw their win streak extend to six consecutive matches.

The Lady Bulldogs will now meet the defending Class 3A state champs, Goliad, in an area-round playoff match today at Sinton High School.

Under second-year head coach Lisa Lancaster, Lyford avenged last season’s bi-district loss to Santa Getrudis and is in the second round of the postseason. Under Lancaster, the Lady Dogs have shown their maturity and have made improvements on both defense and offense.

“Winning in the first round was really sweet,” Lancaster said. “A lot of the matches we played in last year we lost in five sets. I was able to show the kids that we were able to beat teams in three sets rather than playing four or five sets. After the game (Tuesday) we were all excited and I told the girls we can take it in three sets and that fired them up. It’s good to see the process come full circle and the kids have bought in to the program and how we want to do things.”

In their bi-district win, Ashley Rangel finished with a team-high 12 kills, Marialy Salinas followed with 10 kills, Chris Rocha wound up with a 25 digs, and Adriana Duran wrapped up the win with eight kills and seven digs.

Senior setter Hanna Perez is excited to see her team get over the first-round speed bump and into the area round, something that is a first for the three-year varsity member.

“This being my last year and really the last year for most of us, we wanted to win and get past the first round that was a goal we set and we did it,” Perez said. “This week we are continuing to work hard and coach has set up drills and different ways to prepare us for Friday. It’s going to be a challenge, they (Goliad) are the defending champs and they have some tough hitters, but we have been playing very well defensively so we’re confident.”

The last time Lyford was in the area round was 2014 when the Lady Dogs beat Falfurrias in the first round before falling to George West in the area round in straight sets. The task may be a tall one Friday night, but the Lady Dogs are up for the challenge.

“Right now we’re having the most fun we have had in the last few years,” Duran said. “Now that we are past the first round, it’s a great feeling. We haven’t been able to get past the first round and now we’re seeing our work pay off.

“It was before district play that I realized we had the potential to make a playoff run. Last year we were learning under a new coach and now this year we know the expectations. At the start of the season it was tough, but Coach has us working hard and we all bought in are ready for Friday.”

KEVIN NARRO | Valley Morning Star

HARLINGEN — Just two games remain for the Harlingen South Hawks.

This season has certainly been a rough one, but each week the Hawks show progression from their young quarterback play and secondary.

This week, the Hawks will square off against Weslaco East, which are currently in the District 32-6A playoff race. Friday night’s game will be South’s final road game of the season when they travel to Bobby Lackey Stadium.

“We have had some good practices this week and the kids are upbeat,” said Hawks coach Brian Ricci. “We haven’t had some things go our way in these close games, but I tell the kids to keep working hard. We’re excited to play Weslaco East this Friday night, but it’s going to be a challenge.”

Weslaco East has turned its season around and has won two in a row with victories over Harlingen High and Brownsville Rivera. The Wildcats are currently tied with Harlingen and Los Fresnos at 3-2 in league play. Week 10 will be very telling on which teams will set themselves up for a playoff spot.

The Hawks, meanwhile, have seen sophomore tight end Brady Bennett emerge as a top target for quarterback David Torres. Bennett made his varsity debut against Harlingen in the district opener and got his first start against Hanna a few weeks ago.

Bennett provides size and a security blanket for Torres. He is paired with junior wide receiver Derrick Delgado. Against Weslaco High last week, Bennett caught two passes for 27 yards and one touchdown.

“Both Derrick and Brady give us size at the receiver position and as a defense you have to honor them because they can win one-on-one matchups and that opens up things for us offensively,” Ricci said.

Harlingen South will need to rely on its two wideout targets as running backs Jorge Alicea and Emilio Quiroz were ruled out of Friday’s game due to injuries. The Hawks will take a running-back-by-committee approach and look to get Jaime Belmontes into the mix.

“I talked to coach Mike Burget (at East) and they are going through the same thing we are with injures,” said Ricci. “This time a year a lot of programs are and they’re dealing with it, and they just keep working hard and that’s what we have been doing.”

KEVIN NARRO | Valley Morning Star

With the first round of the 2017 volleyball playoffs in the books, plenty of area teams took care of business and advanced to the area round.

SAN BENITO: The Lady Hounds represented District 32-6A well. In the bi-district round, 32-6A went 3-1 versus District 31-6A. PSJA Memorial was the only team out of 31-6A to pick up a win over Brownsville Hanna. Los Fresnos, Brownsville Rivera and San Benito all advanced.

The Lady Hounds will meet District 30-6A champion McAllen Rowe at noon on Saturday at San Benito’s Veterans Memorial Campus.

“Rowe has always been a very good team,” said Lady Hounds coach Ruby Medina. “But, hey, we’re a good team, too. It’s going to come down to who wants it more.”

LA FERIA: For the first time since 2013, the Lionettes brought home a bi-district title as they defeated Orange Grove 25-23, 26-24, 17-25, 25-15 on Tuesday.

La Feria will now face Somerset in a Class 4A area-round match at 6:30 p.m. Friday at San Diego High School.

Myah Salas led the team Tuesday with 13 kills, along with 14 digs. Teammate Sierra Salinas collected eight kills and 17 digs, Dakota Mosely notched 15 digs, and Destiny Martinez checked in 12 digs and three kills.

Lyford, Santa Maria, Santa Rosa play on: The Lyford Lady Bulldogs made quick work of Santa Gertudis Academy on Tuesday in a 25-16, 29-27, 25-20 sweep. The Lady Dogs will now play Goliad in a Class 3A area-round match at 5:40 p.m. Friday at Sinton High School.

Santa Maria, meanwhile, will square off against San Antonio Stacy at 3 p.m. Saturday at Alice High School.

Finally, Santa Rosa plays Taft on Thursday at Kingsville High.

KEVIN NARRO | Valley Morning Star

SAN BENITO — For the first time since 2011, the San Benito Lady Greyhounds are heading to the area round.

San Benito got the best of Edinburg Vela 25-21, 23-25, 25-16, 25-10 on Tuesday in a Class 6A bi district playoff match. The Lady Hounds will now play McAllen Rowe at a time and place still to be decided.

“We’re very excited to be moving on,” said San Benito coach Ruby Medina. “I told the girls from the get-go that we haven’t been to the second round in years and this year’s team has the talent to make a playoff run.

“Tonight the girls wanted it and playing at home helped us. I could see it in them and it showed in their performance.”

After a convincing win in the first set, Edinburg Vela rebounded with a 25-23 win that gave the Lady Sabercats momentum. But like they have done before, the Lady Hounds adjusted, kept their cool and came out firing.

“The adjustments are something I always have to do depending how the girls come out,” Medina said. “Every game is a different scenario. Tonight I had to make adjustments with our servers, but the girls are used to the adjustments so I know when I do them the girls will be ready.”

Kayleen Reyes, who played a big part in the win, was also excited about the victory.

“We had some nerves coming into the match, but we have played them (Vela) before and we had confidence that we could get it done,” she said. “We had to keep the intensity up the entire game knowing they’re a good team. Their hitters were very good and smart so it was definitely a challenge.”

In the third set, the Lady Hounds raced out to an 8-2 lead and kept their offensive attack going behind Reyes and Crystal Ibarra. The Lady Hounds fed off their home crowd with each kill.

Reyes finished with a team-high 16 kills followed up by a 26-dig, 24-assist, three-kill performance. Ibarra backed Reyes’ strong performance with 14 kills, 21 digs and two blocks.

The fourth set presented its own challenge for the Lady Hounds. Vela got ahead early 11-8, but San Benito erased the deficit and took a 12-11 lead and once again found its footing and pulled away with a strong offensive performance.

“The girls have worked hard all year, they deserve this,” Medina said of her team. “Vela is a great team and I wanted our girls to take it one point at a time, and I told them that if they play like they know how, they will be successful.”

KEVIN NARRO | Valley Morning Star

PROGRESO — After a year’s absence from the postseason, the Rio Hondo Lady Bobcats are headed to the big dance.

The Lady Cats made quick work of Progreso in straight sets, 25-11, 25-20, 25-23, on Saturday afternoon in a District 32-4A play-in match. The Lady Cats now set their sights on the playoffs where they’ll face Sinton in a Class 4A bi-district match Tuesday.

“I think the girls were focused and they knew what their job was coming into today’s match,” said Rio Hondo coach Karen Ramirez. “The girls knew they could not come in and mess around. They really wanted this and it showed.

“At the start of the season we set some goals and today we reached one of those goals, and that was to make the playoffs. They brought the intensity today and I’m proud of them.”

Lady Cats middle blocker Atheny Ozozco was thrilled after her team’s victory.

“We’re excited to be back in the playoffs,” she said. “Right now we’re clicking as a team and it’s at the right time. Today our passing is what worked for us and that’s what makes us go offensively.”

After dominating the first set 25-11, Rio Hondo fell behind early 15-8 and saw momentum shift to the Lady Red Ants. The Lady Cats, however, settled down, made adjustments, rallied to take a late lead and then held off Progreso to take the set 25-20.

“We had been in this position before, where we fell behind in a set. We rallied around each other and brought out the fight in us and made the adjustments to get the win.” Ozozco said.

Senior Bianca Cruz paced the offense with a team-high 10 kills and five digs. Taylor Gomez checked in 10 kills while Kamryn Flores led the team with 12 digs.

“We split with Progreso this year in district play so we went back and looked at some things we needed to correct,” Ramirez said. “One of those things was our passing and today we executed it. We did make some mistakes on our free passing, but for the most part we played well.”

KEVIN NARRO | Valley Morning Star

HARLINGEN — The Weslaco Panthers overcame a 17-7 deficit at halftime and rallied to their second consecutive win, 28-25 Friday night against Harlingen South.

The Panthers’ comeback was led by the arms of Marco Leal and Elijah Banda as they both threw for touchdowns in the second half.

“I like the way our kids responded, they never gave up and kept fighting,” said Hawks coach Brian Ricci. “The kids continue to get better each week and they continue to work hard. That’s all I know how to do is to keep getting better and the kids do the same.”

Weslaco scored on its opening drive of the second half on a 18-yard touchdown from Leal to Devin Dena that trimmed the lead to 17-14 early in the third quarter. The scoring drive shifted momentum in favor of the Panthers and on the next drive they recovered a muffed punt and took over at the Hawks 28-yard line.

The Panthers capitalized on the turnover with a Banda touchdown run giving the Panthers their first lead since the first quarter at 21-17.

Weslaco’s defense held the Hawks scoreless until the final minutes. The offense managed to outscore South 21-8 in the second half.

Quiroz checks in solid outing, exits with injury: With Hawks feature back Jorge Alicea making a return to the lineup after missing the last few weeks with an ankle injury, it had been junior running back Emilio Quiroz who carried the workload.

On Friday, the Hawks’ offense looked revived with big plays, no turnovers and crisp running. Quarterback David Torres continued to find his form under center and hit Jaime Belmontes on a 43-yard score and leaned on Quiroz out of the backfield.

The momentum changed when Weslaco scored on its opening drive of the second half and South lost Quiroz to an injury in the third quarter. He finished with 21 carries for 112 yards and a touchdown. Alicea also exited the game with an injury, leaving South with one healthy running back.

“He runs hard and he is the heart of this team,” Ricci said of Quiroz. “It was tough to lose him and lose Jorge. We were down to one running back, but I like the way the kids responded and came right back and scored late in the game.”

Hawks can’t overcome miscues, missed opportunities: The Hawks struggled on special teams and it eventually proved costly. South saw a 14-point swing off of special teams. In the first quarter the ball sailed over the punter’s head and Weslaco recovered, resulting in a touchdown that gave the Panthers an early 7-3 lead. The second was a muffed punt in the third quarter. Weslaco later scored and took a 21-17 lead.

Late in the fourth, Torres connected with Brady Bennett for an 18-yard touchdown along with a two point conversion as the Hawks pulled within three points at 28-25.

But Weslaco managed to squeeze the final 3:40 off the clock with a fourth-and-2 run that saw the Panthers pick up a first down by the nose of the football.

South (1-7, 0-5) will now shift its focus to Weslaco East while Weslaco (3-4, 2-3) will have a date with San Benito.

KEVIN NARRO | Valley Morning Star

HARLINGEN — The Harlingen South Hawks have seen junior running back Emilio Quiroz step in and make plays.

Quiroz has provided a strong 1-2 punch with fellow running back Jorge Alicea. The Hawks will meet Weslaco High tonight at Boggus Stadium.

—

Q: As a junior, you have made some big plays for the offense. What did you do over the offseason to prepare?

A: Coach (Brian) Ricci’s offseason program was tough, but it made me stronger as a player.

Q: Despite your size, you continue to play hard and make plays. What motivates you to be a better player?

A: I don’t want to let my team or my coaches down. They know I can do great things and to have the fans’ support is huge. My family also supports me and I play hard every game to prove people wrong about my size.

Q: What are some goals you set for this season?

A: I want to make a name for myself this season. I also want to make first team all-district and set the Hawks’ season rushing record.

Q: Who is your favorite running back in the NFL and why?

A: My favorite running back was Barry Sanders from the Detroit Lions. He was a workhorse and he made people miss.

Q: What is your favorite pre-game meal?

A: It has to be chicken alfredo.

Q: If you could be an animal, which one would you choose?

A: A lion because he is the king of the jungle.

Q: Do you play any other sports?

A: I play soccer, track and, of course, football. Football is my first love because I love the hitting that is involved.

KEVIN NARRO | Valley Morning Star

SAN BENITO — The San Benito Lady Greyhounds are hoping fortune is in their favor when the playoffs kick off Tuesday.

The Lady Hounds enter the postseason as a three seed and will face Edinburg Vela, which finished second in District 31-6A. The two will square off at 7 p.m. Tuesday at San Benito Veteran’s Memorial Academy.

“We have made the playoffs before, it’s just a new team and a new game,” said San Benito coach Ruby Medina. “I think we’re ready, we have home court and we are ready for the playoffs, and excited to play a great team in Edinburg Vela.”

San Benito battled through a tough district and finished with a 9-5 record.

The Lady Hounds will lean on seniors Kayleen Reyes, Arlene Lucero and Crystal Ibarra to guide the offensive attack. Junior libero Sarah Garcia has also checked in a strong season.

This year’s senior class has tasted the playoffs the past two seasons, but fell shy against Edinburg North in 2015 and Edinburg High in 2016, both in the bi-district round. San Benito is hoping the third time’s the charm against a familiar opponent in Vela.

“We have played them before in tournaments and we won, but I told the girls not to take them lightly,” said Medina. “They’re going to be ready to play; from then to now everybody improves so it’s important for us to enter the game physically and mentally prepared for anything.”

The Lady SaberCats are no stranger to the postseason and are led by senior middle blocker Bianca Cortez. Sophomore outside hitter Glenys Maldonado has also had a hand in the offense this season along with setter Emily Espinoza and fellow outside hitter Jacquline Calvillo.

“Vela has a great middle blocker. She is very good and hits the ball well, and their back row is solid,” Medina said. “Defensively, they’re sharp and it’s going to be a very competitive match. I believe our girls are ready. Our district was tough and that has prepared us for the playoffs.”

Lucero, who is one of the five seniors on the team, is eager to erase the past and take this year’s team to the next level.

“We have the confidence to get the job done Tuesday,” Lucero said. “We have been working hard all season and, as a senior, we’re trying to get past the first round.

“This year we seniors have pushed the underclassmen to perform the best that they can. We motivate them and they feed off that. Our experience is going to help because most of us have been here before. Last season we had some injures, but this year we’re all ready to go.”

KEVIN NARRO | Valley Morning Star

HARLINGEN — The Harlingen Cardinals’ defense has seen many talented players come through the program. This season Eladio Flores is one key member of Big Red’s Big D.

The two-year varsity member has made his presence know along the defensive line and he is set to lead Harlingen into a battle against a tough Los Fresnos team this weekend. The Valley Morning Star had a chance to catch up with Flores.

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Q: How has your senior year been so far and has is hit you yet that this is your last year?

A: My senior year has been a great experience. There’s been a lot of challenges that have been put in front of me and my team, but we have learned to overcome. Since it’s my senior year, I want to have no regrets and have a great final season.

Q: What is it like to be a part of the Harlingen Cardinals football program?

A: It feels great. Being in such an amazing program has helped me not only in football but also to be a better person in life. I’m blessed to be part of the best football program in South Texas.

Q: What is the best part of being a defensive lineman?

A: Making sure the guy in front of you gets nervous. As a D-lineman you’re either going to be double teamed or single blocked. Being able to get by them and making a play on the QB or RB shows the O-linemen that they got to be on point whenever they face you. It feels great to be able to make the offense struggle in your presence.

Q: You, Sam Alonso and Garrison Medley make a strong trio. Talk about that chemistry?

A : Well, it’s just being able to trust the guys playing with you and I feel that I can really trust these guys with everything. We all grew up together from middle school to high school and football has gotten us closer as friends. The communication we have is on point and I feel that’s hard to come by.

Q: Do you have a favorite pre-game meal?

A: The day before game day we usually have carb night where all the football players come and eat, and hang out with each other before game day arrives. I really love when at carb night the QB club serves us chicken alfredo. It has to be one of my favorite meals. But when it comes to game day, I’m mainly focusing on the game throughout the day and I usually just eat whatever the school gives on that day.

Q: Who is your favorite defensive player in the NFL and why?

A: In the NFL my favorite defensive player that I look up to would be defensive end Cameron Wake of the Miami Dolphins. I love his relentlessness on the field and his explosiveness. I feel like I have the same want-to that he has.

Q: What are your goals after high school?

A: My goals for after high school would be able to play football at the college level. In case that doesn’t happen, I would want to become an auto technician and most likely go to a technical school for that.

Q: If you could have dinner with anyone in history who would it be and why? A: It would probably be with Bruce Lee. It would have been interesting to meet him and for him to be able to share his stories and his wisdom.

Q: If you could send a message to the younger kids playing for Harlingen, what would it be?

A: I would say don’t be afraid of chasing your dreams. If you work hard for your dreams they will most likely come true. I went from second string freshman year to starting on varsity my senior year and one of the captains on the team. But it’s not going to come easy. You just need to put in the time and the effort. Nothing’s easy in life.