MARK MOLINA | STAFF WRITER
With Week 11 of the Rio Grande Valley football season underway, the Los Falcons and the San Benito Greyhounds already know they are in the postseason, but what seed and against whom is still to be determined.
The seeding part of the equation will be solved when the Falcons host the ‘Hounds at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Los Fresnos’ Leo Aguilar Memorial Stadium.
The winner will be the District 32-6A top seed in Division I, while the other will go in as the second. Awaiting both teams is either Edinburg North or Weslaco High, who will figure out the same seeding situation when they face off tonight.
Los Fresno’s (3-6, 2-2) believes they are playing as well as they have all season and are relishing the opportunity to finish the season strong.
“I may be one of the first football coaches in history to say this,” Brown said jokingly. “But we’re having a great week of practice and we’re as healthy as we’ve ever been since I’ve been here. We’re starting to get depth and our young kids are starting to grow up and they’re starting to believe in our system offensively and defensively. We feel that our kids can play the way we think the can play, we can be pretty good.”
San Benito (5-4, 3-1), meanwhile, has strung together three straight wins and still has an outside chance at a share of the district title should it win and Rivera upset Harlingen High. Still, head coach Dan Gomez said his team is focused on the Falcons and nothing more.
“Right now, there’s concerns that we have with Los Fresnos,” the San Benito coach said. “There are concerns that we have with Los Fresnos; they’re a ballclub that’s been getting better every week. That’s been our main focus this week, is to take care of the task at hand.”
Both the Falcons and Greyhounds have run the ball effectively, especially in this district season, but bring completely different styles of attacks.
Los Fresnos’ switch to the flexbone offense was rocky early as they almost completely cut the passing game out of their attack and rushed for more than 300 yards just once in the pre-district season.
But once district play started, the Falcons have averaged 336 yards per game, led by running back Chris Resendiz, who has rushed for 548 yards and six touchdowns in district play, including a 185-yard, two-touchdown performance against Harlingen High and a 147-yard, three TD game against Harlingen South.
“I think our kids see how we can have success with this offense and our defense sees how they can get rest and keep the opposing offense off the field and limit possessions,” Brown said. “I think our coaches, down to our managers believe in what we’re doing right now and I think you can feel it around our practice and around our program.”
Browns also knows that keeping San Benito’s offense on the sidelines will be important with the running attack the Greyhounds bring to the table, starting with quarterback Smiley Silva., who Brown said is the district’s best in terms of running the ball.
Silva leads the district in rushing with 1,189 yards and 14 touchdowns this season and can also hand the ball off to Kyler Castilleja, who, despite only rushing for more than 100 yards twice this season, has been a nice complement, rushing for 714 yards and seven touchdowns.
With both teams rushing the ball well, Gomez said the battle upfront will be where the game will be decided.
“It’s hard-nosed football is what it is,” he said. “That’s where this game will be won or be lost. That will be inside in the trenches on the offensive line and defensive line. We look forward to the challenge of playing Los Fresnos, just like I know they are looking forward to playing us. So we’re just getting ready for Friday night.”
On defense, Los Fresnos is second in the district, allowing 319 yards per game (173 yards on the ground), while San Benito is third in the district, allowing 343 yards per game (215.5 rushing).