By DAVE FAVILA
Staff Writer
SAN BENITO – The San Benito Greyhounds begin the new season tonight a long way from home – 183.2 miles, to be exact, at the Student Activity Complex in Laredo.
While that may seem like quite a road trip to play a game, Greyhounds head coach Dan Gomez wanted a challenge to help gauge his 2016 squad. The United Longhorns should prove a worthy test.
“They are the top program from the Laredo area and we expect a very tough game out of them,” San Benito head coach Dan Gomez said. “We’re not exactly sure how we’ll match up against them. We’ll just have to see, but we’re ready.”
Like the Greyhounds, the Longhorns finished the 2015 season at 10-3 and lost in the third round of the playoffs. They also lost several key players from last year, as did San Benito, but they still return a lot of experienced talent including David Sanchez II, who played receiver last year and hauled in 79 passes for 1,237 yards and 25 touchdowns. Sanchez is expected to take over as the ‘Horns’ QB this year, but may still serve as a wideout when needed.
As for the ‘Hounds, Erick Retta is expected to take over the quarterbacking duties. In a 56-0 scrimmage victory against McAllen High last week, he looked great.
“We’re not sure how he (Retta) is going to preform, but we’re ready to find out,” Gomez said.