MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — For the second consecutive year, the San Benito Greyhounds found themselves down to the Harlingen Cardinals in the Annual Battle of the Arroyo with just minutes left.
And once again, the ‘Hounds answered the bell.
After San Benito’s EJ Barron cut the Harlingen lead to just one on a 1-yard scoring run with 1:39 to play, quarterback JR Gaitan found receiver Juan Salas for the go-ahead two-point conversion to lift the Greyhounds to a 22-21 win Friday night at Boggus Stadium.
“When the waters were muddy, we kept on pushing through,” said Gaitan. “Our offense did a good job keeping the momentum and pushing through. We had good blocking by our backs and our linemen and I took it.
“My team worked hard and we got the job done tonight.”
San Benito (4-2, 2-1) has now won back-to-back Battle of the Arroyos for the first time since 2006-07.
Harlingen (4-2, 2-1) led only once briefly after Tony Aceves turned a muffed Salas punt, setting up a 10-yard Leo Tienda touchdown to put the Cards ahead 21-14 with 3:34 to play.
San Benito’s quick no-huddle offense, however, took just under two-minutes to answer on the ensuing possession, leaving Harlingen with just 1:33 on the clock.
It was their second quick score of the night. Before the half they took just 1:23 to answer a Harlingen score.
“San Benito did a good job running their two-minute offense,” Harlingen head coach Manny Gomez said. “We were playing back and they were throwing short, so (San Benito) capitalized and made plays.”
Harlingen drove down the field after exhausting all their timeouts, but still got place kicker Jose Martinez-Lugo in range to try a potential game-winning 53-yard field goal as time expired.
He missed wide right.
“It was one of those situations where we had no timeouts, but it looked good for a while,” Gomez said. “Unfortunately it wasn’t, but that’s part of it. I think we played 48 minutes, but we fell short at the end.”
Gaitan, finished the game with a pair of touchdown passes and the winning two-point toss and was named the player of the game.
He finished with 218 yards passing, two touchdowns and 53 yards on the ground.
Harlingen’s Jesses Castro passed for 167 yards on 17-of-23 passing with an interception.
He also ran for a game-tying 3-yard run with 6:58 left, which was set up by a 45-yard fumblerooski by Bobby Melendez on the play before.
Salas, Gaitan make good on Greyhounds’ gutsy gamble
ARMANDO GARZA | Special to the Star
HARLINGEN — With 3:52 left in the 87th Battle of the Arroyo, no one felt worse than San Benito’s Juan Salas.
But later with 1:39 left, perhaps no one felt better.
After muffing a punt which set up Harlingen’s go-ahead score, Salas caught arguably the gutsiest two-point call in San Benito history a few minutes later as the ’Hounds stunned the Cardinals 22-21 at Boggus Stadium.
The win gave San Benito consecutive wins over Harlingen for the first time since 2006-07, and after last year’s furious 25-21 rally, this year’s game had some late-game magic of its own.
After the ’Hounds’ defense stopped the bleeding of a tipped ball interception in a 14-14 game, Harlingen punted the ball back to an eager Greyhound offense.
Salas bobbled the booming punt and Harlingen’s Tony Aceves pounced on it. That set the Cardinals up at the ’Hounds’ 20 and two plays later, Leo Tienda’s 10-yard run put the Redbirds in front 21-14.
With that, the home side was rockin’ and the atmosphere was electric. All the while, a dejected Salas wondered if he’d get a shot at redemption.
“I messed up and I felt like I’d let my team down,” Salas said of his demeanor. “I thought if I had another opportunity I was gonna take it. I was hoping so (for a chance) because I would do anything to get that feeling off of my back.”
Quarterback J.R. Gaitan, who was cool and composed all night, said he went over to Salas to give him a quick nudge.
“I told him to keep his head up. He made a mistake, but I told him the next play he’d get it and make a touchdown and he pulled through,” Gaitan said.
Gaitan went on to engineer the winning drive, which included a crucial 4th-and-long completion of 38 yards to Mando Medrano down to the Cardinal 17.
Four plays later, E.J. Barron’s one-yard plunge made it 21-20 and San Benito set up for two but called timeout.
Was there second-guessing? Not a chance.
“We didn’t have to think. We knew we were going for two. We just had to get our alignment right,” San Benito head coach Dan Gomez said. “And the ball ends up going to a kid who’d dropped a punt.
Our program is about building men. We talk about muddy waters, and finding ways to get out of muddy waters. We found a way tonight.”
With both sides at a fevered pitch, Gaitan rolled out to his right and saw Salas come open. He fired what he called a bad pass toward no. 2’s direction. The guy who’d fumbled away earlier made a sensational, one-handed sliding catch to make good on Gomez’s faith in his squad.
“I was confident in our offense. We’d been working on the two-point conversion in practice. Our line was blocking good and the blocks were there,” Gaitan said. “I threw the ball behind him and he made a great one-handed catch.”
No sweat for the previously-maligned Salas.
“I was just focusing on J.R. I was hoping he’d throw me the ball and fortunately I was able to make the catch,” Salas said. “That’s the great thing about our team. My team’s always there to get my back and I got theirs 100 percent.
This Battle of the Arroyo means a lot to me. To mess up and recover on a play like that feels good. That’s Greyhound football, baby.”