By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
The game was close for one quarter before the San Benito Greyhounds pulled away to defeat the Lopez Lobos 45-7 on Friday in District 32-6A action at Sams Memorial Stadium.
The Greyhounds (6-2, 4-1 district) remain in a tie for first place in 32-6A with two games remaining on their regular-season schedule against Harlingen South and Rivera.
The Greyhounds share first place in 32-6A with Los Fresnos and Harlingen High.
San Benito once again was led by quarterback J.R. Gaitan, who rushed for a 2-yard touchdown and threw scoring passes of 16 and 55 yards, all during the opening half, to stake the Greyhounds to a 31-7 advantage at intermission.
The Greyhounds led 10-7 after the first quarter before outscoring Lopez 21-0 during the second period for their comfortable 24-point cushion at the half.
San Benito marched 70 yards in eight plays on its opening possession to go ahead 7-0 thanks to Gaitan’s 2-yard run with 10:00 showing in the first quarter. Alejandro Lugo added the extra point.
Lopez (1-6, 1-4) answered on its ensuing possession as the Lobos went 65 yards in five plays to even the score on Rogelio Pulido’s 17-yard scamper with 7:19 remaining in the opening period. Jose Echavarria was good on the conversion.
Lugo booted a 32-yard field goal at the 3:59 mark of the first quarter to put the Greyhounds ahead for good, 10-7.
By the second quarter, San Benito’s offense began to roll as Gaitan threw a 16-yard scoring pass to Eduardo Barron and a 55-yard TD toss to Jorge Cantu, who broke free down the middle on a deep route. Sandwiched between those TD passes was a 1-yard scoring run by the Greyhounds’ Edward Alvarez with 5:07 left before halftime.
San Benito scored a TD during each quarter of the second half to ice the victory.
Evading a least three tackles on his way to the end zone, Isaiah Trevino broke loose on a 69-yard scoring scamper to give the Greyhounds a 38-7 edge with 6:54 to go during the third period.
Taking a handoff up the middle, Barron bolted in from 2 yards out with 3:47 remaining to make it 45-7 following Lugo’s sixth extra point.
It was a contentious game as each coaching staff was penalized and three players were ejected — two from Lopez and one from San Benito.
Lopez will close out the regular season with two games. They play at Harlingen High next Friday and then play against Brownsville Veterans Memorial on Nov. 6 at Sams Stadium.