By ADAM KUJAWSKI, Staff Writer
The San Benito Greyhounds remained unbeaten in District 32-6A competition with a 67-57 win over the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Chargers on Saturday night at Sams Memorial Stadium.
It was clear from the opening kickoff that this game was going to be a shootout. But it wasn’t until the final minutes that this one was decided.
With just more than five minutes remaining in the game, all the points scored seemed to be thrown out the window, and it was a three-point game with San Benito (6-1, 4-0 in district) ahead 60-57. But the Greyhounds recovered a Chargers onside kick attempt and drove down the field to put the game out of reach with Edward Alvarez’s 1-yard TD.
San Benitocoach Dan Gomez was impressed with his team’s ability to keep throwing punches.
“It’s what (our team) is made of,” he said. “It’s their character. Coaches try to instill that in their kids, but a lot of time it’s naturally built in.”
The game was back and forth all night, with each team holding what seemed to be large enough leads at some point during the contest.
The score was tight at halftime with San Benitoahead 43-38, and Derrik Rodriguez scored from 60 yards out to open the third quarter for the Chargers (5-2, 3-1). The Greyhounds scored 17 unanswered points to reach 60 points, though, and that was all they needed.
Gomez gave credit to his entire offense in getting the job done.
“It was the offensive line giving (quarterback Christian Sierra) protection, it was the receivers running good routes, it was (Sierra) throwing a good ball,” he said. “It comes down to execution, and everybody did it.”
The teams traded touchdowns for seven straight scores to open the game, as the defense on either side was virtually non-existent during the first half.
Brownsville Veterans appeared to have taken control after Jeremiah Meyers scooped up a Sierra fumble and returned it nearly 50 yards to put the Chargers ahead 35-22, but seconds later, San Benito jumped right back on the board and reversed the momentum behind three touchdown passes by Sierra to put the Greyhounds back in the lead.
Brownsville Veterans coach David Cantu wants to build from the loss heading into next week’s game against the Harlingen High Cardinals.
“We’ve got to keep playing hard the way we’ve been, and find out what Harlingendoes best and take that away,” he said.
Midway through the second half, San Benitodefensive back J.C. Hernandez was carted off with a leg injury. The extent is of the injury is unknown.
Adam Kujawski covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @adamkujo1.