KEVIN NARRO | Valley Morning Star
HARLINGEN — The road doesn’t get any easier for Harlingen South. Week Eight presents another challenge when the Hawks travel to Bobby Morrow Stadium to meet the top-ranked San Benito Greyhounds on Friday night.
“San Benito is a tough team and they have a lot of talented players,” said Hawks coach Brian Ricci. “Their quarterback can throw the ball and run it really well. They also have a very talented running back and they have a strong offensive line, so they’re solid across the board. The key for us is going to be tackling. We can’t allow them to get yards after contact.”
San Benito (6-0, 3-0) enters the contest with an unblemished record and has one of the top quarterback-running back combos in seniors Erick Retta and Tyrone Harper. Meanwhile, sophomore David Torres will be under center for the Hawks for only the fourth time this season.
“This is a tough district, and we understand and know this is what you get when you’re in this district,” said Ricci. “We have been playing better football each week and that’s our goal is to get better each week, and we have limited the turnovers on offense, which has been a plus for us.”
Torres continuing to progress as Hawks’ QB: David Torres has gotten a strong grasp of the offense and each week and has shown progress. Last week against Brownsville Hanna, Torres completed 15 of 29 passes with one touchdown for 156 yards.
With Torres at the helm, the Hawks have opened up their passing attack and will look to Derrick Delgado and Brady Bennett to haul in Torres’ throws.
“We have been able to add some new things and he (Torres) is picking up on the concepts very well,” said Ricci. “He’s done a great job on getting the ball out of his hand quickly and has thrown it with accuracy, and our receivers have stepped up and made plays. Earlier in the year we had some key drops and they have caught the ball better the past few weeks.”
The Hawks will continue to be without their feature back Jorge Alicea, who is still nursing an ankle injury. Emilio Quiroz has led the backfield in Alicea’s absence. Against Hanna, Quiroz had a solid outing carrying the ball 22 times for 107 yards.