KEVIN NARRO | Valley Morning Star
The San Benito Greyhounds fell just short of reaching the state 7on7 tournament with a 42-21 loss to Katy in the finals at the Sam Brown state qualifying tournament Friday evening in Houston.
San Benito went 3-2 in the tournament and reached the final four out of 32 teams. Friendswood, Katy Tompkins and Katy High were the other three schools that reached the final four.
Katy and Katy Tompkins were the two teams that will head to the state tournament next week in College Station.
“The tournament was a fun and great experience,” said Hounds quarterback Jacob Cavazos. “We showed that no matter who is in front of us, we will put up a fight. Coach (Dan) Gomez always tells us, ‘we bow to no man, we bow to no program,’ and that is what we did today.”
The Hounds opened up pool play with a 40-33 win against Richmond George Ranch and followed that up with a 33-12 win against Oak Ridge.
In their third matchup, the Hounds fell to Huntsville 51-47 but they wound up going 2-1 in pool play and found themselves in a three-way tie with George Ranch and Huntsville. San Benito advanced to the quarterfinals by winning their pool off of points with 87.
“I’m proud of my team and their efforts. We’re just continuing to build confidence going forward and we want this to translate over to the regular season,” Cavazos said.
Mission Veterans was another Valley school eyeing a trip to College Station at the Houston qualifier on Friday. The Patriots went 3-1 on the day but also failed to make the state tournament.
In their opening game, the Pats beat Sam Houston 53-0, followed by a 39-33 win over Alief Taylor. In their final game in pool play Mission Vets got past John Cooper 33-26.
The Patriots reached the final eight before bowing out to Katy Tompkins 38-34. Mission Vets finishes off the summer 7on7 league with a 20-3 record.