By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
LOS FRESNOS — Still undefeated and No. 1 in the Rio Grande Valley.
The San Benito Greyhounds, the Valley’s top-ranked team by RGVSports.com, remained perfect on the season at 4-0 by opening District 32-6A action with a 34-26 victory over the Los Fresnos Falcons on Friday at Leo Aguilar Memorial Stadium.
The Falcons, ranked No. 4 in the Valley, slipped to 2-2 overall with their second straight setback at home, having suffered a 32-30 loss against McAllen Memorial last week.
It wasn’t at all easy for the Greyhounds, who battled back from deficits of 13-0, 20-17 and 26-24 in the back-and-forth, closely-fought contest.
“This is amazing,” San Benito quarterback Erick Retta said. “(Thinking about) last year when we lost to them by seven points (14-7), I had it in my mind that we had to get our team moving (and win).
“Our mentality was just to keep on moving the ball (and score points),” Retta added. “We just had to keep going. This feels great. We have to thank our offensive line for the job those guys did to help us move the ball.”
A pair of first-quarter touchdown runs of 19 and 64 yards by John Salazar put Los Fresnos ahead 13-0, but San Benito came back to close the gap to 13-10 by the end of the opening period on a 20-yard pass from Retta to Isaiah Trevino and a 23-yard field goal by Guillermo Estrada.
Trevino caught TD passes of 25 and 50 yards from Retta during the second quarter to give the Greyhounds a 24-20 edge at intermission as the Falcons tallied on a 9-yard TD pass from Mark Mata to Daniel Garcia, also in the second period.
San Benito led 31-26 after three quarters.
Los Fresnos went ahead for the last time, 26-24, with 8:47 showing in the third period when Alex Garcia scored on a 63-yard pass-and-run play after making a reception from Mata and weaving his way downfield to the end zone.
San Benito took the lead for good, 31-26, with 46 seconds left in the third quarter when Marcelino Morales rammed his way into the end zone from 2 yards out.
Estrada’s 22-yard field goal with 2:58 remaining was the only score of the fourth quarter and it provided the undefeated Greyhounds with their eight-point margin of victory, 34-26.
Salazar rushed for 162 yards for the Falcons, while Tyrone Harper gained 121 yards on the ground for San Benito.
Friday marked the third time the two teams have met in 32-6A competition. Previously against each other in 32-6A action, Los Fresnos won 14-7 last year, while San Benito triumphed 17-14 the season before.
Prior to that, the two squads opened the season with a non-district matchup against one another in 2012 and 2013 and they split the games with the Falcons prevailing 24-16 in 2013 and the Greyhounds wwinning 16-7 in 2012.
District play continues for both squads next week as San Benito is at home against Weslaco East and Los Fresnos is at Harlingeen South.