KEVIN NARRO | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN—-The San Benito Greyhounds will have another opportunity to punch their ticket to the state 7-on-7 tournament in College Station later this month after falling just shy of a state bid at this past weekend’s Mission qualifying tournament.
The Hounds’ went 2-1 over the weekend with wins over Harlingen High and Brownsville Porter, with their only blemish was a loss to Laredo United South.
Incoming senior quarterback Smiley Silva will look to lead the way this summer.
Silva will be replacing Jacob Cavazos under center. The new QB and the offense has provided some fire power early this summer with soon-to-be junior running back Kyler Castilleja and wide outs Juan Constante and Jermaine Corbin.
“It wasn’t easy and we underestimated some teams this past weekend, but now, we are getting for the College Station tournament and we are ready to show that there is talent down here in the Valley,” Silva said.
Silva will look to Constante and Corbin, who look to make a splash through the air this fall, are taking in the summer work to get on the same page with Silva.
Silva, who will be a first-year starter, also sees the summer as an opportunity for himself to better his game.
“I need to work on my foot work and the timing with my receivers,” Silva said. “Those are some things we need to work on. I felt we fixed some of those things tonight with our win, we were able to put up 68 points.”
The Greyhounds haven’t been to the state tournament since 2007. Prior to that, the ’Hounds reached the state tournament in 2001 and 2006.
The ’Hounds will be in College Station for their second state qualifying tournament on June 14. The pools and teams are still to be decided.
“This is a goal that we set to hopefully make the state tournament,” Silva said. “Now that we have a qualifying tournament under our belts, that experience will help us when we go to our next qualifier in a few weeks.”