BY GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
McALLEN — During his 33rd carry of the night, after sprinting 25 yards down the right sideline, Trevor Speights slowed up and began looking for someone to hit. Instead of simply stepping out of bounds, Speights lowered his shoulder and plowed a San Benito defender to the turf, for a moment looking more like a linebacker than a back.
“Whenever I play with a purpose, I get kind of mad,” Speights said. “So I take all of my anger out on the defense, and that’s what I did today.”
Speights repeatedly punished San Benito on Saturday at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium, racking up a career-high 373 yards and five touchdowns as McAllen Memorial claimed a 63-44 win.
Despite toting the ball 34 times, Speights said he felt fresh after an evening of battering would-be tacklers with his 205-pound frame.
“I feel great,” Speights said. “I did most of the hitting. I didn’t really get hit.”
Knowing San Benito’s defense liked to flow to the ball, Speights racked up chunks of yardage on cutbacks, using his speed to beat the defense to the perimeter.
In doing so, he continued his charge toward the Valley’s all-time career rushing record. With 284 more yards, Speights will match the mark of 7,803 set by McAllen Memorial’s Bradley Stephens from 2003-06.
“Just a phenomenal night,” coach Bill Littleton said of Speights. “He ran with a lot of authority. Ran real smart. … Probably the best game of his career, really and truly.”
Speights wasn’t alone in his success on the ground, as McAllen Memorial racked up 586 rushing yards. Quarterback Jonathan Sanchez ran 13 times for 107 yards and a score, and Emilio Mendez carried seven times for 44 yards.
Eric Guerrero exploited San Benito’s fast-flowing defense, scoring on reverses of 9 and 42 yards.
“We noticed the first drive that we were stronger than them, and they couldn’t really stop us,” Speights said. “So all we did was pound them the whole game.”
Memorial needed all the offense it could muster to keep pace with San Benito’s potent ground game. Quarterback JR Gaitan ran 22 times for 257 yards and four touchdowns, while running back Edward Alvarez had 16 carries for 166 yards and two scores.
“We knew they were going to be tough, but they really caught us good with misalignments and so many missed tackles,” linebacker Sam Hinojosa said. “We didn’t play a good ball game on defense. Luckily, we have the best offense in the Valley.”
Behind a potent option running game, San Benito built a 10-point lead when Gaitan scored from 6 yards out with 10:25 to play in the third quarter.
But Memorial answered with a touchdown pass from Sanchez to DJ Johnson and then quickly retook the lead, converting an interception on a halfback pass into a scoring run for Speights.
After the teams exchanged touchdowns, Memorial picked up a turnover on a fumbled handoff. The Mustangs then capitalized when Speights scored from 41 yards out to build a 49-38 lead with 53 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
San Benito was forced into only its second punt of the game on the ensuing drive, and Guerrero punched it in for Memorial to stretch the lead to a comfortable 56-38 with 8:55 to play.
“We just knew that if we could get a turnover and get a stop, we’d get ourselves back in the ball game,” Littleton said. “We kept our composure, we came back, and all the credit goes to these kids. They did a great job in all three phases of the ball game.”