By ALBERT VILLEGAS
Special to the NEWS
EDINBURG, TX—Last week, the San Benito Greyhounds lost their first game of the season, but it didn’t come without a gutsy effort from the offense, which scored more points against a much tougher Edinburg Vela Sabercats team.
Despite a 55-25 loss and the loss of more key players to injuries at Richard Flores Stadium last Friday, the ’Hound showed signs of their potential this season.
The offense gained nearly 300 yards behind the play of two quarterbacks. If not for four Vela touchdowns of at least 30 yards, the outcome might not have been decided as early as it was.
SBHS’s loss puts the team at 1-1, while Vela improves to 1-1.
Vela went up 14-0 by the time the first quarter was half over. It kept SBHS’s Francisco Barrientos alert as he punted against the wind thrice before his offensive teammates got rolling.
The ‘Hounds’ third drive was a peek at things to come on offense. After forcing the Sabercats to punt for the first time, the ‘Hounds started their drive from their 21-yard line.
Starting quarterback Diego Lopez completed three consecutive passes to Sonny Ratliff (42 yards), Jason Lopez (14 yards), and Angel Garcia (37 yards) to put the ball deep in Vela territory.
The signal caller replaced Albert Gonzalez last week after Gonzalez was injured late in the win over Edcouch-Elsa. Lopez showed grit against Vela, even though he started 0-for-4 on pass attempts in the opening quarter.
San Benito High School (SBHS) running back Axel Hernandez then scored from the one-yard line at the 2:14 mark. A bad snap on the point-after attempt forced kicker Barrientos to throw an errant pass. The scoreboard, however, showed the ‘Hounds trailing 14-6.
The Sabercats responded with two more offensive TDs heading into the second quarter before the SBHS offense got going again, but with a different player under center.
Lopez’s last two plays of the game came early in the second quarter. He lost 13 yards when a snap went over his head. He then lost four more yards after being flushed out of the pocket. He didn’t return to the game.
Then, punter Barrientos’ snap was also high, affecting his setup. He was unfortunately the recipient of a blocked punt, and Vela recovered at the SBHS two-yard-line, extending its lead on a follow-up offensive TD.
QB Lopez was then replaced by Robert Lozano, who completed 2 of 3 passes for the remainder of the second quarter.
In fact, every one of the ‘Hounds who gained positive yardage did so on a catch-and-run in the first half.
But Vela took a 34-13 advantage into halftime. What’s more, the home team scored twice in the third quarter on big plays of 78 and 63 yards.
Once Sabercats backup quarterback Jason Lucio entered the game, his team struggled.
SBHS eventually capitalized on the follow-up punt that returner Peter Buenrostro fielded near midfield.
But earlier, Lozano and his receivers weren’t in sync, as he went 0-for-4 and threw an interception on his first five passes.
Lozano settled in and threw a 55-yard strike to Jason Lopez, who was wide open and ran untouched into the end zone.
SBHS trailed 48-19 with 2:01 left in the third quarter.
When the ‘Hounds closed out their scoring, it came with 8:21 left in the game, and the scoreboard read 55-25.
On the final scoring drive, Lozano was on every one of the six plays, five of which gained positive yardage, culminating in a 10-yard TD reception for Ratliff.
Lozano would end the game 13-for-22 on pass completions for 182 yards and 3 interceptions. He ran 7 times for 16 yards.
Lopez completed 4 of 8 passes for 100 yards and ran the ball 4 times.
Ratliff led all receivers with 10 receptions for 131 yards. Jason Lopez caught 3 passes for 83 yards, and Garcia had 2 receptions for 31 yards.
The ‘Hounds struggled to run the ball, though there were spurts of impressive carries by
Hernandez, Emmanuel Trejo, Ratliff, and the two QBs.
They combined for around 30 carries.
Running back Hernandez said last week that the offensive line is what makes the offense click.
“Without our offensive line, I wouldn’t be here, and neither would any of us who carry the ball,” Hernandez said. “We’re only as good as our offensive line makes us.”
Vela sacks of SBHS quarterbacks count as negative rushing yards.
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES
If there is any unit to credit for the offensive production, it starts with the offensive line.
Going into the game, the roster listed 10 players. Among those who played in the game and/or were listed to play were Raul Garcia, Carlos Mares, Kaleb Ruelas, Cesar Grimaldo, Devyn Barrientes, Noah Garcia, Isaias Ojeda, Hector Diaz, Carlos Moreno, and Roel Abrego.
Kicker/punter Barrientos was physically in on two tackles on special teams after a Vela player returned the ball deep into SBHS territory. One of those tackles was called back after Vela was called for a penalty.
The ‘Hounds got called for fewer penalties than in their season opener. Against the Yellowjackets, the ‘Hounds were called for off sides and holding mostly, and had nearly 10 infractions in the first half. In their second outing against Vela, SB was penalized around six times total.
The Vela rushing attack produced around 350 yards in the game. Nevertheless, there were several SBHS tackles who either produced negative yardage or no yardage against a potent Vela offense.
Among the ‘Hounds who were in on some of those plays were Ramon De La Rosa (sack), Luke Gonzales, Enrique Maldonado, and Alexander Benavides.
Pedro Suarez and Quiroz were in on a couple of blitzes that forced the Vela quarterbacks to throw early. De La Rosa, Suarez, Josue Montelongo, and Gonzales also made tackles that resulted in negative yards.
The SBHS secondary did contain a Vela passing attack that produced less than 100 yards. Some of the ’Hounds who went step-for-step against Sabercats wide receivers to force incompletions or pass deflections were Buenrostro, Suarez, Christian La Bell, and Santiago Cruz.
NEXT OPPONENT
The Laredo Alexander Bulldogs are part of the United Independent School District. They play their games at the United ISD Student Activity Complex. Their non-district game against SBHS will be played Friday, at 7 p.m.
The Bulldogs are 0-2, with losses to SBHS’s District 32-6A foes Los Fresnos (46-39) and, last week, Gregory-Portland (43-22).
This will be Alexander’s home opener, and so far the Bulldogs have used a balanced attack to produce offensively.
Quarterback Santiago Vasquez has completed just over half his passes for 422 yards and three TDs.
He also leads his team in rushing yards, although running backs Javier Trejo and Benny Cepeda follow close behind.
The offense has committed two fumbles so far.
Defensively, the Bulldogs have earned nine sacks, and five players have at least 12 tackles each.