By ALBERT VILLEGAS
Special to the NEWS
PHARR—The San Benito Greyhounds will not play in the postseason for the first time in 13 years after losing their District 32-6A finale to the PSJA Bears, 17-3, last week.
The ‘Hounds played in a district that included two PSJA schools, but lost to both, Harlingen and Los Fresnos.
SBHS finished its regular season with a 4-6 record, with most of its success coming during pre-district play.
The ‘Hounds’ lone district victory (17-14) came against the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Chargers, but by season’s end, they were tied in district with PSJA High, with identical 1-4 records.
However, the Chargers beat the Bears, 48-28.
Because SBHS didn’t finish in fourth place, it didn’t qualify for bi-district play, reportedly because of percentage points.
The bi-district slate now looks like this: fourth-place Veterans (5-5) faces Edinburg Vela (9-1); district champion Harlingen (8-2) hosts La Joya (4-6); runner-up Los Fresnos (6-4) travels to Weslaco (7-3); and PSJA North (8-2) travels to Edinburg (6-4).
Against the Bears, many of the San Benito faithful, whom Head Coach Dan Gomez described at an August pep rally as the best and most loyal fans around, were happy to see their team score first.
The Hounds’ ever-dependable senior kicker, Francisco Barrientos, kicked a 28-yard field goal in the first quarter.
It was the ‘Hounds’ opening drive of the game that ended after 12 plays. The drive included a dead-ball foul for unsportsmanlike conduct against the Bears, which officials deemed worthy of a player disqualification.
Running back Carter Green and quarterback Robert Lozano looked impressive on the drive.
The ‘Hounds had only three more offensive drives in the first half, but they resulted in an interception and two punts.
The Bears had four drives, one that stalled on a Peter Buenrostro ‘Hounds interception and another that ended in a turnover on downs.
PSJA took the lead for good with 47 seconds left before halftime when running back Giovani Sanchez scored a 1-yard touchdown. The Bears used up much of the game clock on their 11-play drive.
In the second half, the long drives by both teams produced little offensively.
PSJA made a strong start in the third quarter with a scoring drive that ate up nearly six minutes, highlighted by Sanchez’s 21-yard run.
SBHS had only three offensive drives in the second half, the first ending in an interception and a punt. The ‘Hounds had the final four minutes of the game to put points on the scoreboard, but reached the Bears’ 38 and turned the ball over on downs.
The game’s top offensive producer was Isaiah Garza of PSJA, with 128 yards on 10 carries.
The ‘Hounds produced just under 100 yards on offense.
On defense, ‘Hounds’ lineman Ramon De La Rosa recorded a sack. On a Bears’ fourth-and-13 play, linebacker Pedro Suarez blitzed the quarterback, and linemen Enrique Maldonado and Roland Cortez each recorded half a sack.
In the third quarter, PSJA fumbled the ball after defensive back Buenrostro punched it out of the runner’s hands, but the ball bounced back.
Two plays later, the Bears iced the game with their second TD. Their kicker, Yahir Parra, connected on both PATs and kicked a 22-yard field goal to finish all scoring.
In 2013, when the ‘Hounds didn’t make the playoffs, they finished sixth with a 3-5 record and were 3-7 on the season. The year before, they were 4-4 in district play and 6-4 overall, missing the playoffs with a sixth-place finish.