San Benito Greyhound running back Arturo Coronado fights for extra yardage against the Weslaco Panthers defense in the last game of the season on Friday. (Photo by T.J. Tijerina)
By PETE BANDA
Special to the NEWS
Starting the season with a plethora of talent, experience, and ambition, the San Benito Greyhounds seemed more than capable of attaining their goal of a District 31-5A title and a possible undefeated season.
After the first two games of the season, both convincing wins against long time rivals, it seemed a sure bet for San Benito to at least grab a playoff spot in the newly aligned but competitive district.
With stars such as Arturo Coronado, Jesse Jimenez and Manny Sanchez on offense joined by defensive studs like Rene Chavez Jr, Adrian Zuniga, and Nate Mireles, the ’Hounds’ potential was through the roof. Unfortunately, due to a few late game heartbreakers and certain circumstances not falling their way, San Benito fell just a few points shy of a playoff berth this year.
The stars coming into the season, however, all put up top tier stats that should yield a high number of all-district selections for this upcoming year. Nevertheless, Head Coach Spencer Gantt knows his team fell short of expectations and plans to meet the Greyhounds shortcomings head on this offseason. “It’s no secret we fell short of our goals this year, we set the bar pretty high as we always do, but the fact that we were thrown into a nine-team district with basically the best of the best in the Valley and competed in every game shows how tough our team really was,” said Gantt. “We know we have a lot of work in the offseason and we are already getting prepped for that, but we came up less than two touchdowns shy of an undefeated season, so I’m very proud of how our team kept playing all year.”
With stars like Coronado, who missed two games this year, piling up 998 yards and 14 touchdowns on the ground, along with Raul Luna, who filled in for Coronado when he was out and saw extended playing time during the year, putting up over 400 yards and two more scores, and even Jimenez who had his share of struggles this year, rushing for over 300 yards and three scores of his own, the Greyhound running attack was formidable in the district.
Of course no running game could have been established if not for the unrelenting play of the offensive line, led by big mauler Esteban Moreno, the guys in the trenches, the unsung heroes, they put together a masterful season.
As most Greyhound fans who attended the games know, despite the offensive firepower, it was the Greyhound defense that mostly stole the show. With defensive captains Chavez and Zuniga leading the charge, no offense had an easy going. Chavez, who accumulated over 100 tackles and 7 sacks on the year was an unstoppable force, along with fellow linebackers Jamail Garza (75 tackles, 3 interceptions, 2 fumble recoveries) and safety Mireles (74 tackles, 2 interceptions, 2 fumble recoveries, 2 forced fumbles), the Greyhound run and pass defense was on point all year. In crucial situations, it was Zuniga, the sackman, who came through in the clutch. Zuniga finished the year with 62 tackles, 15 sacks, and two forced fumbles for the Greyhounds.
All this added up to a 6-4 regular season record and just a few plays out of the postseason, something Coach Gantt doesn’t see happening next year. “We have a lot to look forward to next year, we’re gonna be a young team but a talented team,” said Gantt. “The future looks bright in San Benito.”
Read this story in the Nov. 14 edition of the San Benito News, or subscribe to our E-Edition by clicking here.
12 comments
Skip to comment form
Rich and Bud are right . The are only 15-18 years olds. And unless you have been a coach you will never know what it is like. Heres an idea Maybe coach Gantt should go the extra mile and teach a class on Human Performance Technology half a semester then teach Understanding Goals the next.
As Oliver Wendell Holmes said :
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
Unless you have coached a varsity football team, I suggest you think twice before blaming someone. Richard is right. This game is played by 15-18 year olds. So much happens during their day. I am sure the head coach is already analyzing his spring season. Go Hounds!!
Come on man! It is a game played by 15-18 year olds for the love of the game. A wide open receiver drops the ball, a runner fumbles, etc.. Yes blame it all on coach and get rid of him. Give me a break!!!
4 years and $400,000.00 = 25wins and 19loses that’s $16,000 per win.NICE!!! great job tax payers
Go Hounds! We love and support you every year!
Gantt needs to be reassigned immediately!!!!
You have it correct 100%!!
Gantt speaks words of a school boy. When is he going to get after it! Near misses for wins. Man close but “No Cigar”!
I agree with bro. Should have had a solid season but offensive scheme is very predictable. Defense was awesome but the offense is what stunk it up. Lack of head coaching experience shows. Wake up school board members. See the writing on the wall.
YOUNG & TALENTED “YES” But a good team coming up for 2013-2014, why because they will replace The Varsity Greyhound football team with “THE JUNIOR VARSITY “DISTRICT CHAMPS”! Just letting you know. HAVE FAITH AND REMEMBER NEW, YOUNG AND TALENTED BOYS THEY ARE!
PROUD SUPPORTER OF MY SON AND THE REST OF MY JV HOUNDS!!!!!
a huge reason Manny Gomez has had the success he has is because he is old school. talent or not, he starts at the middle school level and instills discipline. doesn’t let the parents pamper their kids. football is a privilege and isn’t for the weak. kids crying to their parents about coaches calling them princess or saying bad words here and there is ridiculous. parents complaining about that is ridiculous too. the community ridicules the coaches for not doing enough but in reality parents hold them back from doing enough. it falls back on the parents pampering their kids. football is a privilege. if you are weak don’t play. it isn’t for everybody. junior high kids only practicing for an hour at most – ridiculous. when i was in jr high, we practiced til 630 on church night and 7 on regular days. now, kids are wasting their athletics period just to put their pads on 7 weeks into the season – ridiculous. coaches having no control of their athletes – ridiculous. coaches cant instill discipline, fear, authority because of students whining and complaining and parents supporting that – ridiculous. when i was in jr high, we had 5 mins to get dressed, if we weren’t, we would run and be punished. if kids are punished now, teachers/coaches get in trouble. there is no discipline nowadays. practices being cut short because parents cant pick up their kids and they have to ride the bus home, end practice at 5 to change and catch after school bus at 530 – ridiculous. football is a privilege. if you cant participate, get out. dont hurt the rest of the team. coaches have to deal with all this, and if they dont, parents complain – ridiculous. it only hurts the unity, integrity, and composition of the team. then half the team fails at the junior high level because coaches cant be strict and hold them accountable to doing well academically, pushing them to do better, because parents dont agree with coaches being hard on them – ridiculous. pampered! makes you wonder how many parents actually care if they pass or not or what their kids are involved in and to what extent. coach gantt doesn’t have this discipline or toughness or ability to stand up to all of this unfortunately. parents arent doing their part either. you gotta see the big picture. gantt has to have coaches from other schools coach middle school football teams. hes failing from the foundation, where it all starts. no fundamentals. no team. no pride. no family. how can the kids be led to something good if the coaches have no loyalty, exposure, bond with the athletes he is coaching. big picture. once they get to the 9th grade, they have no exposure to the varsity squad, nothing to look up to, to see, to experience, to know how its suppose to be done, then get to the high school, and upper level coaches are wasting a lot of time coaching what should have already been instilled and playing catch up and having to put up with community bickering year after year. its tough. but change is needed. unfortunate but true.
IAM SOOOOOO SORRY COACH BUT IF YOU HERE WE DONT HAVE A CHANCE