By ARMANDO GARZA
Special to the NEWS
Photo by T.J. Tijerina
Junior free safety Elijah De Leon of Harlingen tackles San Benito senior wide receiver Joshua Rangel at Friday night’s Battle of the Arroyo in Boggus Stadium.
HARLINGEN— Sometimes, it’s just not your night.
While virtually nothing went right for the San Benito Greyhounds, almost everything was clicking across the field.
Harlingen rolled up 359 yards offensively and its defense was downright tenacious as the Cardinals rolled to a 54-0 win at Boggus Stadium on Friday night in the 84th Battle of the Arroyo.
Want the whole story? Pick up a copy of the Sept. 8 edition of the San Benito News, or subscribe to our E-Edition by clicking here.
12 comments
Skip to comment form
Its to bad that coach Jim Helms never got the chance to coach the San Benito greyhounds. I believe he was one of the finalist that Gantt was chosen over.
Great coach with a proven record and a former greyhound great why he was never hired is beyond me?
Jim Helms would make an excellent offensive coordinator. I do not know much about his motivational skills but he can surely recognize talent and place the player on the right place to put up points on the score board. Or some coaches just walk the sidelines waiting for a dream team to come along. Football in high-school is a fun sport coaches need to move players around and coach them on the positions. If the player does not like the position then you’ll know he does not love football. I know how frustrating some kids can be. Thats coaching life motivating kids to be their best on and off the gridiron Serendipity !
No it was not Limon who hired Gant it was the school board who voted 4 to 3 to hire Gant. Actually a committee was formed which was picked by certain board members who included a personal friend and a brother who already had a candidate in mind. Lo and behold Gant was one of the three finalist and with the least experience. This group already had the majority in the committee and recommended Gant to the board. There was actually an exMayor of SB and a present day Judge in this committee and neither chose Gant. You think they knew something the others didn’t? It was because they were not bias and voted based on experience and record and objectively. The school board were the ones who voted and actually had to convene because they were deadlocked at 3 to 3. They even went as far as going and bringing the missing board member who was sick and at home. Said board member came in with a patch in his eye to break the tie and rest is history Gant won over 2 coaches who had more titles and college championships under their belt then he did, not to mention many years of experience. So next time we hire a coach and a committee is recommended Watch Out! This is how it all starts and we should say no! Let the board themselves find one fairly and unbiased. After all this is why candidates are elected, not to follow their own family member’s personal agenda. The taxpayers of SB should be aware of this, it is what happened and the reason why we are in the dilemma we are in now.
We have supported the San Benito Greyhounds for over 25 years. We have been even more excited these last three years because our son is now a San Benito Greyhound. I cheer and support our Greyhgounds win or lose. I was very disappointed in our FANS because when our boys needed our support and encourgement we failed. We had our SO CALLED FANS LEAVE AND OUR BOYS SAW THAT!! WE FAILED!!! We will continue to buy our season tickets even after my son graduates; unlike some FANS that only go to the games when they have a child or relative playing. GO HOUNDS GO FOREVER!!!
I don’t know about you but I’m getting the feeling that maybe, just maybe, Limon is responsible for this too. After all, wasn’t it Limon that hired Gantt. Sarcasm people, it’s called sarcasm.
Being a former player from the “old school” you know from the coach you guys hated and criticize for his mean style, I can not remember one battle of the arroyo that guy did not take serious. Talent or no talent, young kids or experience kids, he prepared us for a fight, for a 48- minute battle and he never spoke about being an underdog or the Cards being better he just wanted us to play our game mean and to defend our jersey that had that greyhound head on it… He motivated us to perform and to be greyhounds to be proud of our town to showcase in front of anything and anyone. Last Friday I saw a coach that did not inspire or motivated anyone. I get the fact that he is not from San Benito but a little professionalism would not hurt the case.. Good coach or bad coach, you have to face adversity with the cards that were dealt. Does he have young kids yes but I know a lot of those kids and they posses a enormous amount of talent. They are just hungry for a motivator, that person that will spark their fury and the desire to win, and to defend those colors we were proudly wear. We need a person that hurts when we lose not a person that goes true the motion because he knows this is his last year on the job. I don’t believe is a offense or defense problems these kids are talented, but if they are not taught aggression we can not ask for aggression, if we don’t teach pride how can we expect the kids to react from this humiliating lost. Who ever is in charge of coach Gantt make sure he motivates these kids I lost to Harlingen before but I also beat them, I know how a lost or a win to them can set the tone for the rest of the year and this would not be fair for those kids.
they need to get rid of all of the coaches at SB their is one coach i dont know his name but he is always yelling at the kids well this coach needs to be let go it is not the kids at fault it is your stupid plays that you and the other coaches draw up and one thing coaches when a player from another team is hurt that doesnt mean talk and yell at your players that means kneel and respect with silence i saw this at the cards game and i said how embarrassing these coaches need some more knowledge of the game and maybe they would win if maybe they would change players and not keep using the same players through out the game let some fresh players in maybe they can do a better job maybe third string is better than first string.
UT Longhorns less then 24 hours after getting beat badly by BYU quickly reassigned their Defensively Coordinator saying that the game performance on the loss was unacceptable for the University. Now the SB Schoolboard should say the same as the Hounds suffered a 54 to 0 shalacking. 82 yards of total offense! Really, for what we pay Coach Gant the message has to be sent clearly that this is unacceptable. He never has taken accountability for any loss. I just saw the NY Giant’s Coach on Espn take responsibility for his team’s loss like a true coach should. The Hounds came out flat and not mentally prepared or coached on Friday night. He literally threw the kids under the bus with his horrendous playcalling and remember this is a guy who applied for another coaching position somewhere else and then denied doing that till another local paper brought it to light. Sad thing is there are 2 board members who wouldn’t hesitate to give him another extension. We the taxpayers and fans deserve the best for what he is getting paid 96k, he had all the talent last year and couldn’t make the playoffs and he still has not won an outright District Title. San Benito should be dominating, we have the stadium, state of the art equipment facilities and we’re still only one high school for crying out loud. The program is going backwards to the 1970’s, let’s wait and see what our schoolboard does or doesn’t do. Can’t wait for elections.
Sorry fellow hound fans but looks like we could be staring down the barrel of an 0-10 season!
Nobody to blame but the coaches! If Los Fresnos hadn’t made mistakes last week that game could have been as ugly as this one. Poor kids they and we the fans deserve better than this!
coach start packing you give the game away same plays year after year whan are you going to change
i really dont think coach gantt put any fight in this game at all…knowing his future in san benito is in limbo..imo…i dont think he put much effort in preparing our players for this game…TIME FOR A CHANGE…put in coach evans now before it gets worse down the line….change the offence also…
Jim Rackley