By ARMANDO GARZA
Special to the NEWS
San Benito News photo by Francisco E. Jimenez
San Benito Greyhound defensive back Nate Mireles helps make a tackle against the PSJA Bears Friday at Bobby Morrow Stadium.
Obviously, they don’t, and the latest example was a 27-10 loss to PSJA on Homecoming night at Bobby Morrow Stadium.
San Benito (3-6 overall, 3-4 district) gave the ball up three times, each in PSJA territory, to drop its third-straight game and fall just about out of the 31-5A playoff race.
For the Bears (5-3, 3-3) their hopes stayed alive thanks to a big rushing night from running back File Patino (215 yards, 2 TDs) and sound defense which held San Benito to 141 total yards. The Bears shot out to a 14-0 lead, rushed for 308 yards and controlled the clock to notch another big win for first-year coach Steve Marroquin, the former Rio Hondo assistant.
“I’m extremely proud of the boys. They’re just determined,” Marroquin said. “These two weeks we were able to recuperate and regroup a little bit. We’ve played some tough ballgames against some really good football teams. We talked to the boys about taking care of our business, not to worry about anybody else but ourselves. We’re playing for much more than our team. We’re playing for school, our tradition and history and they did the city of San Juan proud tonight.”
Patino scored on runs of 49 and 86 yards, showcasing tremendous speed en route to a career-high rushing mark. He had his first 100-yard game two weeks ago against McHi.
Equally as impressive was the Bear defense, which came in tops in 31-5A, stifling a San Benito team coming in off a 450-plus outing against McHi.
A turnover on downs started the game for San Benito, and Patino took off for his 49-yard touchdown and after PSJA’s Erik Castillo picked off Cristian Sierra on a busted play, it was Patino again as he outran the defense for the 86-yard dash. The score at that point was 14-0 Bears with 3:42 left in the first quarter.
The ’Hounds answered when a bad snap on a PSJA punt put them at the Bears 14. Two plays later, Dylan Castillo connected with Armando Medrano on a 9-yard TD, making it 14-7 with 11:39 left in the second.
PSJA gave it back to the ’Hounds, who went on a 16-play, eight-minute drive but had to settle for a 27-yard field goal from Alejandro Lugo as the score stayed 14-10 Bears going into intermission.
The Bears turned it over on downs to start the second half and momentum seemed to be with San Benito. But the ’Hounds went three-and-out to give it right back. Two plays later, Taylor Santillan, in for the injured Jesse Navarro, hit a wide-open Nathan Sifuentes to complete a 46-yard TD bomb. Brandon Rios’ third PAT made it 21-10 Bears at the 5:11 mark of the third.
PSJA’s Chris Menchu picked off Castillo in Bears territory in the third and after a huge 35-yard pass to Javier Ortiz down to the Bear 4, the ’Hounds gave it up again via a fumble which Erik Castillo recovered.
Santillan’s three-yard TD pass to Andrew Castaneda with :07 left rounded out the scoring for PSJA, which is still in the playoff discussion one year after a disastrous 1-9 campaign. Next week the Bears face Weslaco High.
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The SUPERINDENT makes a recommendation…. They can either accept it or not. Oh but wait this is San Benito… Anything is possible.
Betting an upper valley coach wants it. Just wait and see.
The Board has to vote whether or not to hire as they did in Coach Gantt’s case. It is through their vote that the hiring took place. Without the boards vote of 4 to 3 he would not have been approved to be hired. I was there I should know and it’s on Youtube for everyone to see as reported by a local Tv station. Same difference, he is hired by the SBISD with the board’s approval.
THE ONLY PERSON THE BOARD HIRES IS THE SUPERINTENDENT. READ THE POLICY ONLINE!
The only person THE BOARD HIRES IS THE SUPERINTENDENT! Read the policy
San Benito has been under achieving under Coach Gantt since he got here 5 years ago. It is shame as Rude Rick said the kids here as well as the community deserve much better effort then the mediocre coaching or lack there of. One playoff win in 5 years is bad, yes it’s the kids not the coaches out there but these are 16 and 17 year old kids who need to be taught discipline and a winning tradition and more then anything be mentally prepared which they haven’t been coached to. So many close games this year and last year where it has been seen that the talent is here, we have just been out coached and here is where an experienced and seasoned coach comes in. We need a coach who instills the fire and desire and most of all the pride in Hound football. Was gonna posts way earlier then I put if off, then I read Rick’s comment which just reaffirms what I also believe. Funny that in the seventies school board would never throw out the big bucks for a coach and then in the mid eighties they got tired of losing and made the smartest decision ever by going after a proven winner and brought Tommy Roberts. Now come to present day and the bucks are still being spent but definetly not wisely. Coaches who are getting paid the kind of money the present coach is getting have district titles and several deep playoff runs under their belts, some even state titles. Why did this board let this season go down the drain, they need to understand that this performance has is unacceptable and should’ve reassigned Gantt after the Harlingen game debacle when the kids were thrown under the bus and a perfect example of not being mentally prepared. Do the change now and don’t start with coaching committees that’s what got us to where we are at. These are literally million dollar decisions which should be made by board members and not their brothers or close friends on some committee. Start the job posting now to have enough time to look for a worthy candidate and so who ever is hired can implement their program quickly. Time to get the respect back in San Benito Football.
He over throws, under throws, throws staight into the arms of the opponent. Yes thats on him!!
We had a great quarterback but he needs blocking which isn’t his falut! We haven’t had blocking or good tackling in at least two years!
They need to work as a team! If somebody isn’t getting it done, take him out and try somebody else. They have done that with running backs and receivers. My question is why haven’t they done that with the quarterback!! The running backs can only do so much when there’s no blocking for them. It’s fustrating!!
I like how the bears put in their line-backer as a running back. Will Greyhounds there is always next year. In a fix and need to score and touchdown or get a first down? As I always say Tight-Ends are always open. Do the Greyhounds even have a tight-end position? Oh well as the saying goes once a Greyhound always a Greyhound. Keep the faith and never quite. Get ready because some of you guys may get picked up by some Division 2 or Division 3 college football teams.
no quotes from coach gannt…well im not surprised…again he has failed the city of san benito by not getting our hounds in the playoffs…school board should reassigned him already and get him off the coaching the players…replace him with evans for the last game then clean house…get rid of all the coaches and next season..the school board should not be in charge of hiring the next coach since they dont know how to pick a coach with head coaching experience….what a shame for our football team and city….picking coach gannt just becaused he worked as an assistant at los fresnos and harlingen….that doesnt mean he is a winner…coach pena was a winner…coach tommy roberts was a winner..coach stone wasnt along with gannt…since the school board doesnt have the knowledge on how to pick a good coach,…maybe they should ask for advice from real greyhound fans
Coach Stone did a great job in 1999 season we went pretty far falling to Laredo!
OK you can divide up the high school now. Bring another high school maybe the football program will get better with a cross town rivalry.