(Photo by T.J. Tijerina)
Shown speeding through the Weslaco East defense at Bobby Morrow Stadium on Friday is San Benito’s J.R. Gaitan, who has proven himself as one of many offensive weapons for the Greyhounds.
By MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ
Managing Editor
editor@sbnewspaper.com
Trevor Speights and the McAllen Memorial Mustangs are coming to town after going on a 69-point scoring frenzy against Edinburg Economedes this past Friday.
The San Benito Greyhounds – fresh off a disappointing 42-14 loss against Weslaco East on Friday, Sept. 5 – will be looking to close out their non-district schedule on a good note before heading into their bye week, but they must first stop Speights’ ground game if they plan on succeeding.
Against Economedes, Speights rushed for nearly 300 yards and found his way into the endzone on two occasions. Memorial (1-1), themselves nursing a sobering 59-28 crushing defeat at the hands of No. 1 Sharyland the week prior, took Speights’ cue and cruised to a 69-38 victory over Economedes.
Prognosticators have the ’Hounds (1-1), and any team for that matter, likely struggling to contain Speights, especially after San Benito gave up 425 yards on the ground against East.
“The offense definitely runs through him,” ’Hounds head coach Dan Gomez said of Speights and Memorial. “He’s somebody you want to corral and keep him to minimal yardage.”
Concerning last week’s miscues, in which opening game turnovers helped contribute to a 21-0 deficit against East, Gomez identified character and maturity in the ’Hounds battling back to come within one touchdown by the first half.
“Last week was definitely my fault for not preparing my team to the fullest, and I take total blame for that,” Gomez said. “We weren’t ready to go mentally, but on a positive note the kids played through and that was one thing we were very happy about.”
Memorial has recently struggled defensively after giving up 97 points in two weeks, and being that San Benito has shown the ability to score some points (53 alone in its Week 1 win over Edinburg), the ’Hounds have more than enough weapons to keep up with the Stangs.
Take San Benito’s quarterback and running back tandem of Cristian Sierra and Gabriel Vasquez, for instance.
Vasquez, who has scored five touchdowns in two weeks in 100-yard rushing performances, also ain’t bad at running the ball. Sierra in last week’s game against East launched the ball for 153 yards passing and accounted for 122 yards on the ground.
“They are definitely one of the strongest teams here in the Rio Grande Valley, and I respect a lot of the programs here,” Gomez said of Memorial. “Going up against some traditional powerhouses like that only sharpens the knife. The strongest steel is forged from the hottest fires.”
San Benito will take on McAllen Memorial at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12, at Bobby Morrow Stadium. The ’Hounds will then enter their bye week before returning to action in their first game of District 32-6A play, in which they’ll face Brownsville Hanna at Sams Memorial Stadium Saturday, Sept. 27.
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