Gantt era at San Benito begins with thrilling 2OT victory

The Spencer Gantt era in San Benito started just the way he wanted it to: with a win.

The Greyhounds completed a dramatic comeback on the legs of Tommy Herrera, who punched in a 10-yard run in double overtime while kicker Julio Martinez nailed the extra point to defeat Corpus Christi Ray 36-35 on Friday night at Bobby Morrow Stadium.

Gantt was almost speechless after the emotional win.

"Words can’t describe right now," he said. "We’ve been preaching all week that we need to finish. We need to finish practice, finish off games, and these kids never quit and never let down even when we were down with three minutes to go. Even in overtime they finished, finished and showed me that they are on board and like what we’re doing. They finished tonight, and that’s pretty awesome."

Down 22-14 with just under four minutes left in the game, San Benito looked like it was heading for an opening loss when Tommy Herrera fumbled at the Ray 23-yard line. The ball was recovered by Texans linebacker Raheem Walton.

The ’Hounds’ defense stepped up and gave the team life, holding them to a three-and-out. Quarterback Brandon Marquez took advantage, leading his team to the Ray 17-yard line on four straight runs.

Marquez then capped off the drive by hitting Herrera for a 17-yard TD toss, putting San Benito down two at 22-20 with 20 seconds left in the game.

Marquez made another clutch throw and hit J.C. Guzman for the two-conversion, sending the game to overtime.

After exchanging touchdowns, the Texans scored on three plays during the second overtime but muffed the extra point. It was Ray’s third bad snap of the night, one, which cost them a crucial point.

The ’Hounds smelled blood, and Herrera hit paydirt from 10 yards out. Martinez nailed the extra point to give San Benito the dramatic win.

Marquez led the game in rushing with 168 yards, and Texans junior Luke Moffitt led the game in passing with 207 yards with one touchdown pass.

Herrera helped in the rushing department with 25 carries for 122 yards, and Chris Preciado　added five catches for 88 yards and one touchdown.

Texans coach Randy Perez had a tough time talking about the thrilling game, but he had his head up high talking about his Ray ballclub.

Ray blew two opportunities to score during the first half with two bad snaps. One was an attempted field goal with four seconds to go until halftime, but a high snap erased the opportunity and allowed San Benito to keep a 7-0 lead.

"First off, I’m very proud of our group of kids," he said. "Coming in here, only a handful of them know what varsity football is about. It showed in the first half. We came back, regrouped and they came out and actually played."

Louie Vera covers District 32-5A football for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via e-mail at lvera@brownsvilleherald.com.