Saldaña, Golden Eagles beat 'Hounds to open district
In case there were any doubts about the Hanna football squad this season, the Golden Eagles made a statement in their district opener.
Enrique Saldaña racked 245 yards and three touchdowns and the defense held San Benito in check as Hanna won 38-26 over San Benito on Saturday night at Sams Stadium.
"This is a big win for our program," Hanna coach Tom Chavez said. "It took everyone we had in our team to get the win. From Saldaña, to the Garzas, the defense … everyone contributed today, and it was a complete team effort."
Meanwhile, San Benito coach Spencer Gantt and the Greyhounds suffered their third consecutive loss. He was disappointed in the lack of execution from his squad.
"I’m not happy the way we played," Gantt said. "With a week of preparation and game planning, I thought we’d come out and play a lot better than we did tonight."
With a 28-20 lead, Anthony Garza caught a 7-yard bullet from Randy Rey — who started in place of the injured Tito Perez — to give Hanna a 35-20 lead with 2:32 remaining in the third quarter.
San Benito tried to answer on the following drive, but a 10-yard loss on a reverse that was sniffed out by Josh Herrera forced a fourth-and-goal from the Hanna 22.
The Greyhounds failed to convert.
The Golden Eagles then took over and put on backbreaking, 11-play drive that lasted 10 minutes and ended with a Luis Garcia 32-yard field goal for a 38-20 advantage.
San Benito’s Brandon Marquez tried to mount a comeback, finding Ralph Sanchez six plays into the next drive for a 26-yard TD pass with 3:05 left in the game.
Hanna’s Anthony Garza recovered the onside kick, though, and the ’Hounds did not see the ball again.
The Greyhounds opened the scoring with a 10-play, 72-yard drive that was capped off by a 29-yard run by Marquez.
Hanna answered with a three-play drive. Saldaña’s speed burned the defense after he broke one tackle at the line of scrimmage, and the teams were tied at 7 at 6:03 in the first quarter.
Marquez used his arm to get the Greyhounds back on top, throwing a strike to wideout Chris Preciado for a 35-yard score on the ensuing drive, but the Eagles countered with Saldaña, who juked his way to the end zone for a 21-14 Hanna lead with 5:25 to go in the half.
Gantt still had a few tricks up his sleeve before the half was over, though, as he faked a 24-yard field goal. Safety C.J. Carrizalez lined up as the kicker and ran a sweep to the left side of the end zone, but the Hounds missed the extra point for a 21-20 Hanna advantage.
The ’Hounds made their biggest mistake of the game when Polo Martinez muffed a Hanna punt with 11 seconds remaining in the second quarter, and two plays later Mike Garza made a diving catch to give the Eagles a 28-20 halftime lead.
Mike and Anthony Garza each had touchdown receptions for Hanna. Marquez led the Greyhounds in rushing with 151 yards on 21 carries.
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.
