Greyhounds top Raiders; get taste of playoffs once again

SAN BENITO — The San Benito Greyhounds are back in the Class 5A state playoffs after a one-year absence thanks to Friday’s 48-21 District 32-5A victory over Brownsville Rivera at Bobby Morrow Stadium.

The Greyhounds (6-4, 5-2 district) advance to next week’s bi-district playoffs and play Harlingen High at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Harlingen’s Boggus Stadium.

"This is very exciting and very emotional for everybody," San Benito coach Spencer Gantt said. "It’s not often that a first-year head coach gets to go to the playoffs, and I’m real happy for our players."

San Benito broke open the game with three touchdowns in the final 6:30 before halftime to lead 28-7.

The Greyhounds went up 7-0 at the 4:34 mark of the first quarter on Tommy Herrera’s 11-yard run. Rivera evened it at 7 on a 9-yard scoring run by Nate Nevarez with 9:35 showing in the second period.

San Benito quarterback Brandon Marquez then gave his team a lead it didn’t surrender by first rushing 31 yards for a TD with 6:30 left until intermission. He then threw a 66-yard scoring pass to a wide-open J.C. Guzman on a deep pattern for a 21-7 lead. Marquez’s 5-yard scoring run with 20 seconds left in the half provided his team with a three-TD advantage after Julio Martinez’s fourth extra point.

San Benito preferred to keep the ball on the ground against the Raiders as Marquez and Herrera gained 133 and 92 yards, respectively, during the first two quarters. On the night, Marquez finished with 217 yards running the ball with two rushing TDs and a pair of scoring passes, while Herrera wound up with 201 yards rushing and three TDs.

Marquez and Herrera now have each gone over the 1,000-yard mark rushing for the season.

"I feel we came out and played (well)," Herrera said. "You have to give a lot of credit to our offensive line. Breaking 1,000 yards feels good. I feel like I’ve accomplished something."

Josue Govea rushed for 110 yards for Rivera.

The teams traded scores during the third quarter as Govea tallied on 5-yard TD run to pull the Raiders to within 28-14 before Herrera’s TD runs of 13 and 4 yards put the Greyhounds ahead 41-14 by the end of the period.

During the final quarter, Govea caught a 9-yard scoring pass from J.J. Sanchez with 11:20 left to make it 41-21 after Saul Cortez’s third extra point. With 4:03 remaining, Chris Preciado was on the receiving end of a 19-yard TD pass from Marquez to account for the final score after another Martinez extra point.

"Getting back to the playoffs was our offseason goal from the very start," Marquez said. "Everyone had it on his list.

"Tonight, we just wanted to establish our running game so it would open up every other part of our offense," he added. "I’ve been able to produce more this season than I did last year, and it’s just been a big surprise to me how much I’ve been able to achieve thanks to my offensive line, my receivers and everyone. The whole team has been helping me out. It’s not just a one-man thing. And it’s great to have Tommy there beside me to hand the ball off to and see him do so well, also."

After winning only one game in each of the past three seasons, Rivera (3-7, 3-4) showed definite improvement this year and went into Friday’s regular-season finale with an opportunity to return to the postseason for the first time since 2003 with a victory at San Benito. But it didn’t happen Friday against the determined Greyhounds.

When the Raiders and Greyhounds met one year ago in Brownsville, San Benito came away with a 41-13 victory.

Roy Hess writes for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him via e-mail at rhess@brownsvilleherald.com.