HARLINGEN — Harlingen High running back Izaiah Bell didn’t need much said to him following an uncharacteristic fumble midway through the third, which gave San Benito its first lead of the game.
A look from his head coach, Manny Gomez, and a quick “shake it off,” was all it took for Bell to put the fumble behind him.
Bell shook off the mistake and then some, scoring the game’s final three touchdowns to lead the Cardinals past the Greyhounds 37-21 during the latest edition of the Battle of the Arroyo and the RGVSports.com Game of the Week on Friday at Boggus Stadium in Harlingen.
“You don’t say anything to a kid who is a competitor,” Gomez said. “It happens. We’re human beings. Just shake it off. I just looked at him and knew he would be fine. He knows it was on him. He’s the type of kid that wants to redeem himself. That’s all you can ever ask for in a kid. Izaiah Bell is a warrior.”
San Benito’s defense entered the contest allowing just 140.7 yards and 3.7 points per contest, including just 88.9 rushing yards against.
Harlingen High’s attack finished with 458 yards of offense and 37 points, gashing the Greyhounds’ run defense for 441 yards. Bell led the way with a game-high 288 yards and four touchdowns on 24 carries, and junior quarterback Randy Morales added 11 carries for 124 yards and one score.
“I want to thank God for making this happen,” Gomez said. “At the same time, I want to give some props to Coach (Dan) Gomez over there at San Benito. They fought. That’s the whole thing we preach to our kids. Adversity is going to strike, and the momentum changed in the third quarter, but we didn’t get shaken. Our preparation in the offseason kicked in. The resiliency, the effort, the hard work and the cariño, you can say, you saw it today. That’s the whole thing about grit. We don’t just want to win games, we want to grow. I truly believe a lot of these kids grew today because of what they had to overcome.”
Trailing Harlingen High 17-0 at the break, the Greyhounds erupted for 21 straight points during the third quarter, sparked by back-to-back receiving touchdowns by senior Rodney Rodriguez.
The uncharacteristic fumble by Bell set up the Greyhounds’ go-ahead score, taking the lead for the first time on a 13-yard run by junior Fabian Garcia with 6:19 left in the third.
Garcia finished with a team-high 22 carries for 154 yards and one touchdown for the Greyhounds. Rodriguez chipped in 57 total yards, hauling in three catches for 34 yards and two touchdowns and adding three carries for 23 yards.
The lead was short-lived, with Bell bouncing back with touchdown runs of 20, 5 and 1 yards to power the Cardinals.
“When I fumbled the ball, I got down on myself, but my coach told me to shake it off,” Bell said. “I couldn’t put my head down on this team. I told myself I had to be better for this team because they got me and held me accountable, so I had to hold myself accountable. I knew we had a goal. We came in here and wanted to be Battle of the Arroyo champions. The O-line knew what they had to do and I knew what I needed to do to come out victorious, and that is what we did.”
Harlingen High (8-0, 3-0) returns to action at 7 p.m. Friday against Brownsville Rivera (2-6, 0-3) at Boggus Stadium in Harlingen. San Benito (7-1, 2-1) looks to bounce back in a contest against Los Fresnos (6-2, 2-1) at 7 p.m. Friday at Bobby Morrow Stadium in San Benito.
