By Edward Severn, Special to the Herald
SAN BENITO — The San Benito Greyhounds opened district with an impressive 38-7 victory over the Los Fresnos Falcons on Friday night at Bobby Morrow Stadium.
Los Fresnos (1-2, 0-1 District 32-6A) got the scoring under way when senior quarterback Matthew Padilla found senior receiver Cody Taylor for a 49-yard touchdown halfway through the first quarter.
San Benito (4-0, 1-0) responded a few minutes later with a 57-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back Fabian Garcia.
A missed field goal by Los Fresnos on its next possession and a few key conversions set up another Garcia rushing touchdown, this time for 59 yards, putting the Greyhounds up 14-7 with 6:07 left before halftime.
Garcia was not done in the half, posting another huge touchdown run of 51 yards. The Greyhounds also turned a pick from senior Mauricio Padilla into a field goal and took a 24-7 lead into halftime.
A big play from Garcia and a good drive from the Greyhounds yielded another touchdown when senior Gavin Suarez punched it in from 3 yards away. The Greyhounds chewed up six minutes of clock on the drive.
The humble Garcia and modest Greyhounds’ offense were extremely impressive on the day. “Greyhound tempo” was in full throttle, but the defense was as equally good on the night. After the big play early, the players settled down and took care of business.
“It was a good performance, they gave us some fits early on,” San Benito defensive coordinator Johnny Garza said. “I like the way our kids perform, hats off to them, they got some good skill kids over (in Los Fresnos). I was glad we were able to adjust.
“This season we have been doing a good job of adding turnovers every week. I am glad it carried on today, it stops the momentum for them. I am happy about the interceptions because it gets us off the field.”
Los Fresnos could not get much offense going after the missed field goal. San Benito’s defense made things worse for the Falcons’ offense with an interception by junior Deanthony Mireles.
Greyhounds quarterback Matthew Rodriguez turned the takeaway into a touchdown run to put the game away with 8:34 left in the fourth quarter.
San Benito will head to Brownsville to face Hanna in Week 6, and Los Fresnos will be at home against Donna North.
