BY ARMANDO GARZA |
CORPUS CHRISTI — On a night in March of 2014, the course of San Benito Greyhound football changed forever.
When the San Benito Board of Trustees hired Dan Gomez as its next head football coach/athletic director, there may not have been much fanfare, but for the future graduating class of 2018, it had their mentor, leader, and father figure who would lead them to one of the best four-year runs in school history.
That run came to an unfortunate end on Friday night after the ‘Hounds’ 52-43 loss to San Antonio O’Connor at Buccaneer Stadium.
Naturally, the show of emotion was encapsulated by red faces, the wiping of tears, and words of encouragement by the players who walked off the field likely for the last time as teammates. However, as the first full class of the current regime, the group undoubtedly left its mark with its successes.
As the Mighty Greyhound band performed the alma mater one last time, many seniors gave their respects to assistant coaches and Gomez, the only coaches they knew throughout the course of their high school years. When given the opportunity, many of them pointed to the stability of the San Benito program and voiced their appreciation for being a part of something so special.
“It’s been amazing being a part of this program,” Greyhound quarterback Erick Retta said, holding back tears. “I came in my first year that Coach Gomez was here and these four years he taught me how to become a man. I’m very grateful to this staff and this program. “
While there were no four-year varsity starters on this squad, there are several who played three years at the highest level. All told, Gomez and his staff have gone 38-11 over the past four years with four playoff appearances, four total 32-6A championships, five playoff victories, and three Battle of the Arroyo wins. This group will forever be heralded along with the other San Benito super squads of 1961 and 2004.
Names like Retta, Tyrone Harper, Isaiah Trevino, Ryan Reza, Tyler Solis, Pedro Gomez, Payne Guajardo, Ryan Castillo, Hector De Jesus, and scores of other seniors can stake claim to having been a part of the illustrious run and setting the bar high for generations of future Greyhounds to come.
Afterward, Harper shared an embrace with Retta near the sideline, noting that they each would continue their football careers while embodying the respect and admiration the senior class had for one another.
“We became a family since freshman year,” Retta said of the seniors. “I love them, they’re my brothers because of the strong bond we all had with each other.”
For Gomez, attempting to sum up just how much the group accomplished goes way beyond the football field.
“It’s always tough to lose any group at the end of the football season,” Gomez said afterward as he watched his squad greet the scores of San Benito fans who waited until the end to salute their boys. “There’s always a deep relationship with them because they’ve been there more than a year. It’s tough to see them go, and we worked hard this season to teach these kids how to jump through the adversities, and jump the hurdles, climb the mountains and succeed at the end of it all.
I hope we did our jobs so that they can come back and be successful at whatever it is they do (in the future).”
