He can’t say that now.
Orange Grove defense was aggressive from the start and never let the Port Isabel Tarpons pick up any momentum throughout, as the Bulldogs dismissed the the Tarpons 33-7 Saturday night in Orange Grove. With the win the Bulldogs clinched a share of the District 16-4A DII championship. They can clinch it outright with a win over CC West Oso or a Rio Hondo loss to Progreso next week.
From the start things went wrong for the Tarpons (7-2, 2-2) as Bulldogs return man Ricky Martinez took the game’s opening kickoff to the house for an early lead. The Bulldogs (8-1, 4-0) never looked back as the defense allowed just one scoring drive and a pair of turnovers on the night.
“We’re a good football team. They (Port Isabel) are down there and we’re up here – we play great football up here. Our kids were ready to play and weren’t going to be denied tonight.” Bomar said following the win. “This is our fourth district championship in four years and our defense has played well all year. (Port Isabel) is a quality team with good backs. We knew it would be a great challenge, but our offense played great tonight after sputtering last week.”
The loss drops Port Isabel into third place, making next week’s game versus Raymondville a game that will determine seeding.
The winner will clinch the No. 3 seed in the district. For Port Isabel head football coach Monty Stumbaugh, it’s about moving from a game in which miscues cost his team.
“Some bad things happened in the first half and we had a chance in the second half to make it a six-point game, driving down the field but we turned it over,” said Port Isabel head coach Monty Stumbaugh. “We had turnovers and penalties, but you can’t do that against a good football team. We just have to regroup, focus on Raymondville and head into the playoffs.”
Following the opening kickoff, the Bulldogs forced the Tarpons to punt and started piling on the points, as the ensuing Orange Grove drive ended in a 12-yard touchdown pass from Hondo Harris to wide receiver Chris Lauer.
Harris came right back on the next possession and found Martinez for a 57-yard catch and run to make the score 20-0 early in the second quarter. Harris finished the night with four touchdown passes to lead the Bulldogs.
The Tarpons had their chances and looked good in spurts, but only managed one score on a drive that lasted nearly nine minutes that ended with a Jaime Gonzalez 7-yard run and the Tarpons went into the half down 20-7.
Things started to turn as the Tarpons were driving to open the half and make it a six-point game, but a pass by Tarpons quarterback Trey Mock was intercepted by Orange Grove’s Kyle Ortiz.
It was the first of two second-half turnovers for the Tarpons.
Harris put the game out of reach near the end of the third with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Martinez to make in 27-7 and then tossed his fourth touchdown to Lauer early in the fourth.