By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
In the end, the Port Isabel Tarpons’ rushing attack was too much for St. Joseph Academy.
After jumping out to an early lead, Port Isabel had to come back from a halftime deficit to defeat St. Joseph 44-21 on Friday night at Tarpon Stadium in Port Isabel.
The Tarpons rushed for 505 yards on 43 carries and scored five touchdowns — 276 yards and four scores during the second half — against a worn-down Bloodhounds defense. But it looked bleak at times in the first half for Port Isabel.
“We weren’t controlling the line of scrimmage (during the first half), they were,” Port Isabel coach Monty Stumbaugh said. “We told the kids (at halftime), ‘They want it more than you want it.’ We didn’t need to panic,we were only down by four.”
Alex De Los Santos broke a few tackles and rumbled for a 94-yard touchdown to give Port Isabel a 7-0 lead during the first quarter.
On its next drive, Port Isabel drove deep into Bloodhounds territory but settled for a 26-yard field goal from Misael Nava to give the Tarpons a 10-0 lead.
The Tarpons’ rushing attack was moving the chains, but a pair of turnovers gave the Bloodhounds good field position.
St. Joseph took advantage. Led by Mario Garcia, who had 78 yards and a pair of touchdowns during the first half, St. Joseph scored 14 unanswered points to take a 14-10 lead at halftime.
But the Tarpons weren’t done yet, especially after the Tarpons coach challenged his team to play better.
Port Isabel scored on four straight possessions during the second half. De Los Santos scored on a 23-yard run, Marco Colorado found the end zone after a 24-yard run, Ivan Gonzalez scored from 3 yards out and JJ Gonzalez had a 66-yard run for another touchdown.
“They did everything we asked them to do, and they came out and played hard,” Stumbaugh said. “When we started coming off the ball and doing what we should be doing, we were able to run the football.”
St. Josephcoach Christian Putegnat had trouble finding the words as to why his team faltered after halftime.
“We lost a little bit of our timing, our rhythm was off (in the second half),” he said. “We adjusted our game plan, and we probably shouldn’t have. We tried to fix our alignment, and we got caught a few times out of alignment.”
But the Bloodhounds’ Kai Money answered after the second Port Isabel possession of the second half with a 27-yard touchdown. St. Josephcut the deficit to three points, but the Tarpons’ rushing offense was too much in the end.
The Bloodhounds didn’t quit and forced a Port Isabel fumble to regain possession. The Tarpons returned the favor one play later when Raul Villarreal intercepted Money and returned it 35 yards for the score to seal any rally attempt by St. Joseph .
Putegnat was still pleased with his team’s effort.
“We gave it away, in my head, I don’t feel like we got beat, beat,” he said. “We’re still 4-1, there’s a positive to it.”
After the victory to remain unbeaten, Stumbaugh was especially pleased with the way his team regrouped in the second half.
“I was extremely proud of them, they’re playing their tails off,” he said. “We’re making some mistakes, but the effort has been excellent. I’ll take that, and we’ll work on the other things.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.