FREDDY GONZALEZ | Staff Writer
LA FERIA — It was standing room only as the La Feria Lions and the Port Isabel Tarpons met Friday night at Lion Stadium.
Fans packed the stands and aligned the fence around the field to witness the Tarpons rush their way to a 35-21 victory over the Lions in the Valley Morning Star’s Game of the Week.
With the win, Port Isabel improved to 4-0 overall. Meanwhile, La Feria suffers its first defeat of the season and fell to 3-1.
“I was really pleased with the effort tonight,” said Port Isabel head coach Monty Stumbaugh. “I tell them all the time that bad things are going to happen, how are we going to respond? We knew we needed to come out and score and we did. Our kids played hard and that’s all we ask of them, to just play hard and whatever happens, happens.”
A big part of the Tarpons’ success Friday was because of running back Omar Silva, who rushed behind his offensive line for astounding 420 yards on the night. He also scored three touchdowns from 7, 65 and 60 yards out.
“Omar played the first game but missed the last two, but he sees holes and has nice vision and runs tough,” said Stumbaugh. “He’s about 165 (pounds) and runs tough. He’s a strong kid and plays with a lot of wheels and the kids feed off of his energy.”
Silva helped the Tarpons get off to an early lead after finding the hole and punching it in from 7 yards out to put the Tarps up 7-0. But his night was just beginning.
After PI’s defense held La Feria’s offense on its first drive of the night, Silva went to work again and broke off a stunning 47-yard run to set up teammate Travis Camacho for a 10-yard TD run to increase the lead to 14-0.
On the Tarpons’ next series, Silva broke off another 47-yard run to give PI the ball 3 yards shy of the end zone. One play later Camacho once again took the hand off and scored with 49 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
Down 21-0, the Lions’ offense came to life in the second quarter and got on the board behind a 3-yard run from running back Darius Hernandez. And La Ferias luck kept getting better as the Tarpons couched up the ball on the ensuing kickoff. However, the Lions failed to capitalize and fumbled the ball at the Tarpons’ 3-yard line, taking the momentum away from the home side.
La Feria’s biggest threat, wideout Brandon Perez, gave the Lions’ fan base a reason to celebrate when he made the Tarpons defense miss and took a short pass 46 yards to pay dirt, cutting PI’s lead to 21-14 going into the half.
However, Siva would score two more touchdowns in the third quarter to put the game out of reach.
The Tarpons will put their undefeated record on the line again next week when they face another 4-0 team in Brownsville St. Joseph Academy at Bloodhounds Stadium next Friday.
The Lions, meanwhile, will travel five miles north to face rivals Santa Rosa in the annual Battle of FM 506.