By MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
Heading into Week 5, Port Isabel Tarpons coach Jason Strunk said that, despite their record, the locker room didn’t have a 1-3 feel to it.
They didn’t play like it either against the Brownsville St. Joseph Bloodhounds.
The offense moved almost at will under quarterback Cesar Aguilera and the defense enforced its might as Port Isabel cruised to a 37-0 road win over St. Joseph on Friday night at Canales Field in Brownsville.
The Tarpons (2-3) found success pounding the ball against the Bloodhounds (1-4) to the tune of 207 yards, but Aguilera’s arm kept the defense honest as he threw for 172 yards and two scores on 11 of 21 passing.
“ It was more balanced,” Aguilera said. “When we needed a first down, we would throw the ball and now, more or less, we’ll probably do both. We didn’t start the way we wanted to start. We didn’t want to start the second half the way we started the first half, so we kicked it up a notch and did what we had to do.”
St. Joseph managed 122 yards of offense, and coach Tino Villarreal said his team wasn’t as prepared as it could be on that side of the ball. SJA didn’t run a play in Port Isabel territory until the second half.
“ At the end of the day, it’s hard to play four quarters when you’re one-dimensional,” he said. “Our boys played their hearts out and it just comes down to me doing a better job preparing our team.”
Despite the win, Strunk said there is work to be done going forward.
“ Obviously we’re going to take a 37-0 win,” he said. “I’ve said our defense has been there all year long. We stressed the passing game this week because we’ve been a little deficient with it, and tonight we came out and clicked with it. Overall, I think we can get a lot better. I’m not overly excited about some things on offense, but a win’s a win and we’ll take it.”
The Tarpons didn’t find the end zone until late in the first quarter on a 41-yard scamper by running back Bryan Medina to make it 7-0. A safety made it 9-0 early during the second quarter.
After Aguilera made it 16-0 on a 3-yard run late in the second, he went to the air for a 27-yard pass to Sebastian Martinez to make it 23-0 with less than two minutes to play before the break.
Aguilera found Martinez again on the first drive of the second half, this time for a diving grab on a fade route to the right side to make it 30-0.
Martinez had a big night, finishing with eight catches for 108 yards and two scores.
For Villarreal, it was an unexpected dimension to the Tarpons’ offense.
“ Coach Strunk is doing a good job at Port Isabel,” he said. “We were able to watch three films of theirs and watched them grow every week. We saw new things we haven’t seen before; I think they found a passing game. We didn’t know they can do that. We found that out tonight.
“ That’s a good football program over there that he’s building, but we have one, too,” he added. “We’re young, but that can no longer be an excuse. At this point, it’s midway through the season … we have a responsibility to get our boys ready.”
A 1-yard run from Aguilera capped off the night for the Tarpons’ offense and make it 37-0 midway through the fourth.
St. Joseph had a shot to score late, but quarterback Tomas Edge was intercepted by Alex Romero with seconds left to conserve a shutout.