FREDDY GONZALEZ | Staff Writer
LA FERIA — After a seesaw affair in which saw the teams traded touchdowns during the first half, it took one play to determine the winner as the La Feria Lions came away with a 21-14 victory over the Port Isabel Tarpons on Friday night at Lions Stadium.
With the win, the Lions improve to 4-0 on the year, and the loss drops the Tarpons to 1-3.
“These close and hard-fought games are the type of games that we need,” La Feria coach Oscar Salinas said. “Our defense did a great job in the second half shutting them down and offensively we got the done, and we got the turnover that helped turn the game around for us. We felt we were going to be in (the game) because we’ve had some tough ones this year, but the kids hung in there and did a great job.”
The big break for the Lions came during the fourth quarter, with 3:33 left on the clock, as a fumble by a Tarpons punt returner gave the ball to La Feria at the Tarpons’ 15-yard line.
Two plays later, La Feria running back Avishai Dickerson broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and found his way to the end zone for a 21-14 lead with 2:38 left.
Down but not out, Port Isabel earned great field position on the ensuing kickoff return, but a fumble on the first play of the drive gave the ball back to the Lions.
Bryan Medina and Cesar Aguilera proved to be tough to handle for a Lions defense that came into the contest allowing an average of 170 yards per game.
Aguilera found some running room early, as the senior quarterback reached paydirt twice. The first came on a short quarterback keeper on which Aguilera stretched across the line to tie the game at 7, and his second touchdown of the evening came on a stunning 45-yard TD run down the center of the field, tying the game at 14 midway through the second quarter.
“Both Medina and Aguilera were great tonight, and you saw them,” Salinas said. “They’re a deadly one-two punch, but we made some adjustments in the second half and moved to a four-man front to try and slow them down.”
Aguilera finished with just more than 100 yards rushing and two touchdowns, and Medina posted 83 yards.
For the Lions, Dickerson had another big night, rushing for 134 yards and one touchdown on 22 carries.
“This is a great win for us against Port Isabel because we found a way to win,” Salinas said. “No win is a bad win, and we will learn from this because we are not there yet. We’re still getting better and that is the good thing about us, so we just need to stay humble and stay hungry.”
Next Friday, the Lions travel to Rivera, and the Tarpons head to Brownsville St. Joseph.
GAME NOTES: La Feria’s Dorian Hernandez had a hand in both of the Lions’ touchdowns during the first half. … On the first strike, Dorian Hernandez found Noah Conde near the end zone for the early 7-0 lead. On the second, Hernandez scrambled 7 yards to paydirt for the Lions’ second score of the night. … Despite being down by one touchdown, with less than two minutes to play, the Tarpons’ Seawall defense came up with a big fourth-and-inches stop to give P.I. a chance with 1:30 remaining in the game. But an interception by the Lions’ Derick Perez sealed the win for La Feria.