By MARK MOLINA | The Brownsville Herald
When meeting Port Isabel senior nose guard Allen Garcia, it’s difficult to not notice his quiet humble demeanor.
His words indicate that he’s a team-first player, which is what makes him one of the leaders of the Tarpon defense.
“As a returning starter, I wanted to stay a leader and following my defense wherever they need me,” Garcia said. “And showing the underclassmen the way. Having my brothers on the back of the defense is a real help.”
First-year Port Isabel head coach Jason Strunk said he quickly saw Garcia’s calm demeanor and how quickly he flips the switch out on the field.
“Allen is a down-to-earth kid,” Strunk said. “He’s humble and that’s the first thing I noticed about him. He’s quiet, unassuming, but when you get the gear on him, he’s physical, he has a high motor and he gets after it.”
Garcia has 37 total tackles this season, including 11 solo and three for a loss, but his contributions as a leader have made a much larger impact.
Over the first few weeks of the season, Garcia, like many of the players, has had to adjust to learning under Strunk.
He’s relished the opportunity to not only learn from the new coach, but help bring the younger up to speed and realize their potential.
“Adjusting to the new coach and it being my second year on varsity has been hard,” Garcia said. “I’ve had to be a leader by more than example and telling the underclassmen how things go. They’re all good ball players, all the young guys. They’re all going to come be good ball players one day and it’s about showing them that they can be better than what they are.”
Strunk has noticed Garcia’s leadership qualities since coming to Port Isabel and said it’s a big reason why he has gained trust in him in such a short time.
“He’s a kid that the team looks up to and he has earned the right to be a permanent captain,” Strunk said. “I got in here so late we didn’t have a lot of time to go through that process, but he’s shown me enough to name him a captain. That’s how much he resonates with me and this team. Great kid and he’s anchoring our defense right now and our defense is looking fantastic through four games.”
Strunk said that despite a 1-3 mark to start the year, his defense has played exceptionally well.
The Tarpons have allowed 12 scoring drives (10 touchdowns, 2 field goals) and half of those have been on short fields of approximately 30 yards.
“You take away those drives and who knows how much better we’d be statistically right now,” Strunk said. “The defense has been there all year long. … They have risen to the occasion every game. They’ve been solid and Allen obviously anchors that.”
In a 21-14 loss to La Feria, Port Isabel’s defense allowed 312 total yards and gave up one score in the second half.
Garcia said no player hung their head.
It just lit a fire.
“We came together after the loss to la Feria and realized it was our turning point,” the senior defenseman said. “We saw a lot of brotherhood and strong Tarpon football that night that we’re used to seeing every year. It went away for a little bit, but now we’re back in it. It’s our turn to go win and show other teams what we’re about.