By ROY HESS | Staff Writer
PORT ISABEL — For the first time this football season, the Port Isabel Tarpons have evened their record at .500 by surging ahead during the second half and capturing a decisive 48-21 non-district victory against the Grulla Gators on a homecoming Friday night at Tarpon Stadium.
The Tarpons were boosted by the rushing performances of quarterback Cesar Aguilera (270 yards, five touchdowns) and running back Brayan Medina (198 yards, two TDs).
Also, Port Isabel’s defense shut out Grulla during the second half after the Tarpons led only 27-21 at intermission.
“This was a real good team win for us tonight,” Port Isabel coach Jason Strunk said. “That’s the mark of a championship team.”
The Tarpons were ahead 14-6 after one quarter, 27-21 at the half and 41-21 after three periods.
Port Isabel is 3-3 heading into its bye week before beginning District 16-4A Division II competition Oct. 19 at Progreso. Grulla is 2-4 and also is going into a bye week before opening District 16-4A Division I action at home Oct. 19 against Hidalgo.
Aguilera was pretty much unstoppable Friday night. He broke loose for big ground gainers of 21, 37, 49, 23, 49 and 50 yards. He had gained 190 yards by halftime and finished with 270 yards on 13 carries while playing a little more than three quarters.
Medina, a workhorse ballcarrier for the Tarpons, had 86 yards by halftime and totaled 198 yards for the game on 25 carries.
First-quarter scoring runs of 37 and 49 yards by Aguilera put the Tarpons up 14-0. A 6-yard TD run by Grulla’s Adan Lopez with 36 seconds left in the opening period made it 14-6.
Medina’s 16-yard scoring run at the 7:22 mark of the second quarter increased the Tarpons’ advantage to 21-6. Later in the period, the Gators pulled even at 21 thanks to QB Dillen Salinas’ 13-yard scoring run and Jesus Garza Jr.’s catch of a 16-yard TD pass from Salinas.
Aguilera broke loose on another 49-yard scoring scamper with only 32 seconds remaining in the first half to provide the Tarpons with a 27-21 cushion at the break.
On their first possession of the third quarter, the Tarpons marched down the field and made it 34-21 on Aguilera’s 4-yard TD run with 8:20 left in the period. Aguilera added a 6-yard TD run with 3:30 remaining in the third quarter to hike the lead to 41-21.
Medina scored on a 9-yard run with 6:37 left to give the Tarpons their 27-point margin of victory.
“We have a great running game,” Strunk said. “Our fullback does a tremendous job of blocking, and our passing game is getting better every week. We’re keeping (our opponents) off-balance. We’ve put some new (offensive) packages in, we’re executing them, and here we are, we’re 3-3.
“Our defense has been there all year,” Strunk added. “We started off the season with our offense kind of struggling, and we’ve got it going now. Defensively, we came out in the second half and pitched a shutout, and that’s what we wanted. Also, it was our second week in a row with no turnovers.”
The Tarpons were coming off last week’s 37-0 win at St. Joseph Academy. Grulla suffered a 55-42 setback at Rio Hondo last week.
Prior to Friday, the last time the two teams played was in 2016, when the Tarpons beat the Gators 31-19 at Tarpon Stadium during a non-district season opener.
Port Isabel now leads 6-1 in the series between the two schools in football.