By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
PORT ISABEL – In terms of ugly wins, Port Isabel‘s 36-27 triumph over Rio Grande City on Friday at Tarpon Stadium deserved an ugly tag with a capital “U.”
There were far too many penalties, fumbles and time stoppages due to injuries and cramps, all adding up to one of the longest games not going to overtime that the Tarpons have played in recent memory.
Still, it was a victory in their home opener that allowed the Tarpons to improve to 2-0.
Port Isabel coach Monty Stumbaugh was not all that pleased with how things went but chose to look on the bright side of things.
“It was a long game, no doubt about it,” Stumbaugh said. “It was sloppy with way too many penalties. We started off playing (lax) like we (sometimes) play in practice, and there’s a correlation with how you practice and how you play.
“But our kids played hard, and I think we took a step forward,” he added. “We’re just trying to be 1-0 every week, and, you know, an ugly win is better than a pretty loss.”
The Tarpons battled back from first-half deficits of 7-0 and 13-7. They could never quite put away the pass-happy Rattlers (0-2). After the Rattlers pulled to within 36-27, Port Isabel had to recover a Rio Grande City onside kick with 1:42 left and then run out the clock to seal the victory.
Port Isabel, which led 20-13 at halftime and 29-21 after three quarters, was flagged 17 times for 129 yards. The Rattlers were penalized nine times for 66 yards.
“It was good to win because of all the penalties we had on our team,” said Trey Mock, the Tarpons‘ sophomore quarterback who broke loose on scoring runs of 25 and 41 yards, the second of which gave his team a 36-21 advantage with 10:17 remaining. “We have to step it more (for next week) to be ready for Hidalgo. I know we’ll be ready.”
Mock‘s first TD, a 25-yard scoring keeper, came with 36 seconds left in the first half and gave the Tarpons a 20-13 advantage at intermission.
Another Port Isabel player with a pair of rushing scores was running back Alex De Los Santos, who found the end zone on first-half runs of 11 and 41 yards. De Los Santos led the Tarpons with 110 yards rushing on 10 carries. Mock added 96 yards on the ground on nine carries and teammate J.J. Gonzalez, also a running back, finished with 87 yards on 17 carries.
In all, the Tarpons rushed for 348 yards and did not complete a pass.
That was in stark contrast to the Rattlers, who passed for 258 yards and rushed for only 33 yards on 16 total carries.
Rattlers QB Jason Gorena was a standout for his team, completing 24 of 40 passes for 258 yards with one interception and two second-half TD passes. Gorena also rushed for a 2-yard score in the second quarter.
Gorena‘s top receiver was Eduardo Garcia with seven catches for 86 yards and a touchdown. Garcia made his 11-yard scoring reception with 1:43 left to play to close the gap to 36-27.
Gorena‘s other scoring pass was a 44-yarder to Justin Guerra with 56 seconds remaining in the third period.
Port Isabel was coming off last week’s 29-9 road win against Grulla, while Rio Grande City lost 41-14 at home last week against Ingleside.
Non-district action continues next Friday for both teams as the Tarpons play host to Hidalgo and the Rattlers will entertain La Joya Palmview.