By Claire Cruz | Special to the Star
Rio Hondo went into their matchup with Port Isabel with a couple of goals in mind: beat their rival and be more effective on the ground. They achieved both in dominant fashion in a 48-21 rout of the Tarpons in Port Isabel.
“We put in some new things this week, some new wrinkles after that Raymondville loss and they worked out really well tonight offensively,” Rio Hondo head coach Rocky James said. “We put in some running game stuff that we hadn’t had, put in some heavy sets, put some linemen in the backfield, anything to muster up some yards.”
The Bobcats saw those wrinkles come to fruition Friday night and ran all over the Tarpons. The big offensive line overpowered Port Isabel and helped the usually pass-heavy Bobcat offense tally five touchdown runs.
Senior running back Daniel Vasquez led the charge, racking up 300 rushing yards in a four-touchdown performance. He showcased breakaway speed on long runs and powered through defenders on some shorter touches.
“I felt great (tonight), coming in I had complete faith in my linemen and the rest of the offense,” Vasquez said. “We executed well and we did the assignments we needed to.”
Port Isabel’s senior quarterback Cesar Aguilera put together an impressive performance of his own for his final home game. He scored twice on the ground, including an 80-yard touchdown run for the first points of the night, and threw a touchdown to senior wide receiver Sebastian Martinez.
“They have a really fast quarterback, and our game plan was to stop him,” James said of Aguilera. “He’s a really good football player and our job was to stop him and I think we did a decent job of that.”
Rio Hondo’s senior quarterback Josiah Ortega also had some success through the air and connected with senior wide receiver Cross Gonzalez for back-to-back passing touchdowns in the first half.
The Bobcats and Tarpons will now turn their focus to the playoffs which kick off in two weeks.
“We want to use this as a momentum shifter (before playoffs),” Vasquez said. “I think that’s all we needed, was a momentum shift, and that’s what we got tonight.”