By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
When Port Isabel and coach Monty Stumbaugh look across the field, the team opposing them isn’t so unknown.
Port Isabel opens the playoffs against Sinton, the team it faced two seasons ago in the area round and defeated 53-26. The Tarpons hope to repeat the past when they meet the Pirates again tonight at Javelina Stadium in Kingsville.
This year’s team is very similar to that Sinton team. Then-sophomore quarterback Tyler Handson, now a senior, is under center once again. And the Tarpons remember how dangerous the four-year starter can be.
“He’s a heck of an athlete, he can hurt you (either way), he can throw and run, he’s a dual threat,” Port Isabel coach Monty Stumbaugh said. “That always puts pressure on the defense, you have to be ready for both of them, we have to do a great job of not giving up big plays and containing him. He’s going to get his yards, but we want to make sure we’re there and make them work for everything they get.”
Sinton coach Tom Allen said his senior quarterback is the catalyst of the Pirates offense.
“He’s been a really good player, but he hasn’t been as good statistically last two years,” he said of the ankle injuries that haskept Handson out of some games. “He’s a good leader on the field. He’s the engine that makes our offense work.”
Handson threw for 370 yards last week in a 54-35 district win over Ingleside, but Allen knows the Tarpons defensive unit will be ready for whatever is thrown at them.
“(Port Isabel) plays really good defense,” he said. “That’s something Coach Stumbaugh hangs his hat on.”
The Tarpons’ coach said Sinton’s defense does a lot of things to disguise coverage and knows his team will have to be sound offensively.
“We feel like we can run, but we have to control the line of scrimmage,” Stumbaugh said. “We have to come off the ball and move the ball, we have to mount some drives. (We can’t) get penalties that get good runs called back.
“We can’t make mistakes at the wrong time.”
With each team’s proficiency on offense, the game could be defined by which squad takes advantage of a few key moments.
“I think it’s going to come down to four or five plays,” Allen said. “Whomevermakes those plays, whether it be special teams, a big play on offense, or a turnover on defense.”
Stumbaugh knows his team is confident, but said it will have to play well to continue playing next week.
“If you don’t think you can win, you shouldn’t be playing the game,” he said. “Everybody’s 0-0, so let’s go out and make a little run, shock a few people.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter, he’s @andrewmcrum.