By Adam Kujawski, Staff Writer
Despite a one-hour rain delay and playing without starting quarterback Trey Mock, Port Isabel remained perfect on the season with a 39-12 win over Valley View on Friday night.
Mock was sidelined with what coach Monty Stumbaugh said was a week of rest to nurse a sore upper back, but Alex De Los Santos shouldered the load with 220 yards on 14 carries, scoring three times for Port Isabel (4-0).
As expected, the Tarpons’ rushing attack was the focal point of the game.
Marco Colorado, Mock’s replacement, filled in quite nicely, carrying the ball 12 times for 25 yards and one score, adding three completions for 56 yards.
Port Isabel led off the scoring with a 65-yard touchdown run by De Los Santos on its first play from scrimmage.
The Tarpons’ ground attack continued to tear up the rain-soaked blue turf at Valley View Stadium for the remainder of the half, scoring on another scamper by De Los Santos, this time for 74 yards. Port Isabel held a 25-0 lead after two quarters.
“Port Isabel is Port Isabel,” Tigers coach Ubaldo Peña said. “They’re awesome. They’re the team to beat in the Valley.”
Just after halftime, the game was delayed again with 10:55 remaining in the third quarter when Port Isabel player Jesus Guevara hit his head hard on the turf. Medical staff summoned a stretcher and ambulance to transport him to a nearby hospital. Though he laid motionless in what was a scary scene, Stumbaugh confirmed Guevara was moving his extremities and speaking coherently. The game was back on after a new ambulance arrived.
When play resumed, Valley View (0-4) failed to shake a first half that was plagued with turnovers and miscues. Five interceptions thrown by Daniel Lince and 11 penalties for 82 yards prevented the Tigers from progressing with any consistency. Despite forcing four second-half fumbles in favorable positions on the field, the Tigers only managed to put 12 points on the board.
“We’ve got district coming up, and those are the games that count,” Peña said. “That’s the only positive thing we can take out of this.”
When the Tigers finally did find the end zone, it was near the end of the third quarter and they scored twice. Carlos Batis punched the ball in from 5 yards out, and Lince found Chezzare Gonzalez on a 20-yard touchdown pass. But each two-point conversion failed, making it 32-12.
The Tarpons made sure to score periodically to keep the game out of reach, but Stumbaugh saw plenty of opportunities to play better.
“We made a lot of mistakes, but we played hard,” he said. “We’ve got to learn a lot of bad things happen in football, and you’ve got to be ready to come back out and play.
“I was pleased with our effort, but I wasn’t pleased with our execution. We didn’t play defense like we’ve been playing.”
Joel Rodriguez III scored on a run from 53 yards out to make the score 32-0 and De Los Santos piled on with a 32-yard run for his third score of the day to cap the scoring.
Adam Kujawski covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @adamkujo1.