By CONSTANCIO MARTINEZ, JR.
Special to the PRESS
This week the Tarpons will be enjoying a spirited week that leads up to the annual Homecoming game on Friday night. Highlights included a mum-making day at the High School, voting for Homecoming King and Queen and court, a Homecoming parade and ending with the Homecoming dance on Saturday.
Speaking of the game, the (2-3) Port Isabel Tarpons will be welcoming the (3-2) Roma Gladiators for a non-district game this Friday, Oct 3 at 7pm.
Roma enters the game riding a 61-21 win over Brownsville Pace. Like PI, they too are having a rollercoaster season in regards to wins and losses.
Offensively, the Gladiators mirror PI as they both utilize a run-heavy oriented offense. As a team they have rushed for over 1800 yards in their five games. Their top RB Ruben Garcia Jr has amassed 763 rushing yards on 90 carries with nine touchdowns. Roma also has three other runners who average at least 7.2 yds/carry, so the Tarpons will have their hands full with the Roma running game.
When facing Roma, PI Defensive Coordinator, Albert Barbarena III wants his defense to be “very aggressive and physical”.
“Roma runs the exact same offense as us with large size lineman. This is a game where everyone on the defense has specific assignment for defending. If one or two guys don’t do their assigned task, Roma can pop a big gain on us.” Stated coach Barberena III.
Roma’s defensive players to watch out for include leading tackler Leonardo De La Garza who has 44 tackles (31 solo) under his belt including six tackles for a loss (TFL). Jason Hinojosa comes in second with 33 total tackles with four TFL. As well as senior Pablo Villarreal who has 20 tackles with 7 TFL and is the team’s sack leader with two.
Meanwhile, Port Isabel is coming off a disappointing 28-7 loss at the hands of Edcouch-Elsa. After plowing through their previous two opponents who have a combined win record of 1-9, the Tarpons were riding high, but now they might have to re-evaluate themselves moving forward.
Although the Tarpons racked up 258 rushing yards, the offense only managed to score once in 10 drives. And the times they’ve elected to throw the ball, they’ve struggled.
Leading rusher Luis Ramos finished the game with 120 yards on 11 carries for an average of 10.9 yds/carry. Ramos a 4-year starter, has proven to be the best running back in the group, but is not utilize enough. After Ramos scored the Tarpons only touchdown of the night, a 56-yard TD run, he wasn’t given another chance to run the ball until 19 offensive plays later, where he had a 32-yard gain.
Another item the team will have to improve on is the reduction of penalties. The team committed 10 costly penalties versus EE.
Defensively, the Tarpons did a decent job, stopping the Jackets in about half of their drives, but they had their struggles too. EE’s run game racked up 254 rushing yards with an average of 7.9 yds/carry. Roma’s run game will try to duplicate the Jackets’ performance. Since the Tarpons won’t have to worry about the Gladiators passing game, they can concentrate on stopping the runners and get back on the winning track.
Other week five results include, Kingsville 22, CC Moody 27; La Feria 14, Zapata 27; La Grulla 19, Valley View 20.
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