By CONSTANCIO MARTINEZ, JR.
Special to the PRESS
This past Friday, May 8 the Port Isabel Tarpons 7on7 team hosted the Brownsville St. Joseph Academy Bloodhounds in an exciting back and forth game.
Unlike traditional football, the field of play takes place within the 45-yard mark and the endzone. A team can get a first down every 15 yards, and they have three downs to achieve it, unless its within the final 15 yards where they have four downs to score.
As the game got underway, the Hounds offense took the field first. The PI defense quickly made a statement as PI’s Canelo Alvarez cut in front of the receiver and snagged the ball for an interception on the first play of the game. Alvarez tried to return the ball for the defensive score, but got stopped just five yards from scoring.
Meanwhile, the Tarpons’ offense got off to a rough start as they went 3-and-out and were unable to pick up a first down. On the Hounds ensuing drive, they quickly moved up to the 16-yard line on two completions, but that’s where their drive stalled.
The Tarpons performed much better in their second drive as QB Bryan Ramirez led them to a score in just four plays. During the scoring drive, receiver Logan Bennett had two receptions, a 14-yard completion and a 25-yard walk-in touchdown. A successful extra point reception by Alvaro Rocha gave PI an early 7-0 lead.
St. Joe’s first score came from their defense via an interception returned for a touchdown against PI back up QB Paxton Pena, as the teams were now tied at 7-7.
Not deterred, QB Pena led the Tarpons on a 3-play scoring drive on their next series, with the highlight play belonging to Bennett who secured a 35-yard reception. An unsuccessful extra point gave PI a 13-7 lead.
The Hounds responded with a 5-play scoring drive right before the half, tying the game up at 13-13.
The Tarpons opened up the second half with a scoring drive to take a 19-13 lead, but with both offenses firing in all cylinders in, St. Joe answered back to reclaim the lead at 20-19.
With eight minutes remaining in the game, St. Joe added another score and now led 26-19. PI responded soon after with Alvarez nabbing the crucial extra point play to tie the game up at 26-26.
With less than a minute left in the game, the Hounds attempted a long pass into the endzone, but PI’s Angel Dominguez made a great diving catch for the turnover.
In a last second play, PI QB Ramirez found Bennett in the corner of the endzone and the Tarpons secured a 32-26 win.
Although there are times the Tarpons struggle on both sides of the ball, the PI squad is looking better than usual at this point in the year. They will play a double header this Thursday, May 14 at Bro. Rivera HS as they take on San Benito (6 p.m.) and St. Joe (6:45 p.m.) in the second game.
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