Rio Hondo finds the win column

RIO HONDO — The Rio Hondo Bobcats needed this one.

And the Port Isabel Tarpons didn’t need anymore turnovers.

So naturally, one led to the other.

PI led by one point at intermission but gave it away three times in the second half as the Bobcats hung on for a 31-21 win at Bobcat Stadium on Friday night.

Rio Hondo (1-4 overall, 1-1 District 32-3A) got its first ‘W’ of the season and perhaps no one was more relieved than head coach Rocky James.

“It feels great to FINALLY get that first win of ’09,” James said. “And we did it against a real good football team.”
The Tarpons (1-4, 0-2) once again did themselves in, giving the Bobcats 18 points off of giveaways.

“I wish I knew what it would take,” PI head coach Monty Stumbaugh said of stopping the turnovers. “We got down, fought back, but then we start making mistakes. It’s a game of momentum.”

Rio Hondo came out charged up and it showed on offense.

Quarterback Isaiah De la Cruz (20 carries, 130 yards, 3 TDs) scored on nifty runs of 25 and 27 yards to put the Cats up 13-0 with 2:05 to go in the first quarter.

But then, good ol’ fashioned Tarpon Football showed up and things got interesting.

Behind power football via the ground game, PI clawed back into the game early in the second quarter.

Five straight running plays led to a tough 15-yard scoring run by Joe Vega (18-132, 2 TDs) to close it to 13-7 with 5:35 left in the half.

A Bobcat punt gave it back to the Tarpons and they again looked like vintage PI.

An 11-play, 88-yard drive (which included a big 4th-and-9 conversion) culminated with a nine-yard TD run by Vega around right end. Jesus Martinez’s point after gave PI the 14-13 edge with 36 ticks left before half.

“We challenged the kids at the half and we had to make some adjustments,” James said.
Challenge answered.

The Cats slowed the PI run game and forced a punt.

That allowed Rio Hondo to mount its own 13-play, 94 yard drive that ended with a TD run by Trevor David to make it 19-14 Rio Hondo with 1:59 left in the third.

Then the story of the recent Port Isabel struggles came to life.

PI fumbled the ensuing kickoff, but held the Cats out of the end zone.

But their next drive ended with Kyle DeMoss being picked off by Eliseo Adame off a tipped ball.

On the next play, Rio Hondo put it away when Alan Garza darted up the gut for a 25-yard scoring scamper, making it 25-14.

Then a wayward pitch gave it back to the Cats, who scored again when De la Cruz notched his third TD, an eight-yarder. With 7:53 to go.

PI scored late on a DeMoss-to-Blake Sapp connection, but the damage had been done.

“We can’t do those types of things against good football teams,” Stumbaugh said. “We don’t have any options, we’ve got to win out now.”

For Rio Hondo, James is hoping the win is the beginning of something good.

“I’m hoping this win is the spark that will carry over in the weeks to come,” James said. “PI is well-coached and that turnover on the kickoff was a big one. It was a momentum game. They had it and then we got it back.”