Tarpons come from behind to top Valley View at home, 36-25

PORT ISABEL — The Port Isabel Tarpons had to rally to pick up their first win of the 2009 season by defeating Valley View 36-25 on Friday at Tarpon Stadium.

The Tarpons (1-1), coming off last week’s 26-20 loss at West Oso, trailed 12-0 before restoring order for the Port Isabel faithful.

"We knew Valley View was going to play us hard, and our guys did a great job (of coming back)," Tarpons coach Monty Stumbaugh said. "I’m hoping we’re getting all the bad things like fumbles and penalties out of our system. We moved the ball, but you just can’t make mistakes. Our guys gave another great effort. We just have to keep working on doing the little things right."

Valley View (1-1) went ahead 6-0 in the first quarter on a 22-yard pass from quarterback Teddy Trejo to Miguel Mata with 5:20 showing, and then added another TD to go up 12-0 when Jose Cuellar scooped up a Tarpons fumble and returned it 67 yards to the end zone with 3:23 left in the opening period. Both conversions failed.

Port Isabel rallied with a pair of scores in the second quarter as QB Kyle DeMoss kept 2 yards up the middle to make it 12-6 with 5:56 to go before halftime after a run for two points failed. DeMoss connected with Laurence Gonzalez on three long passes near the end of the second quarter to put the Tarpons ahead 13-12 when Gonzalez made a reception over the middle and took it in for the score to complete a 20-yard TD play with 30 seconds left in the half. Jesus Martinez’s kick gave the Tarpons a 13-12 advantage.

Joe Vega and DeMoss rushed for 141 and 119 yards, respectively. DeMoss rushed for a pair of scores and passed for a couple more. Vega scored once.

DeMoss’ 25-yard TD pass to Matthew Garza with 8:17 showing in the third quarter made it 20-12 after Martinez’s kick. The Tarpons added a safety for a 22-12 lead with 11:58 remaining when the Tigers hiked the ball over their punter’s head and out of the back of the end zone. DeMoss scampered 23 yards untouched to the end zone with 10:14 left to make it 29-12 after another kick by Martinez.

Derrick Cantu caught a 57-yard TD bomb from Trejo to pull the Tigers to within 29-18 with 9:02 to go. Then Valley View made it 29-25 on a 19-yard scoring pass from Trejo to Roberto Castillo with 5:24 left.

A 3-yard burst up the middle by Vega with 2:06 showing boosted the lead to 36-25 for the Tarpons.

Valley View (1-1) opened the season with a 28-21 win last week over Progreso, but just couldn’t duplicate that success against the Tarpons, who beat the Tigers 17-3 last year in Pharr and now control a 4-0 edge in the overall series between the two teams.

Port Isabel continues its non-district schedule at home next Friday against Edcouch-Elsa. The Tigers will play host to Raymondville the same night.

Roy Hess writes for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him via e-mail at rhess@brownsvilleherald.com.