PORT ISABEL 43 BISHOP 14

[footballgal]

Way to GO BIG BLUE!!
Congratulations! The last two weeks seemed like a long two weeks, (the Progreso game and the open week).

The score should have been 43-0, actually it was until like 9min in the 4th Qtr. Coach puts in the JV team hmmm... and that's how the Badgers got 14.

<small>[ November 16, 2002, 12:36 PM: Message edited by: footballgal ]</small>

[sinton66]

Congratulations Tarpons!

[eye of the tiger]

Congrats to the Tarpons on your big win. I had the pleasure of meeting a couple of nice young men with Blue letter jackets with a big PI on them at the Commerce/Pilot Point game. In the madness of the game I didnt get their names, but Port I should be proud of these two grads.

[SintonFan]

Wow! Congrats on the big win Tarpons! I got to listen to a little of this game and it got boring fast. Jeez, 14-0 four minutes into the game? I started thinking Bagder stew... Badger Gumbo... Badger soup... Badger strips... fried Badger... wink . It really didn't matter, yall cooked em.
It was neat that I got to hear some of the nicknames by the Bishop announcers like Missile and Nitro(I think that was right). Good luck next week! AP will be a little tougher. :D

<small>[ November 16, 2002, 12:52 AM: Message edited by: SintonFan ]</small>

[footballgal]

SintonFan:
Wow! Congrats on the big win Tarpons! I got to listen to a little of this game and it got boring fast. Jeez, 14-0 four minutes into the game? I started thinking Bagder stew... Badger Gumbo... Badger soup... Badger strips... fried Badger... wink . It really didn't matter, yall cooked em.
It was neat that I got to hear some of the nicknames by the Bishop announcers like Missile and Nitro(I think that was right). Good luck next week! AP will be a little tougher. :D What station did you hear the game on, what station was that on? It's been a few years since I knew that the Tarpons were on the radio.

[footballgal]

eye of the tiger:
Congrats to the Tarpons on your big win. I had the pleasure of meeting a couple of nice young men with Blue letter jackets with a big PI on them at the Commerce/Pilot Point game. In the madness of the game I didnt get their names, but Port I should be proud of these two grads.EOFT; I think that was TFINT (TARPON FAN IN NORTH TEXAS) and his friend and former team mate, I can't recall his name right now. TFINT said he was making two games this weekend.

[footballgal]

Hey TFINT, PLEASE CHECK YOUR PM.

[Big Tarp 74]

I had heard all week that Bishop was going to beat us bad. They also stated we were going to see speed for the first time, and that we did not have a crowd to follow us. Do not know were they got their info, but it darn sure cost them last night. For most of the season, I had been stating we were very very fast. Bishop found out quick just how fast we are. I was just very sad that Bishop number 21 got hurt. One of their fans told me he suffered a broken coller bone. It is alway bad when someone get hurt. He was a good ball player. Bishop was fast, for some reason they thought they were faster than Port Isabel, until missel raced by them. When talking to the Bishop fans, they stated they had not see that kinda speed. That boy is very very fast, but so was so many others. Bishop fans stated we could not key on all of these speedsters all at once. Just when we thought we had Port Isabel stoped, they would bust a run for 20 yards or more.

[big daddy russ]

Congratulations, Port Isabel. I'm going to get to see what all this fuss with your team is about this week. It'll be fun to watch a high-octane squad like yours, and it should be a great game. Your speed (and I hear you have a lot of it) against the Panthers' size. If you get past AP, good luck in the playoffs... IF you get past AP!!! wink Here's to a good, clean game and no injuries to either side.

[TarponFanInNorthTexas]

Here's the newspaper article regarding the Port Isabel/Bishop matchup. I'll add a couple of changes to it that might help.

Tarpons give Bishop the hook

By GREG SELBER
Star Correspondent
BROWNSVILLE — If it’s November, count on Port Isabel, a team which seems to play better as the shadows on the year grow long.

The Tarpons, who have sat out the state high school football playoffs just twice since the Camp David accords, made their latest foray into the postseason a winner, 43-14 over the Bishop Badgers here Friday night in Class 3A Division II action.

The usual scouting report on PI, now 8-2, goes something like this: HAH! I DELETED IT!!! Y'ALL DON'T NEED TO KNOW THIS UNTIL WHEN WE PLAY AP!

Against the 31-3A Badgers, the Fighting Fish (why don't they just refer to us as Tarpons instead of "fish"?) made that a reality once again, scoring 14 quick points in the first five minutes and cruising to an easy win.

In doing so, PI advances to the next challenge, and gained a measure of revenge in the process, for it was Bishop (8-3) who smashed them 54-26 back in the bi-district round of 1997. The two teams also faced off in 1983, with PI winning 35-3 in the area round.

This time around, it was the Tarpons forcing an amazing eight turnovers on a chilly night at Sams Stadium, as the Badgers never got a chance to settle in before being down 14.

The Tarpons deferred to start the game, kicked off, and took over at the Badger 21 after they forced a 13-yard Bishop punt into the wind with 10:18 left in the first. Johnny Nieto, who set the tone with a vicious tackle on the opening kickoff, scored from the three at 8:38 for a 7-0 lead.

Shortly thereafter, Bishop failed again on special teams, as a punt snap went sailing over the head of Dariel Rios and into the end zone, where PI’s Jonathan Hoshino corraled it for a TD with 7:01 gone.

The Tarpons added a 23-yard field goal from Erick Martinez soon after, and led 17-0 after one quarter.

Bishop ran 10 plays for a total of minus-20 yards in the early going, and simply got outclassed in the first half.

Port Isabel drove 78 yards on 10 plays for a 24-0 halftime lead when Gabe Alvarez scored from the two with 24 seconds left in the second quarter. Alvarez, formerly known as a great runner and very occasional passer, looped a 24-yard ball to Joey Loera (149 yards rushing on 17 carries) to spearhead that late drive, as PI went to the lockers at the break firmly in control.

Bishop continued to stumble in the second half, eventually ending with six lost fumbles and a pair of intecepted passes.

The Badgers gained 91 yards on two late plays, including a scintillating 58-yard TD reception by Michael Esparza on which he ran at least 100 yards in zig-zagging across the field three times for their last score.

Other than that, they picked up 80 yards for a total of 171 for the game.

PI did not have an outstanding game on offense, but the turnovers were the key as the Seawall Defense lived up to its billing all night. The Tarps rushed for 242 yards and Alvarez was five of 12 for 72 yards.

"We weren’t as sharp as we are going to need to be," said PI Coach Monty Stumbaugh, whose team will face off against the winner of a bi-district match between Cotulla and Aransas Pass.

"But we did force the turnovers, and we did some good things when we needed to," he said.

Misael Iracheta scored on a 27-yard TD pass in the third quarter, and Loera and Nieto added short runs for scores to round out the PI charge.

In becoming a playoff staple, the Tarpons have gone three-deep into the playoffs an astounding 10 times, including state semi-final appearances in 1981 and 1994. They ticked off an awesome string of lateseason runs from 1979-1984, rolling three-deep in five of six seasons.

Still, the win against Bishop ended a recent dry spell in postseason play. Since a third-round loss to Sealy in 1996, PI had lost four of five playoff games, with the lone win coming in bi-district last season versus San Diego.

Their 29th career playoff win in the books, the Tarps now continue, as teams drop like flies and the march to the state title game commences. If teams keep on giving them easy chances like Bishop did, there could be another winter fairy tale in store for the Fighting Fish (WE'RE TARPONS, DANGIT!!!) of the South Texas coast.

[footballgal]

footballgal:

eye of the tiger:
Congrats to the Tarpons on your big win. I had the pleasure of meeting a couple of nice young men with Blue letter jackets with a big PI on them at the Commerce/Pilot Point game. In the madness of the game I didnt get their names, but Port I should be proud of these two grads.EOFT; I think that was TFINT (TARPON FAN IN NORTH TEXAS) and his friend and former team mate, I can't recall his name right now. TFINT said he was making two games this weekend.Actually I found out it was not TFINT, he was sitting down like a good little boy during the halftime.

<small>[ November 16, 2002, 06:46 PM: Message edited by: footballgal ]</small>

[SintonFan]

footballgal:
What station did you hear the game on, what station was that on? It's been a few years since I knew that the Tarpons were on the radio.</strong>[/QUOTE]

The game was broadcast on 1330 AM (KINE). It's a Corpus station.

<small>[ November 16, 2002, 09:23 PM: Message edited by: SintonFan ]</small>

[footballgal]

SintonFan:

footballgal:
What station did you hear the game on, what station was that on? It's been a few years since I knew that the Tarpons were on the radio.The game was broadcasted on 1330 AM (KINE). It's a Corpus station.</strong>[/QUOTE]

Oh K Thanks SintonFan!