2-A-Days Article Port Isabel

[footballgal]

VIDEO
http://www.rgvsports.com/articles/days_231___article.xml/isabel_port.html

ARTICLE
http://www.rgvsports.com/articles/stumbaugh_234___article.xml/tarpons_season.html

Two-A-Days: Port Isabel
Peter Rasmussen
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Aug 15, 2007 8:33 pm


PORT ISABEL — Recent slow starts have been as much a part of Port Isabel’s tradition as district championships.

During Tarpons coach Monty Stumbaugh’s tenure, which began in 2001, PI has not won a season opener. In 2003, the season the Tarpons reached the Class 3A state semifinals, PI began the season 1-2.

Last season, the Tarpons started 0-2 before reeling off nine consecutive victories to clinch the District 32-3A championship.

“I like to say its not how you start, but how you finish,” Stumbaugh said. “Last year, we lost our first two but we ended up winning eight in a row, something like that.”

In 2005, the Tarpons were 0-5 to start the season and finished 4-6 that year, but the strong finish gave the Tarpons another playoff berth.

“It is nothing planned,” Stumbaugh said. “We would like to start off strong. I think part of it has to do with the fact that we play strong teams. My main concern is getting my kids healthy and ready for district. Don’t get me wrong, we would like to go 10-0, but we just haven’t been able to do it.”

PI and the rest of the Rio Grande Valley Class 3A schools have more opportunities to stumble before district starts because league play doesn’t get jumping until Week 7. The Tarpons’ Week 0 opponent, Edcouch-Elsa, has won 36 consecutive regular-season contests.

“It always takes a while for us to warm up,” Tarpons quarterback David Alaniz said. “We were disappointed with the way we started last year. We are hoping it changes.”

POSITION BATTLES
Stumbaugh said, because he attempts to keep players from going both ways, there are a few positions that are still up for grabs. What he is most concerned with is his offensive line.

“I would say (the OL) is important,” Stumbaugh said. “The entire left side of the line is a big battle.”

Center Ryan Garcia, right guard Alex Betancourt and right tackle Jonathan Bodden have their spots locked up but left guard will come down to senior Josue Medina and junior Raul Lopez. Battling for left tackle are junior Danny Cisneros and Justin Cantu.

“We play Los Fresnos and Mercedes in scrimmages and then Edcouch in Week 0,” Stumbaugh said. “I think, by the time we get through those schools, we will have a good idea who will be where.”

TURNING UP THE HEAT
Stumbaugh said he doesn’t like to compare teams, but said in some ways this year’s squad reminds him of the 2003 semifinal team. But before the community starts reserving tickets for a deep postseason run, Stumbaugh said the teams also are very different.

“I don’t like to compare this team to the 2003 team because it is taken out of context,” Stumbaugh said. “I have read, ‘that this team is just like the 2003 team.’ That is not the case.
“What is similar about the two teams is the attitude. Both teams have the hunger to win. But the 2003 team was a lot quicker and a lot bigger.”

The biggest praise Stumbaugh had for the 2007 team has been its offseason workout.

“Practice looks a lot better than it did last season,” Tarpons running back Nolan Nuñez said. “We just like to work together. After work or whatever we would all come in and workout.”

THE SKINNY
Stumbaugh also doesn’t like talking about who is PI’s rival these days.
“I think just because we are Port Isabel, we have a target on our back,” Stumbaugh said. “Everybody wants to beat us.”

During the last two seasons, the PI-Rio Hondo match has determined the District 32-3A championship.

“I heard from some of the older people who have been around that Rio Hondo and PI used to be big rivals back in the day,” Stumbaugh said. “I don’t know. That is just what I was told.”

Most believe the Nov. 2 district game between the Bobcats and Tarpons will determine the championship again.

“It will be exactly the same,” Alaniz said. “We just let teams talk. The way I see it is that whoever comes out to play will win it.”

[footballgal]

http://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/html/sports.htm

http://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/images/sports1.jpg


By LOGAN HAWKES
Port Isabel-South Padre PRESS

School bells may be ringing soon for most Laguna Madre area students but already a select group of uniformed kids have begun preparing for the new year with sweat, grit and pure determination. Like soldiers preparing for battle, they have started their school year early, braving late summer temperatures and digging deep into the trenches of the Port Isabel High School grounds in search of glory and in the name of tradition.
No, these are not your typical school club members restless for the start of another year of science fairs, reading groups or study halls. These are the warriors that wear the blue and white colors of competitive sport who flock like eager gladiators each year to the football field in search of the promised glory that awaits each Friday night during the Texas high school football season. They are model students. They are dedicated athletes. They are the Tarpons of the new year, and they have come to fight, to work, and to win.
The Port Isabel Tarpon football program is underway with summer drills being held each day, and like draftees arriving for boot camp, these athletes are flooding on to the field at PIHS for another year of football glory and a chance to carry the proverbial baton of Grid Iron tradition into a new year.
Tarpon head coach Monty Stumbaugh reports while it's too early to predict what kind of season it might turn out to be, he says he is pleased that the majority of his players "reported in this year ready to play football."
"Most of these kids worked hard on their own throughout the summer. Many of them worked in the weight room throughout the summer. I would see them running on their own throughout the summer. So I would say we are starting the season out the right way," Stumbaugh reports.
"We have some concerns of course. We lost our front four (through graduation) and we're looking for the right players to step up now. And many of these players are young, so it's definitely a year of rebuilding," added the coach. "But we have some good athletes and if we can settle in and meet the day to day challenges, we should be okay."
Stumbaugh says the Port Isabel football tradition runs deep and there is little motivation or pressure the coaching staff has to put on the players.
"Believe me, they feel plenty of pressure to carry on the winning tradition of Port Isabel. The last thing our coaching staff needs to do is to motivate the players to live up to that standard. Our job is to help them mature and to take that pressure and turn it into a positive," he said.
Stumbaugh says he's pleased so far that this years field of players have good attitudes. He says they have "come ready to play", and he says he is hopeful they can settle down to the fundamentals and learn to play well together as a team before the season starts.
"We have the same schedule as we did last year and we'll be facing some pretty tough non-district teams in the beginning. Three of the five non-district games involve play off teams and our job is cut out for us early on," coach Stumbaugh says. "But by the time we open district play in October, we hope to be where we need to be to have a successful season."
Stumbaugh, who played his high school ball on a tough Odessa Permian Basin team, says he feels some of the same type of spirit and commitment to football in Port Isabel.
"We teach our players from the start that our goal is to win a state championship. It's not so important that we actually win it, but to believe in ourselves enough to know we can compete for all the glory," he adds.
Tarpon season opens Aug. 31 on the road in a game against Edcouch-Elsa.

[footballgal]

Video 1st week of practice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6YsI7gkMso

[Old Tiger]

Originally posted by footballgal
Video 1st week of practice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6YsI7gkMso It sure is windy down there!

[footballgal]

yeap, we get the SP Island breeze from the gulf and sometimes sand in your eyes.

[Old Tiger]

Originally posted by footballgal
yeap, we get the SP Island breeze from the gulf. SP Island :inlove: :inlove:

[footballgal]

S L I C E O F L I F E

• P O RT I S A B E L

http://epaper.valleystar.com/Repository/getimage.dll?path=VMS/2007/08/16/2/Img/Pc0021000.jpg
Joe Hermosa/Valley Morning Star Port Isabel assistant coach Roger Delgadillo works with the offensive line at the junior varsity and freshman level for the Tarpons. He played with the 1994 Port Isabel team, which became the second Tarpons’ squad to reach the state semifinals in football.

Familiar territory
Tarpons assistant football coach glad to be back home

By PAUL CONATZER
paulc@valleystar.com 956-430-6286

Submit Slice of Life suggestions to Managing Editor Lucio Castillo or City Editor Charlene Vandini at 430-6244 or charlenev@valleystar.com.

PORT ISABEL
— Sometimes you can go home again.
And sometimes it’s the best thing you can do.
It was the best thing for Port Isabel assistant coach Roger Delgadillo.
Delgadillo, who works with the offensive line at the junior varsity and freshman level for the Tarpons, was an integral cog in the 1994 Port Isabel team, which became the second Tarpons’ squad to reach the state semifinals in football.
“I really wanted to come back,” he said. “I was working in at Galena Park in the Houston area and I saw a job in Port Isabel in 2005.”
Delgadillo called Robert Holland, a Port Isabel assistant, who was also on the staff when Delgadillo played and was offered the job at Port Isabel Junior High.
Delgadillo was moved up to working with the freshman and JV this season.
“It feels good to be back here,” said Delgadillo, who said he took a paycut to leave the Houston area. “It’s home and I really wanted to coach.”
He had been trying to break into the coaching ranks in Houston, but hadn’t got a suitable job offer.
“It was tough to break into coaching at Galena Park,” he said.
In Port Isabel, tradition is big and Delgadillo is proud to be part of that tradition.
“A lot of the kids know about the years I played. I grew up watching the Tarpons and it was great to be a part of that ’94 team.’’
That ’94 team, which Delgadillo was a part of, has to be ranked as one of the Valley’s finest. The Tarpons went 13-1-1 on the way to reaching the state semifinals, including a dramatic elimination of state powerhouse Cuero. Delgadillo was a first team all-state offensive tackle that season.
Currently, he’s teaching social studies and Delgadillo really enjoys teaching and the impact and influence a teacher can have.
“The best part of teaching is interacting with the kids. When you walk into the classroom and start teaching there is a look in their eyes. It’s such a cool feeling.”
And while there are things Delgadillo does miss about living in the big city, he finds it hard to imaginge being anywhere else.
“I miss things like being able to go to an Astros’ game, but I have the utmost loyalty to Port Isabel and I couldn’t imagine coaching anywhere else in the Valley.”