Port Isabel, Tx. – Growing up around the turn of the millennium, we weren’t used to leaving town much. And if we did, there was a good reason.

So as a kid who liked to travel, I’d always pray for two things to hit Port Isabel: hurricanes, and deep playoff runs.

The 90’s

I was only a baby when the Tarpons beat nationally-ranked Cuero and reached the state semifinals in 1994. I never got to witness that team, but I do remember attending a football game at the old stadium later that decade:

I remember the entrance being so packed that an overflow of cars had begun lining the sides of Highway 100, hordes of fans donned in blue and white making their way towards the field, hoping not to miss the opening kickoff. We parked across the highway, in front of a purple building shaped like an octopus (I think the same building got moved to Laguna Heights years later).

Anyways, walking across Highway 100 and looking up at the old, wooden bleachers is where my memory of 90’s Tarpon lore begins and ends.

It wasn’t until the early 2000’s that I really began to bleed blue.

Nearly a decade removed from the historic ’94 run – and even longer since the vaunted 1981 team pitched 6 shutouts on their trip to the Semifinals – household names like “Gabe Villareal,” “Donald Guillot,” “Gilbert Verduzco,” “Hank Ethridge,” “Jimmy Gonzalez,” “Rumaldo Ortiz,” “Pancho Herrera,” “Roger Delgadillo,” “Terry Roberts,” “George Dorsett,” “Noel Garza,” & “Tuffy Martinez,” among others, were no longer around to carry the tradition.

And after Head Coach Tony Villarreal’s departure in 1996 – marking the end of a remarkable five-year run in his first stint with the program – the Tarpons suffered a couple of lackluster seasons, even missing the playoffs in ‘99.

But by 2001, a new generation of legends were entering the spotlight, playing on a new field and under a new skipper.

Return to Glory

Enter Coach Monty Stumbaugh, the ramblin’ redneck from West Texas. In his first year at the helm, “Stump” led the Tarpons to both their first district championship & playoff win since ‘97. He implemented his own version of the Power-I offense, relying on multiple-tight end sets and an option-style playbook, including tosses, counters, and bootlegs, all designed to “outflank” the opponent.

Defensively, freshmen Frankie Herrera was just at the start of his illustrious varsity career. The young middle linebacker, led by a group of hard-nosed veterans, was helping to usher in a new era of the “Seawall.” This was the last group of Tarpons to be coached by the late, legendary Eliseo Villareal, or “Coach V,” who spent 30+ seasons establishing Port Isabel as one of the most feared defensive units in South Texas.

So by the time Fall 2002 rolled around, expectations were high. The players had just tasted a playoff victory the season prior, and Tarpon nation was itching for more.

Led by Senior running back Joey Loera, tight end Kevin “K.K.” Kallus, Junior quarterback Gabriel Alvarez & a disciplined offensive line, Port Isabel went on to capture their second consecutive 32-3a title before dismantling the Bishop Badgers 43-13 in a bi-district matchup at SAMS Stadium.

The victory would land the Tarpons back in the Area round of the playoffs, but this year, they didn’t just have more to prove…. they had more to stop.

Their opponent, Aransas Pass, came in hoisting one of the most highly touted prospects to ever come out of South Texas.

Running back Tommy Blake, a future TCU Horned Frog & Dave Campbell’s Magazine Cover player, had already made a name for himself before the 2002 high school football playoffs.

Entering the matchup vs. P.I., Blake had amassed over 2,000 yards rushing and 20+ touchdowns in his senior campaign, sending shockwaves throughout recruiting circles and opposing defenses.

He wasn’t exactly crushed by the seawall, rushing for 170 yards and all three of the Panthers’ touchdowns, but the D1-commit took a harsh beating as the night wore on, especially at the hands of defensive tackles Edmundo “Mundo” Ramirez and Jeffrey Martinez.

On the final snap of Blake’s high school career, he was famously stuffed behind the line of scrimmage and driven into the dirt by linebacker Dante Delgadillo [legend has it, Blake was injured on the play; he would not re-enter the game].

P.I.’s Defense also forced the Panthers to commit several turnovers throughout the evening, including an impressive strip-interception by Josh Trejo in the closing minutes of the first half.

The offensive workload was carried by a slew of big-time playmakers, including the dual threat quarterback, Alvarez, who reeled off big gains on the ground all night, as well as a first-half passing touchdown to sophomore WR/DB Orlando “Lando” Ochoa, who also handled punting duties for the Tarpons (he’d go on to be Alvarez’ successor at quarterback for the 2004 season).

Trailing 13-7 entering the fourth quarter, P.I. continued delivering big hits and mixing up their playbook to try and outlast the favored Panthers.

Sophomore Johnny “Nitro” Nieto would score on a “T39 pitch” halfway through the period, before Blake answered back with his own 58-yard rushing touchdown to give Aransas Pass a 19-14 lead with time winding down.

Stumbaugh would then orchestrate his first of many game-winning playoff drives that have defined Tarpon football throughout history.

Starting at their own 36-yard line with 5:02 to play, P.I. picked up a few big gains on the ground before Alvarez dropped back and delivered a beautiful 31-yard pass to Junior Misael “Missle” Iracheta that set P.I. up with a first-&-goal.

The series was capped off by the workhorse senior Joey Loera, who punched in the game-winning touchdown from nine yards out to secure the victory, propelling Port Isabel to the Regional round of the playoffs for the first time since 1996.

Final:

Port Isabel – 20

Aransas Pass – 19

_{*Special thanks to Coach Johnny Nieto for posting the full game on Youtube. I was too young to remember all those details, but I felt like the game recap was important for this post.}

> You can view the full game here <

The Tarpon Fan Charter Bus

The first time I would consider myself a true “Tarpon Fan” came the following Saturday.

We were out of the house before sunrise that morning. My dad woke us up, said put something blue on, and then we headed out to the car. It was him, my older brother, and me. I wasn’t quite sure what we were doing or where we were going yet, but like I said, if it meant we were travelling, I was down for the journey.

In my mind, I’m thinking we might stop at the old “Gutierrez” market for a couple breakfast tacos before we leave town, but to my stomach’s dismay, we didn’t even make it to Laguna Heights.

Instead, we turned into the high school parking lot, where a tall set of headlights lit up the sky.

Those lights belonged to a Greyhound charter bus. My dad quickly explained that instead of driving to the game ourselves, we were going to hop on the bus with dozens of other Tarpon fans en route to the regional matchup vs. Bandera later that day in Seguin.

As a clueless 9-year old, I just grabbed my CD player – I was listening to Linkin Park’s first album “Hybrid Theory” on repeat at that time- and hoped for the best.

I was still half-asleep as I made that first walk up the steps, but I was quickly woken up by the smell of coffee permeating throughout the bus. The first two people I noticed were a pair of ladies from the original group of Tarpon fans: Mrs. Esperanza B. Garza, and her sister, Mrs. Viola Guillot, who had attended nearly every football game since the program’s inception in 1950.

They had already made themselves comfortable in the front row, playing a card game and slurping down their mugs before the bus driver even cranked the engine. They were quick to show off the little “noise makers” they made for the game – old soda cans stuffed with pinto beans [Those old school fans were a different breed].

As we made our way towards the back of the bus, I recognized a couple of other familiar faces. Among the diehards who made the journey that day were well-known locals Bernie Mota, Robe “El Sponja,” James Green, his air guitar, Alfredo Mata, & “Fili Fly.” Even some future Tarpon greats, like James Delgado & Esteven Montelongo, were on the charter bus that day.

Whether you were old or young, future player or ex-cheeleader, or choosing between a coffee and a Budweiser, one thing was for certain: we were all in this together for the next 12 hours.

The first half of the trip was pretty nondescript. Once everyone’s nerves settled, and we realized there was only one bathroom for us to all share, the ride became no more than a waiting game.

It wasn’t until we reached King Rach that the action picked up.

While stopped at the Sarita checkpoint, a Border patrol officer stepped inside the bus to do a routine check. Unfortunately, a man seated a few rows ahead of us, sporting a Los Fresnos Falcons letterman jacket, was questioned by officers for a minute before being escorted off the bus. He would not be allowed to re-board. I’ve always wondered what happened to that guy…

Once we got to the stadium, I figured all the people from the bus would just sit together in the stands, but that wasn’t the case. We all went our separate ways and were told to meet back at the Greyhound after the final buzzer.

I can’t recall much of the Bandera game itself, except for a couple of long kickoff returns by Joe Arevelo, but I do remember the halftime break. I believe P.I. was down by a few points, and Tarpon fans decided to show their support for the team by making two long lines down the walkway leading from the field house, offering encouragement and patting players on their shoulder pads as they walked back towards the field for the third quarter.

I remember The Tarpons taking the lead at one point in the second half, and then an injury stopped play for a bit. Sometime after the injury, Port Isabel sent out their punt unit but only had 10 men on the field (it might have been due to the injury. I’ve heard a few different takes over the years). Nevertheless, the punt was blocked and recovered near the endzone by Bandera, who capitalized on the costly mistake.

The Tarpons had another chance to take the lead late in the game but dropped a crucial pass in bulldog territory with time winding down. Bandera would edge out the Tarpons 27-24 and go on to win the 3A Division ll State Championship three weeks later.

The silence in that greyhound bus on the way home was deafening. I don’t remember hearing any more card games, any more “go big blues”, or any more beer cans being cracked (okay, I could still hear the beer cans). Tarpon fans sure let the losses sting.

But I’ll never forget that day. You could feel the spirit in the air from the second you got on the bus till the moment we got back. In those 12 hours I learned what it meant to be a Tarpon, win or lose. At nine years old, that was probably the peak of my existence up to that point.

We’d hop aboard the Tarpon Fan Charter Bus again in 2003 to watch Port Isabel take on Liberty Hill in the third round. My biggest memory from that game was Frankie Herrera folding the Panthers’ quarterback in half on one play; a hit so hard it was made into a poster that hung on the wall at Mata’s Meat Market for years.

That, and those sick “Hard Hit Cafe” t-shirts they were selling outside the stadium.

As everyone knows, the Tarpons won the game vs. Liberty Hill, 35-27, on their road to the state semifinals.

But nothing will ever beat that first experience on the charter bus I had in 2002. It ignited my lifelong passion for Tarpon Football.

To everyone who was on the bus that day, and anyone who played ball for the Tarpons in the 2000’s, I hope you enjoyed your ride as much as I enjoyed mine. Thanks for the memories.

Go Big Blue.