By CONSTANCIO MARTINEZ, JR.
Special to the PRESS
The 2025-2026 high school basketball season has officially begun for the PIECHS Tarpons. With two scrimmages under their belt, the team is ready for their opening away game against Macedonian Christian, scheduled for Tuesday, November 18, at 6 p.m.
This season’s team will start a new chapter in the annals of Port Isabel basketball history, as it will be the first season since 2019-2020 that a member of the Smith family will not be on the court. Twins Cleveland and Christian, along with their older brother Jeffrey, led the Tarpons through two breakout seasons from 2022 to 2024, going a combined 55-12 overall and 27-1 in district play, including a third-round trip to the playoffs.
Last season, the team finished with a 17-14 overall record and struggled to find the right combination of players to complement the Smith twins. By the end of the season, three sophomores — Shiloh Galvan, Marcos Baldovinos, and Eli Alvarez — had become solid contributors. The team managed to secure a trip to the playoffs and went 1-1 in the postseason. The twins’ final game was an exciting one, but they ultimately fell to the Wharton Tigers in a close 57-51 area-round matchup.
Fast forward to this season, and the returning players are no longer raw and timid — they’re coming back as veterans and leaders for the foreseeable future.
It’s still very early in the season, but Head Coach Gilbert Rodriguez has already seen growth in his returning players. “We just finished up our two scrimmages. Our team defense has shown improvement from last year so far,” said Coach Rodriguez. “Galvan, Baldovinos, and Aidan Ramos — all 11th graders — have also improved their game from last season.”
Similar to the start of last year, the team could struggle out of the gate until reinforcements arrive, as they’ll be without key players Alvarez and Grayson Estes, who are still participating in football.
The Tarpons will open the season with several away games before facing Brownsville St. Joe in their first home game on Tuesday, December 9, when they should be at full strength.