GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
Before the season began, La Joya Palmview set the same goal as just about every other team across the Valley: have a winning year and make the playoffs.
Coming off a 1-9 season at a program that had never reached the playoffs or won more than five games, those aims hardly seemed realistic.
But now, heading into Week 8, Palmview already has a chance to all but clinch both goals. A win against McAllen Rowe at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at La Joya Stadium would move the Lobos to 5-1-1 and 3-0 in district with three games to play.
“The kids are playing at a different level right now,” coach Margarito Requenez said. “They’re excited. They’re motivated. We’re taking this week as if it’s a playoff week. We’ve never experienced that, but we’re hyped up. We’re going to make sure that we win this one just to secure a spot.”
Like every coach, Requenez wants the Lobos to continue to focus on the next week’s opponent rather than the standings. But, this season, the results and their implications have been impossible to ignore.
“This is a big game for us,” Requenez said. “It’s a huge step. If we do get by Rowe, our future for the playoffs looks very bright.”
Although Palmview is 1-11 all-time against schools from McAllen, the Lobos arguably enter this matchup as the favorite. Palmview averages more than 300 yards per game on the ground behind the potent combo of Freddy Villarreal and Jose Bernal, and the team is 2-0 in district with wins against Mission High and La Joya High.
Rowe, meanwhile, has been struggling. The Warriors are 1-2 in district and have won just one of their last six games overall — against struggling La Joya Juarez-Lincoln. Although Rowe has faced a difficult schedule, the Warriors have not been competitive of late, losing their past three games by an averaged of 44.7 points per game.
Still, Requenez knows to expect a test. Rowe offers a different type of challenge, as the only team in the district to pick up more yards through the air than on the ground.
“I can’t really say how we’re going to face against them passing wise, because we haven’t really been tested that way,” Requenez said. “So it’s going to be something different.”
Despite the statistical success, Rowe’s passing game has been highly unstable in recent weeks.
Quarterback Hector Bosquez, who led the District in passing through six weeks, has taken a back seat to John Perez as a result of ineffective play and coach Paul Reyes’ need to use his athleticism at other positions.
Perez showed well in last week’s loss to McAllen High, completing 17 of 28 passes for 162 yards and two touchdowns against one interception.
Reyes is sticking to the “one week at a time” mantra, but he admits that he always has an eye on the standings.
The Warriors were considered a near-lock for the playoffs coming into the year, but a loss would drop Rowe to 1-3 in district and give Mission, La Joya High or La Joya Juarez-Lincoln a chance to potentially make a run at the fourth and final playoff spot.
“We know the best situation is for us to win out the year, and we’ll be in good shape,” Reyes said. “Every game is very important, so we’re taking it as that.”