GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
McALLEN — When McAllen Rowe quarterback Hector Bosquez was benched after starting 0 for 2 with an interception during Week 2, his formula for a rebound was simple.
“I needed to work harder,” he said.
Fast forward two weeks, and Bosquez is the leading passer in District 30-6A, spearheading a speedy offense that has shown flashes of strength amid an inconsistent first month.
Bosquez has amassed 537 yards and four touchdowns through the air in essentially three games, bouncing back from the benching in that 39-12 loss to Mercedes almost seamlessly.
“It was a horrible feeling, just knowing you were taken out,” Bosquez said. “I love to play. You just have to do whatever. Just do well in practice, and it’ll show up in the game.”
Bosquez certainly showed up Friday against Laredo United, completing 24 of 30 passes for 203 yards and a touchdown. He also ran 10 times for 32 yards and a score, giving him 276 yards rushing and three touchdowns for the year.
Although it wasn’t enough to keep Rowe from a lopsided 65-16 loss, the performance showed what the Warriors offense is capable of at its peak.
“Overall, we’re just coming together now,” Bosquez said. “All of those preseason games, we’re preparing just for our district season.”
Rowe’s offense is a fast, up-tempo group that relies on a strong running game and short-to mid-range passing. In addition to Bosquez, who wows teammates with his speed and arm strength, the Warriors have a pair of dynamic backs in the speedy Ino Rios and the powerful Jose Chavez. With Victor Adames back for his senior season and Joseph Moreno contributing as only a sophomore, Bosquez has no shortage of targets. And if Bosquez doesn’t show up, the Warriors have a reliable second option in John Perez, who has completed 24 of 46 passes for 313 yards in limited time.
Rowe is just 1-3, but the only thing holding the team back so far has been consistency, coach Paul Reyes said.
“It’s just a lack of focus,” Reyes said. “We make little mistakes, and they just compound on us. We’ve shown little glimpses of being a good offensive team. It’s something where we’re either making a wrong read, a missed block, a dropped pass. That’s what’s keeping us from going over the hump. … We’re on the verge of just being able to have a breakout game.”
Take Friday’s loss to United. Reyes said the Warriors turned the ball over twice in the red zone and dropped a sure touchdown pass. The defense missed three opportunities at interceptions, and all three possessions ended with scores. Eliminate the mistakes, and the game could be entirely different.
“I know we’re really good,” Chavez said. “Just sometimes, we make mistakes. Sometimes, we’re not fully prepared for our games. … We have the techniques. We have the tools. We have everything. We just need to get a little smarter and know what we’re doing a little bit more, and I think we’ll be fine.”
Part of that comes down to being a young group. Although the offense entered the year with six returning starters, many of them are young. Bosquez and Perez are both juniors, as is Chavez. Moreno, who leads the team’s wideouts with 15 catches for 206 yards, is a sophomore.
“I think we can do way better by the time we’re seniors and I’m a junior,” Moreno said.
Reyes agreed that the future looks promising, but he also needs to find ways to get those players to produce now.
The Warriors need to stop dwelling on mistakes, Reyes said, and Chavez added that sometimes he and his teammates have to be more mentally prepared. Reyes has tried to make that easy on them.
“We’ve simplified things a little bit more,” Reyes said. “Maybe we were asking a little too much. You go into a game, and you have to have this check, this check and this check. Now, we just eliminate those things.”
Bosquez said he knows the offense has the potential to “do some damage.” If a few weeks of growth and a simpler game plan can eliminate some mental errors, then the Warriors believe they will be dangerous in District 30-6A, which begins play this Friday when Rowe hosts La Joya Juarez-Lincoln.
“We think that if we can do the things that we’re capable of,” Reyes said, “we can be there right in the thick of the race.”