Rowe Warriors on tonight’s schedule
Palmview senior fullback Kyle Bazan has carried most of the workload on the ground this season for the 3-0 Lobos. Progress Times photo by Mario Magallon.
Tonight, McAllen’s Veterans Memorial Stadium will host a District 16-5A matchup between the 0-3 Rowe Warriors and the 3-0 Palmview Lobos. This game marks the beginning of the district schedule for both of these teams. For one of these teams, a win will get them started on the right foot while a loss will set them back to begin the season.
The Lobos are taking a three game non-district win streak into this game. Despite being non-district games, these wins are nothing short of impressive. The 35-14 win over the PSJA South Javelinas in Week 1 and the 42-27 win over the Lopez Lobos in Week 3 were great on their own. They demonstrated how powerful the Lobos’ rushing offense is combined with their hard-nosed defense. The win that truly catches the eye though is the 28-14 win over the Roma Gladiators. The same Roma Gladiators that won a district championship last season. The Lobos took care of their business on offense with their elite rushing attack and showed who had the better defense against a district championship winning caliber of a team. This shows the massive improvements that they’ve made over the offseason.
This week, the Warriors are going to have to deal with the array of rushers that the Lobos possess. Senior Kyle Bazan has handled most of the workload for them, but the Lobos aren’t scared to throw the rest of their rushers down the throat of the defense. Running backs Angel Chapa and Ayden Ramirez along with quarterbacks Josue Esparza and Joseph Martinez are just some of the other options that they have to dominate the run game.
The Warriors on the other hand have faced three losses up to this point. Despite the 49-14 loss to the Los Fresnos Falcons, the Warriors 16-14 and 20-19 losses to the Harlingen South Hawks and the Mercedes Tigers respectively could’ve gone either way. The Warriors run a sneaky good balanced attack offensively as they’ve been able to find success passing and rushing the ball. They’ll likely want to establish the run early, but there is no doubt that they’ll air the ball out if they need to.
Last season, the Warriors and Lobos squared off in the district opener. The Warriors rushed for nearly 300 yards effortlessly and scored five touchdowns in a dominating 35-3 win over the Lobos. Last season was last season.
This year’s Lobos team has had a better mentality that includes a group full of individuals who have bought into each other. They’ve been able to overcome the odds and proven that they can be dominant. Since doing that, they’ve been a team you don’t want to face, but need to beat.
Lobos head coach Margarito Requenez told Progress Times after their Week 2 upset over the district championship winning Roma Gladiators, “All I can say is that I’m proud of my team. This is something that we’ve been building for 365 [days.] We had a nice offseason and the hard work is showing right now.” This followed by his offensive coordinator Pete Esparza saying, “These guys are putting in the work every week and it’s showing on game day.” This team has put in the hard work to prove that they’re capable of winning.
The Lobos have gone on an impressive run to start their season and the hopes are that they can carry that over into the district schedule. A win would pay dividends for either of these teams as this district is stacked with talented teams. Getting into the top four positions in this district will be no easy task, but a win will inch either of these teams closer.