Rowe hands outmanned McAllen High tough rivalry loss

McALLEN — McAllen Rowe on Friday night showed some positive signs for next season.

A shorthanded McAllen High showed it could be in some trouble next week.

Led by quarterback Daniel Navarro’s 134 rushing yards and two scores, Rowe ended its season with an easy 35-21 win over McAllen High. The Warriors (5-5, 3-4), who will miss the playoffs for a second consecutive year, fell behind 7-0 but scored 28 of the next 35 points to take control.

Leading 14-7 with 10:44 left in the third, Rowe’s Darrylle Garza blocked a McHi punt and Manny Peña recovered in the end zone for a touchdown.

“We wanted to come out here and show that we could beat a team with a winning record and a playoff team,” Rowe coach Gary Lauer said. “This was like a playoff game for us and we played well.”

McHi (7-3, 5-2) still has a bi-district game to prepare for but has plenty of concerns heading into the postseason. Bulldogs coach Tony Harris said all-purpose standout Nick Garza will have surgery next week on a calf injury he suffered last week and is done for the season. Starting QB Austin Griffith dressed but did not play, missing his fourth consecutive game.

To scare Harris and the Bulldogs even more, running back Trey Dube (20 carries, 113 yards, two TDs) limped off the field early in the third but returned less than two minutes later.

Still, even with Dube, who was nursing a sore ankle, able to play, Harris acknowledges his team has some significant health concerns for the postseason.

“We’ve got to get healthy. Not so much improve but get healthy or find some new guys,” Harris said. “We’re running out of guys. We’ve just got a gun with no bullets. We have to find us some bullets.”

Whether the Bulldogs do find some ammunition or not, they didn’t have nearly enough to beat Rowe to end the regular season. The Warriors, while realizing they could have been playing for a playoff berth if things had gone differently earlier, enjoyed showing that they might have a better 2010 to look forward to.

Navarro is back next season, as are running back Isaac Govea and receiver Jonathan Bimpong. Govea rushed for 60 yards and one score on 10 carries while Bimpong had five catches for 51 yards.

“We didn’t make the playoffs but this makes up for it. We had to have a strong finish against McHi with the losses,” Navarro said. “But this was big-time for us.” 

Brian Sandalow covers high school sports for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4436 or via e-mail at bsandalow@themonitor.com.