Rowe stays alive in race

McALLEN — Despite its struggles this season, McAllen Rowe is still alive for a postseason berth.

The Warriors exploded for 26 points in the second quarter en route to a 47-35 win on Thursday at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Rowe (4-4 overall, 2-3 District 30-5A) has to win its remaining games and with contests against Rio Grande City and McAllen High remaining, the Warriors can’t be counted out yet.

“You have to take it one game at a time,” Warriors coach Gary Lauer said. “You have to take it one game at a time. You can’t get in until you win the three. We have to win next week against Rio and, if that happens, we have something to play for against (McAllen High).”

An RGC win tonight against Donna would benefit the Warriors because they have lost to Donna and take on the Rattlers next week.

“We are still taking it one game at a time,” junior Isaac Govea said. “We are all improving in practice.”

In only his fourth game on varsity, Govea led the Warriors with 152 yards rushing, including touchdown runs of 40 and 31 yards.

“(Govea) was thrusted in there because we have some injuries and grade problems,” Lauer said. “We are proud of his effort.”

Palmview (3-5, 1-4) had an outside shot of making the playoffs but the loss all but eliminates the Lobos from contention.

The Lobos hurt their cause with six fumbles in the first half. Four were recovered by the Warriors, who turned the last three into second quarter scores starting when junior quarterback Josh Gatling found Jonathan Bimpong for a 12-yard touchdown pass with 4:36 left in the second quarter that gave the Warriors the lead for good at 13-7.

Twenty seconds later and after a Palmview fumble, Govea scored on a 31-yard run that put the Warriors up 19-7 with 4:16 left in the first half.

In all, the Lobos fumbled the ball eight times, five of which were recovered by the Warriors. Palmview also had a sixth turnover when quarterback Javier Fermat was intercepted in the third quarter.

“We can’t have any turnovers against anybody let alone a good team like Rowe,” Lobos coach Manuel Flores said. “…We just picked a bad night to have those miscues on both sides of the ball.”

Peter Rasmussen covers District 30-5A football for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4448 or via e-mail at prasmussen@themonitor.com.