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The Rio Grande City-La Joya Palmview game at 7:30 Friday night at La Joya ISD Stadium is by no means a must-win for either team but the losing team would be in the position of having to win its final three games of the year to make the playoffs.

“Every game is important,” Rattlers coach Jesus Lozano said. “By all means it is not a must-win but we want to win our last four games. We want to go out (Friday night) and execute.”

Lobos coach Manuel Flores said his team knows the importance the final four weeks has on its playoff aspirations.

“We are still in the thick of things,” Flores said. “We just have to approach the Rio Grande City game with that mentality.”

Lozano said the mentality his team has to have in the game is that the Lobos are real players. Against Memorial last week, the Lobos raked in 572 yards of total offense, their second straight 500-yard game.

“By no means are we taking Palmview lightly,” Lozano said. “They have a lot of returning starters coming back. I know they beat La Joya soundly. It seems like they are moving the ball well and scoring points.”

The Lobos will have their hands full with a very capable Rio Grande City offense.

“(The Rattlers) have four weapons that can take it to the house on any given play,” Flores said. “Obviously, you can’t stop them all the time. You just have to hope to slow them down and create either turnovers or slow them down to give your offense a chance.”

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.