Jarren Hill rushes during Friday's game (Photo by John Lee)
CANYON - The Pampa Harvesters (0-3) traveled to Canyon and took on Amarillo’s Caprock Longhorns (1-2) at Bain Schaeffer Buffalo Stadium on the campus of West Texas A&M University Friday evening.
The Harvesters jumped out to a 14-0 lead before Senior Running Back Max Neff and Senior Quarterback Jarren Hill left with apparent injuries in the second and third quarters, respectively. While the Harvesters’ showed tenacity with the “next man up” mentality, the Longhorns seized momentum in the middle of the third quarter and never let off the gas.
“It definitely plays into a lot of things. When you have a guy who’s rushed for 600 yards in the first two games and all of a sudden he goes out in the middle of the second quarter towards halftime, it’s a tough deal,” Head Coach Floyd White said.
“But it’s one of those things we’ve got to learn to overcome. We’ve got to be able to get stuff done. That’s still no excuse. We’ve got to make sure everyone else is up and ready to go.
“I feel like we did a good job of that. We’ve got to make those plays.”
The Harvesters’ defense, which has seen its share of struggles in the first two weeks of the season, showed the Longhorns today would not be an easy bout as Senior Defensive Back Andrew Waldrip picked off a pass on Caprock’s opening drive. Neff took the ball on the first play of the drive for 13 yards and a first down, followed by a three-yard rush by Parker Webb. After seemingly alternating carries between Hill and Neff, the Harvesters punched in the touchdown on a nine-yard rush by Hill. The extra point by Junior Bryan Montelongo gave Pampa the early 7-0 lead.
The Harvesters’ and Longhorns’ defenses traded blows, forcing punts by both teams, including a fumble recovery by A. Waldrip that set up Pampa’s next scoring drive.
Hill and Co. set up shop at the Caprock 28-yard line and immediately a nine-yard scamper by Neff moved the chains and had Pampa in the red zone. Neff gave Pampa another fresh set of downs at the Caprock nine-yard line. A five-yard rush by Webb put the Harvesters in position for the Hill touchdown, extending the Pampa lead to 14-0 with 2:50 left in the half after the Montelongo extra point.
Webb, who donned the prestigious No. 32 in honor of Pro Football Hall of Famer Zach Thomas, was ready to step up to the plate in the second half.
“Parker always does a great job. He shows up every day ready to work,” White said. “He shows up. He comes in early in the morning and wants to meet. He’s a football guy. So he always just wants to eat and eat. He always wants to take on more football. We need more guys just like him.
Parker Webb during the coin-toss of Friday's game against Caprock (Photo by John Lee)
The Harvesters final scoring drive came at the end of the third quarter where the Harvesters took advantage of some Caprock miscues.
Pampa’s defense forced a punt, that hung in the air and hit the leg of a Longhorn player and was followed by a quick head’s up play by Senior Defensive Back Kaviontra Branch. The Harvesters started moving down the field before a Caprock face-mask penalty gave the Harvesters a free first down and 15 yards.
Three plays later, now in the fourth quarter, Hill rushed for another touchdown from five yards out on a tush-push to complete the trifecta. The extra point was blocked, but Pampa had the 20-10 lead with 11:18 left to play.
Unfortunately, the Longhorns put together a long four-minute drive of their own to pull within three of the Harvesters, followed by a Pampa three-and-out. The Longhorns added one more score before the end of the game to take the 24-20 win.
Pampa travels to Borger to play at Bulldog Stadium against the rival Bulldogs (0-3) next Friday night, September 19th. The game will kickoff at 7 p.m. Borger comes in after losing three straight as well to Bushland (55-0), Dumas (51-6), and Big Spring (34-12)
It is the second-to-last pre-district game with Perryton coming into town September 26th (the week following) for Homecoming at Zach Thomas Stadium.
“It’s always good to play the rival,” White said. “We’ve got to make sure we’re up and ready to go. We need to get healed up but ultimately, it doesn’t matter. We’ve got to be able to play one way or another. You can always throw the records out the window.”
Stats:
Max Neff had 15 carries for 139 yards before halftime. He did not return in the second half.
Parker Webb had 10 carries for 30 yards. He added seven tackles on defense.
Reese Waldrip and Jarren Hill each carried the ball nine times for the Harvesters.
Jose Alonzo had one catch for nine yards.
New kicker Bryan Montelongo made two extra points and one was blocked.
Raidyn Brown had five tackles. Dase Scott and Clayton Ward each had four tackles. Jose Alonzo and Caden Waldrip each had three tackles. Cy Leblanc, Reese Waldrip, and Roberto Galvan all had two tackles. Carter McLaughlin, Andrew Waldrip, Ira Smith, Wakely Ogle, and Zaiden Venegas all had one tackle each.
Andrew Waldrip had a big fumble recovery and interception in the game and Kaviontra Branch had a fumble recovery on a punt in the game.
Scores from the Area:
Palo Duro 35, Canyon 7
Canadian 40, Dumas 35
Plainview 41, Hereford 39
Randall 28, Perryton 21
Big Spring 34, Borger 12
West Plains 63, Estacado 34
Dalhart 42, Panhandle 35
Highland Park 30, Clarendon 6
West Texas 36, Gruver 28
Hale Center 8, Wheeler 0
Claude 28, McLean 24
White Deer 39, San Jacinto 16
Booker 62, Groom 12