Photos Courtesy of John Lee
The Pampa Harvesters (1-4) are open this week as they completed the first half of the regular season and before the five game 4A-1 Region I District 2 slate begins next Friday on Harvester Field at Zach Thomas Stadium against the Hereford Whiteface (1-3) on October 10th at 7 p.m. Hereford plays host to Seminole this week. As I do each week, I sat down with Head Coach Floyd White to discuss last week’s game against Perryton, a midseason recap, as well as preview the upcoming district schedule.
Offense against Perryton
“Going into it week in and week out, the aspect that allows us to be so successful is Coach Langhenning and the offensive staff do a great job of making sure they do the things to put the kids into the best position possible. Those guys work tirelessly at it. The thing about high school football is once you get a beat on who people are, it is difficult for them to change,” White said. “Whenever it comes down to that, ultimately, coach Langhenning has been doing offense for a long time. He has been a very successful offensive coordinator all through his career up until the point he came to (Midland) Lee. He does a great job doing what he does. The big thing is the kids are executing and doing things. Sometimes things also get masked because we have, what I think is, the best running back in the state in Max Neff. There are not many kids who can run the ball like him. You also have Jarren (Hill) and Parker (Webb) and those big hogmollies up front they can move some people around. Next thing you know, Max is averaging 11 yards a carry. He is over 1000 yards already. He is one of the top runners in the entire country right now. It makes a huge difference for us. We just have to make sure we are picking up our side on the defensive side.”
Defense against Perryton
“The thing is in that game we knew #2 (Cooper Schilling) they were going to do everything they could to keep the ball in his hands. On the early downs we played really well but we got into third down and we were having to cover a lot more people which created a lot more space for him to move around. He is a really athletic kid. He triple jumped almost 45 feet this year. He gets out there and makes some people miss. We also had some untimely penalties. We had a stop on a third down where they called us for roughing the passing. We had multiple times we got stops but the penalties came in and extended those drives,” White said. “No excuse is a good excuse, we just didn’t do well enough on our execution on the defensive side. We get to use this off week to look at different things and ways to get different types of pressure packages on the field. We gotta get some of our bigger bodies off the field on those passing downs and get some of our kids who can run on the field. Those are some things we are looking to do this week. We want to get more speed on the field. We are also getting some more healthy bodies that weren’t healthy over the last couple of weeks. We started talking about some of the things we want to do with those guys starting (Monday) and implementing them going into next week.
Penalties and turnovers
The Harvesters had 11 penalties for 107 yards and three turnovers against Perryton.
“You hate to have turnovers and you hate to have penalties. Some penalties are very subjective. If an official believes he sees it, he sees it. That is always up for objection. We send in plays every week to the officials and they will come back and say ‘ah, we missed that one’ but that doesn’t help us in the game at the particular time. The officials are human and sometimes they are going to err (toward or against a call). I don’t always agree with the calls but I want to respect them and what they are doing. I don’t feel like they ever are trying to do anything wrong. We have to get ourselves into a position where we are executing to the point where people don’t make those calls against us,” White said. “We created two takeaways on almost back-to-back possessions that helped us get back in the game in the second quarter. But then, we had three turnovers. Those things came at really rough times. One of them, we were driving down to take the lead and fumbled going in. Those are just things that happen. You don’t like them but at the same time you have to understand kids are going to be kids and things like that are going to happen. You just have to try to prepare for them like this week. We will do a lot of ball handling and things like that to make sure we don’t have those situations. The one Max (Neff) fumbled he rolled over and as he is rolling over and getting ready to put his arm on his ground, someone hits him and the ball pops out. Part of that is him growing as a runner and starting to realize when he is in trouble he needs to double the ball. Sometimes we don’t always do that because we are trying to do everything we can to put ourselves in position to win the game.”
Final thoughts on Perryton
“I’m proud of the guys’ fight. It ended up being a 14 point game but the reality is we had to start going for it late and because of that we ended up on a couple short fields at the end. Really, that was a seven point, nip tuck game all the way through. I am proud of the way our kids fought,” White said. “The one thing I can tell you about our kids is they are never going to give up in any situation. I am very proud of the way they went out and fought and performed.”
Midseason report
How does this Harvester team stack up against last year’s team at this same time of the season?
“Compared to this time last year, I really feel like we are lightyears ahead of where we were. As you go back and look at it, that’s why you play those pre-district games. Pre-district games are just designed to help get you ready for district. Everyone we played has some slight similarities to someone we play inside our district,” White said. “We will have to make sure with everything we’ve been through, our kids take everything we’ve learned. They have learned they can now go out there and compete with anybody. That’s one of those things we talked about earlier in the week as we are doing our team building. That’s what we use this week for is our team building. As we talked, we talked about making sure we understand that we are taking all this stuff that we are learning from all these games and applying it forward as we get into district. Last year, we didn’t quite know what to expect. Our kids played well in the district play. Most games we were playing well up to half and into the third quarter. Then, we just kind of ran out of juice because we just didn’t have it. We have now got that understanding that we can go out and compete. So, I think there is not anybody in our district that is head and shoulders above us. There is nobody out there that is just going to go out there and blow our doors off.”
District
Pampa is in 4A-1 Region I District 2 and their remaining schedule is Hereford at home Oct. 10, #2 West Plains in Canyon on Oct. 16 (note: this is a Thursday night game), Senior Night v. Canyon Oct. 24, the final home game against Randall on Halloween Oct. 31, and the regular season finale on the road at Dumas Nov. 7. Everyone starts 0-0 and the top four out of the six teams make the playoffs. This means essentially if you win two district games you are in the playoffs.
“You do need 2 wins. Most people don’t realize you have to have the right 2 wins. That’s the big deal. If you beat the people who are just behind you, then you are good. But, if you beat the last place and a first place team now you end up in murky waters. We had that happen to us at a couple of different places I was at,” White said. “If we win two district games, we will have a chance to get in the playoffs.”
Hereford
“Our first game is Hereford. Perennially, just a tough team. We have been district foes for many, many years. Coach (Adam) Naron and those guys have a good outfit out there. I know right now they are struggling just a little bit. They got a game this week against Seminole there in Hereford. Coach Naron and those guys squeeze every ounce of juice out of those guys,” White said. “They are big ole guys up front. They have a quarterback who has been a starter since he was a freshman coming back for them. They have a good running back and group of receivers. It will be a heckuva tough night going out there versus those guys. It is not one of those nights where I don’t feel like we aren’t going to have a chance.”
West Plains
“After Hereford, we have West Plains. They are the defending district champions. Right now they are No. 2 in the state. They are a dang good team. They got a lot of guys coming back. They hung 42 on us last year but we hung 21 on them. I always laugh and tell everybody I felt bad walking away from that game because we gave up 42 points, but, basically after they played us they hung 45+ on everyone else including the state champions which was Celina. Coach (Adam) Cummings and those guys have a good group out there and they are playing really good football right now,” White said.
Canyon
“Then, we have Canyon. Canyon is always going to be tough out. It doesn’t matter who it is. Two or three years ago we played them here in the snow and had a chance to beat them. Coach (Todd) Winfrey and those guys do a great job. Right now, they rotate two quarterbacks around. They are starting to come into their own offensively and defensively. They are still trying to find their footing as far as who it is and what it is they are trying to do. That is what we are all trying to do in this pre-district slate,” White said.
Randall
Randall is coached by Dan Sherwood. He does a great job for the Raiders.
“Our final home game is Randall. With Randall what you see is what you get. They have a lot of big guys up front. They have a lot of skill guys returning. Some of those kids who are at West Plains were at Randall and they all played together. Some decided to stay at Randall and some decided to go to West Plains. They basically cut Randall in half. Ultimately, what it did was it gave more kids at Randall an opportunity to play. There’s a lot of really good players at Randall. They are getting out there and giving people all kinds of fits as well,” White said.
Dumas
“Finally, we end the regular season at Dumas. Dumas is always a tough place to play. Coach (Aaron) Dunham he always has his guys really schooled up and ready to go. Right now, they are doing a great job. They can throw the ball all over the yard. They can run the ball. They are big up front. They can play pretty sound defense. That is the thing about this district: it doesn't matter who you play on a nightly basis, everyone is ready to get going. You will never have an easy out. Eventually, we always believe somebody from this district is going to have a chance to play for a state championship. If you win this district, you get a chance to play for the whole ball of wax if you will,” White said.
Final thoughts about District play
“I’m excited. I know most people wouldn’t be excited in my place. You could be 5-0 or could be 0-5. We won the game against Borger. Ultimately, I am not scared about where we are at. I feel like our kids are starting to really believe. That is the one thing they all talked about today (Tuesday) in our team building session. They talked about how they feel like now they have more confidence now than any other time since they have been playing. They feel like they can go out there and play against anybody. They know now that they have a chance any time they go out any night. They are excited. We are excited. It’s time for us to go out and make some magic and put Harvester football back on the map,” White said.
Jose Alonzo
I am also highlighting one player each week to end the interview. This week was Senior Wide Receiver and Defensive Back, Jose Alonzo. Alonzo had a 72-yard kickoff return for touchdown, a 25-yard touchdown catch, and 10 tackles on defense against Perryton.
Jose was one of four young men (Jarren Hill, Caden and Andrew Waldrip) all came and helped us out at our church (Mary Ellen and Harvester Church of Christ) moving stuff around as part of our construction ongoing.
“I can’t sing enough praises about Jose (we all call him ‘Icky’). He’s a great young man. He has great parents. He’s talented not just on the football field but he is very talented on the basketball court as well. He could go outside and run a core for us if we wanted him to. That is just the kind of athlete he is,” White said. “Ultimately, he started off the season a little bit rough but as we got going further into the season and now that we got to where we are at, he has started to hit his stride. It’s exciting to watch him and how he has grown over the course of the last year. This time last year, he was half in and half out of the boat. That is how a lot of the kids are when you are struggling a little bit. But, man, just to watch how he has grown and what kind of leader he has become has been awesome. He kind of got into the doghouse a little bit. Man, he’s worked his tail off ever since and become a tremendous leader. Now, he’s the kind of kid you want your program to speak about. He has just been a tremendous asset to us in every way. Not just from an athletic standpoint but also from a leadership standpoint. He is talking to kids saying don’t go down the road I went last year. Don’t do some of the stuff I was doing last year. It’s not right. Now, he is seeing all the benefits of everything that he is doing. I couldn’t be more proud of the young man.”
Midseason Stats
Max Neff has 100 carries for 1146 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also has four catches for 26 yards. He has eight kick returns for 292 yards. That puts him at 1464 all-purpose yards.
Jarren Hill has 45 carries for 228 yards and eight touchdowns. He has completed 10-21 passes for 153 yards and a touchdown. Reese Waldrip has 16 carries for 114 yards and two touchdowns. He has an interception for a touchdown as well. Andrew Waldrip has an interception on defense.Parker Webb has 30 carries for 144 yards and a touchdown. He has two catches for 30 yards. He has 27 solo tackles and eight assists. He also has a fumble recovery on defense. Jose Alonzo has two catches for 34 yards and a touchdown. He also has three returns for 84 yards and a touchdown. He has 11 solo tackles and four assists. He also has a fumble recovery. Caden Waldrip has one catch for 49 yards. He has three returns for 48 yards. He has 17 solo tackles and eight assists. Dase Scott has 16 solo tackles and six assists. He has a fumble recovery and interception as well. Clayton Ward has 12 solo tackles and six assists. Aiden Hammond has 11 solo tackles and two assists. Kaviontra Branch has two fumble recoveries on defense. Gunter Thomas has one catch for 17 yards. Cy LeBlanc has one catch for seven yards. He has 11 tackles and four assists. He has a blocked extra point as well. Gage Ayala has 11 tackles. Bryan Montelongo has made 15/16 extra point attempts. Mauro Lopez has made 4/8 extra points. He also has nine punts for a total of 307 yards and a 34.11 yard per kick average. Ismael Perez has a couple of touchbacks on kickoffs.
Again, the Harvesters are off with no game this week. They will play next Friday, October 10th at home against the Hereford Whitefaces. The game will be livestreamed. You can find HSN on Youtube: www.youtube.com/@HarvesterSportsNetwork/.. You can also follow them on Facebook: www.facebook.com/HarvesterSportsNetwork. Lastly, there is a Twitter/X page: www.x.com/PampaHSN. Kevin Hunt and Kaleb Snelgrooes will be calling the game. The game will also be broadcast locally on 101.3 Legends Classic Country. That station will be piped through the YouTube feed. Live stats can be found here: https://www.turbostatslive.com/football/webcast/08002511465744. Season stats can be found on the team page: https://www.turbostats.team/site/2/team/football/pampahighschool/pampa%20good%20file%202025. The pre-game show will begin on YouTube and 101.3 at 6:45 p.m. and kickoff is set for 7 p.m. A weekly radio show with Coach White called “Whiteboard Wisdom” with Zac Green interviewing him will play at 6:20 p.m. each gameday before Kevin Hunt gets on with his pregame show!
