Photos Courtesy of Charla Shults
The Pampa Harvesters (1-5, 0-1) hosted the Hereford Whitefaces (2-4, 1-0) on Friday night at Harvester Field at Zach Thomas Stadium.
Hereford went three-and-out on their opening drive which was highlighted by a nine-yard sack by Senior Boston Botello on a huge third down play.
After the punt, the Harvesters took over and found paydirt when Senior Jarren Hill rushed for a 46-yard touchdown scramble. The extra point was good by Sophomore Kicker Bryan Montelongo to put the Harvesters up 7-0 with 8:05 left to play in the first quarter.
“Jarren did a lot of really, really good things tonight. A lot of stuff he was able to do, get out on some boots and they overplayed it and he was able to cut back and score that first touchdown. He does a great job. He is able to lead our offense. That’s what we have to have from him week in and week out,” White said.
The Whitefaces looked to be driving on their ensuing possession before Senior Defensive Back Jose Alonzo intercepted a Kalub Ramirez pass in the endzone and returned it back to the Pampa 35-yard line. Unfortunately, the Harvesters were unable to get a drive going and were forced to punt after a three-and-out.
Hereford’s next drive looked to be stalled before a 25-yard pass from Ramirez to Brix Machen set up the Herd in Pampa territory. The end of the first quarter came with Hereford driving and Pampa holding to a 7-0 lead.
“We came out like a ball of fire, got a stop, and the offense went right down and scored. Then, we turned around right after that and got the interception on defense but we weren’t able to capitalize on it,” White said. “That’s what happens in games when you play evenly matched teams. We have to be able to execute there. They came out in some things that we hadn’t prepped for and they hadn’t shown on the film. It took a little while for us to get adjusted. That is a learning curve for our kids. Part of that is our fault because we have to prep them for those situations.”
Hereford went down the field and tied up the game, after the extra point was good by Pedro Garcia, at seven all with 8:38 to play until halftime.
The ensuing kickoff was a touchback so the Harvesters would take over at their own 25-yard line. Once again, Pampa could not get anything going and was forced to punt with 7:08 to go before the half. Hereford took over at their own 41-yard line after the punt.
Hereford made quick work of that drive with passes from Ramirez to Machen and Bennett Bell to put them in the redzone. The next play, Kobe Goodloe marched 25 yards for the touchdown. After the extra point, Hereford led 14-7 with 6:06 to go until halftime.
Pampa called a timeout with 4:25 to play until the half with a huge third-and-12 coming up from their own 28-yard line. The Harvesters were needing a conversion to keep the momentum from slipping away. After the timeout, Hill ran for 21 yards and a first down conversion. Immediately after that, a holding penalty was called on the Harvesters to set them back. There were offsetting penalties on the following play. Pampa ended up having to punt the ball back to Hereford. The Whitefaces took over with 1:54 left in the first half to try and add to the lead.
Before a huge third-and-five for Hereford, Pampa called another timeout with 1:23 to play in the half. Ramirez converted the first down. The Whitefaces called a timeout with 28 seconds left in the half and a first-and-ten at the Pampa 15-yard line coming up in a pivotal moment before the end of the half. Immediately after the timeout, Ramirez found Luke Harmon for a touchdown and a 21-7 lead after the extra point with 21 seconds until the half.
After a holding on the kickoff return, Pampa just took a knee into the locker. Halftime: Hereford 21, Pampa 7.
Pampa began the second half with the ball after deferring their selection to the second half. A good return by Senior Defensive Back Reese Waldrip set up Pampa in Hereford territory to begin the drive. After a couple of good runs by Hill and Webb, Senior Running Back Max Neff busted free for a 28-yard touchdown scamper. The extra point put the score at Hereford 21, Pampa 14 with 8:38 to play in the third quarter.
Pampa could not get off the field twice on third down for the ensuing Whiteface drive. Ramirez found Izak Dominguez for a 29-yard touchdown pass with 3:23 to play in the third quarter and took the 14-point lead back at 28-14.
With 13 seconds left in the third quarter, Hereford called a timeout. Pampa would face a fourth-and-three after the timeout and it appeared as the Harvesters were going to punt the ball over to Hereford. The Whitefaces didn’t buy it with no man deep to return it. Sure enough, Neff took a direct snap and ran for 20-yards and a huge first down but it was called back due to a holding penalty. The clock ran out in the third quarter on the play with Hereford up 28-14 on the scoreboard. Pampa would kick it back to Hereford to begin the fourth quarter.
Hereford was driving and taking a lot of the remaining time left in the game before another huge sack by Botello for -10 yards putting them in a 3rd-and-long situation. Alonzo came up with his second interception of the game with 5:20 left to go in the game. There were several penalties following the play after a skirmish by both teams. Also, there was a block-in-the-back on Pampa to put the drive starting at their own 7-yard line in a must score situation.
“He (Jose Alonzo) did exactly what he was supposed to do. The first (interception) we got pretty good pressure on the quarterback. That ball came up and Icky was in great position and undercut it and take it up the sideline. Then, he had the one towards the end. Then, the same type of situation, the quarterback started to roll out, we got a good shot on him, the ball floated and Icky was able to undercut it and get another one,” White said.
The very first play of the drive, Pampa fumbled the ball and gave it right back to the Whitefaces. Hereford would essentially put the game on ice if they got points on the drive. Garcia kicked a 31-yard field goal to put the Whitefaces ahead 31-14 with 3:33 to play in the game.
Pampa was unable to get anything else going and the final score was Hereford 31, Pampa 14.
“We have to just make sure when that happens (penalties), we fall back on our fundamentals and make sure we are doing the right thing,” White said. “Whenever it comes down to it, I didn’t do a good enough job getting our guys prepped to play tonight. We didn’t play poorly but we also didn’t play up to our potential. That is just one of those things we have to be able to do is play up to our potential and not down to people. I think sometimes we played down tonight. I like the direction we are going, but I am still not happy by any stretch.”
The Harvesters will hit the road next week to play at Happy State Bank Stadium against the West Plains Wolves. The game is on Thursday, October 16th at 7 P.M.
Stats
Max Neff had 13 carries for 33 yards and a touchdown. Parker Webb had nine carries for 30 yards. He had seven tackles on defense. Jarren Hill had nine carries for 84 yards and a touchdown. Jose Alonzo had two interceptions. Boston Botello had two sacks. Clayton Ward had six tackles. Gage Ayala had four tackles. Reese Waldrip and Cy LeBlanc each had three tackles.
District Standings
West Plains 1-0
Randall 1-0
Hereford 1-0
Pampa 0-1
Canyon 0-1
Dumas 0-1