Photos By John Lee
The Pampa Harvesters (0-2) hit the road again in Week 3! They will travel to Perryton to face the Rangers (1-1) on Ranger Field at 7 p.m. on Friday, September 11th. As I will do each and every week, I sat down with White to discuss the Dalhart game last week as well as preview the game for Friday night.
Dalhart
Pampa had a good drive in which Junior Jeryn Owens was ruled out of bounds at the two-yard line on what initially appeared to be a touchdown. The next play, he punched it in but it was called back due to a facemask penalty on the Harvesters. A 30-yard field goal by Junior Brayan Montelongo was the result of the drive and the score was 7-3 Dalhart instead of 7-7.
“That is always a tough deal, especially in high school football. When you get those drives going early, it can change the complexion of the game. Seven-to-seven looks completely different than seven-to-three,” White said. “For that one not to be called a touchdown, it is what it is. Apparently, he did not get in. Then, on the next play, there was a penalty that set us back,” White said. “Ultimately, we have to do better. We cannot fling people around. We have to put bodies on bodies and get people moved. After the penalty, we actually had the next play blocked really well, but the back went the wrong way. He started toward the correct hole and then went backside, away from the blocking. Some of our issues were definitely self-inflicted. We have to make sure we are doing things correctly and doing the things that help ourselves.”
Pampa Offense
Due to several injuries, Pampa had to go with a more vanilla style offense last week with a new quarterback because they didn’t have anyone on the roster who had gotten reps at quarterback thus far in the season.
“With us having a brand-new quarterback who had not played quarterback, we tried to make the game fairly simple for him last week. We gave him plays with very few reads, basic handoffs and throws where he only had to look toward one person. Coming into this week, our plan is to add a little more to his plate and get back to who we are,” White said. “I do not feel like what we showed last week is really who we are. We were scrambling after both of our quarterbacks were injured in the first game, one on the first play and the other toward the end of the game. Going into this week, we feel like Jeryn has a better grasp of what we are asking him to do. We have added a little more to his plate so we can be more dynamic offensively.”
Pampa Defense
Against Caprock, Pampa dominated the time of possession and that kept the game close until late in the game when Caprock punched it in to go ahead by the 29-12 final score. Last week, it was a totally different ballgame as Pampa couldn’t sustain drives and Dalhart led in time of possession and was able to put up 34 points. Was that a result of Pampa getting tired, with many players playing on both sides of the ball?
“That definitely played a role, but part of it is that we will play great for stretches and then suddenly make a mistake. Most people probably did not realize it, but we missed six sacks the other night. Four of those were wide open opportunities with guys coming off the edge. Instead of coming to balance and making the tackle, we were trying to deliver the big hit,” White said. “A big hit and a shoestring sack look exactly the same in the stat book. We have to put ourselves in position to make those tackles for loss and get the opponent behind the sticks. That is what we did against Caprock. We got them behind the sticks, which allowed us to get stops and give the ball back to our offense. We did not do that well enough last week. We still got some stops, but not the way we should have, and that ultimately led to our demise.”
Perryton Offense
Perryton is pretty similar to Dalhart on the offensive side of the ball and they have a veteran quarterback leading the way with a primary wideout he frequently targets.
“Coach Hernandez and his staff do a great job with those young men. Offensively, they are going to run a power-running game out of the spread. They have a good running back in No. 6, Rustin Newman. He is a freshman who is about 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds. He looks a lot like No. 19 from Dalhart, and he runs the ball extremely well. Then, of course, there is Schilling. I have seen him throughout the summer, and I feel like we have a good relationship because I always poke fun at him and ask whether he has graduated yet. It feels like we have been playing against him forever,” White said. “He is a tremendous young man and a great player who leads their offense. He is dynamic, can throw the ball well and can run the ball well. Their players rally around him. I enjoy competing against him because he is such a great competitor, but I will also be glad when he graduates. (Gordo) Estrada has also always been a big-time player for them. He and Schilling have a great connection, and they find different ways to get him the football. They have several other receivers they use in the screen game, on wheel routes and on vertical routes. If you are not careful, they will have players running behind your defense. We have to execute, keep everything in front of us and tackle well on the perimeter. If we do those things, we will be fine.”
Perryton Defense
Perryton runs a defense similar to the Harvesters and they try to load up the box and stop the run so it will be a stiff test for the Harvester offense.
“Defensively, they are similar to us. They run a 3-4 defense, and they run it well. The biggest thing is that they fly around. They get all 11 players within about seven or eight yards of the box. It is difficult to run the ball against them because they swarm like a bunch of mosquitoes,” White said. “You may block one, but suddenly two more have come over from the other side. We have to make sure we get bodies on them. They are also a lot like us because they have several players who play both ways. Estrada plays corner, Schilling has played some safety and their No. 6 plays linebacker. One of their starting guards, No. 52 (Caleb Hernandez), also plays nose guard. He does a great job of clogging up the interior and is difficult to run against. Most of their starting offensive players turn around and start on defense, just like ours. If we can sustain drives and keep their defense on the field, it will help us defensively later in the game. Coach Hernandez and his staff do a good job with those players on both sides of the ball.”
Start Fast
With the results of the last couple of weeks, failing to start fast has contributed to the Harvesters’ struggles. It seems cliché, but it is always important to start fast and establish momentum in ballgames. They will look to do a better job of putting points on the board, or at the very least, sustaining long drives each and every time they get the ball.
“It always helps. We talk about starting fast in the weight room, at practice and in every aspect of what we do. The way you start is going to dictate how the game goes in most situations. It is like getting up in the morning. If you continue hitting the snooze button, you are probably going to be groggy for the rest of the day,” White said. “If you get out of bed, get moving and have a positive attitude, you are more likely to have a great day. The same thing happens in football. If you go down and score, you are going to feel like you are having a good day. Even if a drive stalls, you can still feel good if you moved the ball. However, if you cannot stop the opponent or cannot move the football, you can set yourself up for failure.”
Coach White wants the team to stay focused on their game plan.
“We have to understand our process and know that if we continue plugging away, we will be fine,” White said. “Those 12-, 13-, 14- or 20-play drives are good for the Harvesters. A three-play drive that does not end in a score is not good for us. If we start on defense, we need to get a stop. If we start on offense, we need to put the ball in the end zone or at least come away with points. One of our biggest focuses this week is getting points out of every drive possible.”
Keys to the Game
What are the biggest keys for the Harvesters, in addition to starting fast?
1. Turnovers and Execution: “It is always going to come down to turnovers and execution. Those are going to be the Achilles’ heel of an offense. Against Dalhart, we had two interceptions and a fumble. One of the interceptions hit us in the chest and was returned for a touchdown,” White said.
2. Put bodies on the ground: “Defensively, we have to get bodies on the ground,” White said. “When we have an opportunity to make a tackle for loss, we have to finish it. We have to get Schilling on the ground in whatever capacity we can. We also have to maintain our rush lanes when we get them into passing situations. We got Dalhart into several third-down and passing situations, and we created pressure. However, when we do not maintain our rush lanes and guys simply run up the field or into the middle of a blocker instead of working the edges, the quarterback does not have anything to worry about.”
3. Pass Rush: “We have to put bodies on bodies, get people on the ground and do a good job with our pass rush,” White said. “We need to get to Schilling, rattle him and keep him from getting comfortable. We have to get him off his spot and make him look around instead of allowing him to plant his back foot and drive the football. If he is able to do that, we will be in trouble.”
Final Thoughts
As I always do, I asked Coach White for any final thoughts. He wanted to focus on the injuries and asked for your help with thoughts and prayers for Pampa to get healthy.
“My biggest concern right now is getting healthy. We currently have seven starters who have been out with injuries. We have two or three more who could return this week, but they did not play at all Friday night and will probably be game-time decisions. That is always difficult,” White said. “We need prayers from everyone in the stands to help our kids heal and get healthy. When we are healthy, we are as good as anybody around. When we are hurt and banged up, we are pretty limited. That is why they call us coaches. We have to coach up the players we have available and get them ready to go.”
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. Mike Mitchell and Troy Schwiegerath will be calling the game. The game will also be broadcast locally on 103.3 FM KRXZ Radio. That station will be piped through the YouTube feed. The pre-game show will begin on YouTube and 103.3 FM at 6:45 p.m. and kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
