Gunter Thomas scores on a kickoff return on Friday night. (Photo courtesy of Charla Shults)
The Pampa Harvesters (0-3) took the road to Perryton (2-1) on Friday night and while the scoreboard shows a 34-14 final, doesn’t reflect several instances where the game could have been closer or even tied in its waning moments.
“Our guys fought the entire game,” Head Coach Floyd White said. “We did some good things, defensively. We did some really good things offensively; we just did not capitalize on certain situations. In the end, that falls on me. I didn’t have our guys prepared enough. I have to make sure that we’re locked in. Our issues are self-inflicted. It’s not that everyone else is making a lot of better plays than us. We’re not concentrating, and we’re not executing on those situations.”
The Harvesters opened the game on defense, stopping the Perryton offense by forcing a fumble and sophomore Aiden Hammond recovering. Hammond started the following drive with the rock, toting it 24 yards to move the chains into Perryton territory. The Harvesters’ drive stalled at the Rangers’ four-yard line, but not before carries from sophomore Madden Campos, senior Kiaro Flores and junior Jeryn Owens moved the ball.
That Harvester defense held strong, keeping Perryton out of the end zone, with several plays made by sophomore Ramiro Baca.
“He’s one of those young sophomores that’s having to play for us right now,” White said. “It’s baptism by fire for him. He starts for us at SAM, whenever he’s not in (at SAM) I can stick him over at the other side at REBEL. He can play our REBEL spot, and that’s what he did that entire second half. He was able to come around and fly and make tackles. I’m pretty proud of him.”
The offenses traded possessions to keep the scoreboard knotted at zero. Perryton eventually forced a turnover and took advantage of the momentum to get on the board 7-0.
Perryton later added another touchdown to make it a two-score game. On the ensuing kickoff, Senior Gunter Thomas fielded the ball cleanly at the Harvester 11-yard line and weaved his way along the left side of the field to pay-dirt to put Pampa on the board 12-7. The Rangers returned a kickoff of their own for a touchdown on the ensuing kickoff and took the 20-7 lead into the locker rooms at halftime.
“Gunter is a senior and has done a great job,” White said. “Whenever we need a big play, he’s one of the guys we can always count on. He saw the crease, and we practice that whenever we see that crease, we’ve got to take it. He was able to get it and go.”
Perryton added another touchdown in the third quarter. The Harvesters got their first score of the second half in the early moments of the fourth quarter when sophomore Colton Rose found a hole in the defense for the 30-yard touchdown to make it a two-score game at 27-14 with 10:34 left to play.
“Colton’s probably one of the most natural running backs we have in the entire program,” White said. “Tonight, we were able to get him the ball quite a bit. He can do a lot of things, he’s pretty electric. We just have to continue to feed him and get him the ball.”
Colton Rose scores a touchdown on Friday. (Photo courtesy of Charla Shults)
Perryton responded with a touchdown of their own to make it 34-14 after the extra point with 5:52 left to play.
The game finished at 34-14, the Harvesters take the road one more time on this road trip to Borger. Game time is at 7 p.m.
“They’ve got a good outfit out there,” White said. “They are playing well, they’re playing hard. We’ve got to go back to the drawing board and make sure we’re executing and ready to fire on cylinders on Friday night.”
Stat Round-Up
Pampa finished the night with 228 yards of total offense, all on the ground, on 53 offensive plays. The Harvesters rushed 46 times for 228 yards, averaging 5.0 yards per carry, and picked up 13 first downs while converting 5-of-10 third downs. Perryton totaled 259 yards, including 101 rushing and 158 passing. Pampa turned the ball over four times with two interceptions and two lost fumbles, while Perryton lost three fumbles.
Rose led the Pampa rushing attack with 77 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries, including a 30-yard scoring run. Campos added 46 yards on 11 carries, Hammond rushed for 41 yards on five attempts, Owens had 33 yards on 11 carries and Flores added 25 yards on six carries.
On special teams, Thomas returned a kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown and finished with 112 kickoff-return yards. Defensively, Baca led the Harvesters with eight tackles, including three solo stops and five assists. Hammond finished with six tackles and two tackles for loss, while Flores, Smith, Junior Kenneth Ryan and Senior Baron Botello each recorded four tackles. Sophomore Cade Wilson added three tackles, while Thomas and Senior Connor McKinley each had two. Hammond and Flores each forced a fumble, with Hammond getting two and Cy LeBlanc recording Pampa’s the last of Pampa’s three fumble recoveries.