On Friday night, the Pampa Harvesters (0-1, 2-4) will return home this week to face the West Plains Wolves (1-0, 3-3) at Zach Thomas Stadium. West Plains defeated Canyon 42-28 in their first district game. They also have wins over El Paso Horizon and Lubbock Estacado. The three losses have come to very good ball clubs in Seminole, Bushland, and Liberty Christian.
On Hereford
Pampa took an early 14-7 lead in the first half against the Whitefaces of Hereford last week. However, Hereford powered through in the end for a 35-14 victory.
“We went out there and executed our game plan early on. We knew that if we could just get out there and get after them and keep moving on them eventually we could go ahead and make a thing or two happen. That turned into fruition,” Head Coach Floyd White said. “We had a bad break or two there like with the interception with about 6 minutes left in the half. If we were able to punch it in, we would have gone up 21-7 at half. Instead, we throw the interception and kind of toward the end of the half they throw the reverse pass for the touchdown. When you have to resort to stuff like that it means you are struggling. They were looking for some kind of spark to get them going. We got out there and made some things happen.”
The second half is where the wheels fell off for the Harvesters and Hereford just was able to break away.
“In the second half, we had two coverage busts on the two posts. Those plays set them up in scoring position. They put one in the endzone about the middle of the fourth quarter that kind of put it out of reach,” White said. “The big thing for us walking away from this is we realize we can play with anyone in this district. The other thing is we can also get beat by anyone in this district. You gotta be up and ready to play all four quarters. We played a great half. That’s where we are learning you gotta play all four quarters in order for us to win in this district.”
On West Plains
This is one of the few teams on the schedule Pampa did not play last year. West Plains is a new addition to the district due to massive growth in Canyon ISD.
“It doesn’t get any easier in this district. West Plains is a good outfit. They get out there and really play their tails off. They remind me a lot of Lubbock Cooper Liberty who we played in the scrimmage. They are very long and athletic. They are not overly big but they have good numbers. They get out there and play really hard. Just like with Hereford, they are very beatable, we just have to go out there and make it happen,” White said. “On offense, they don’t run the power run game as much as we do but they run some of it. They are more of a spread offense. They do a lot of motions. The quarterback makes a lot of throws they need to make. That is one thing about this district is every team has a quarterback that can make all the throws. So, you have to defend the whole field. On defense, they are a 3-3 stack. They run around and use that extra safety (kind of like a hybrid safety/linebacker like Christian Davalos is for us) and overload sides and get him in positions where you cannot block him. Those are the things we have to make sure we take care of going forward this week.”
Key Players
Who are some of the key players to watch for on the Wolves?
“They got a good quarterback, #14 Reid Macon. He is a really good player. He gets out there and he can make all the throws. They have a running back #10 Slade Russell who is a dang good player. They have two receivers they throw to but the one who sticks out to me is #12 Kaden Hooker. They get him the ball all over the place and move him all over the place to make things happen with him,” White said. “On defense, they are pretty good on all levels. Their d-line and their Mike Linebacker are the core that is always together. They get in there and get after people, all three d-linemen are big and long, they are just not overly heavy like Hereford. They will get off the ball and do things and the Mike Linebacker is pretty good also. They have that hybrid safety/linebacker #8 Brody Tupin. He plays all over the field. They are dangerous because they are overhang guys who are just there. They have a really good safety #3 Kane White-Tinsley who also plays receiver (I played with his dad in college) and that young man is a heckuva player on both ends of the ball. Those are the guys we are really going to have to keep an eye on.”
Keys to the game
• Make plays in passing game
• Control time of possession
• Stay on blocks for run game
• Don’t be fooled on defense
“We gotta make plays in the passing game. When we throw it we gotta make sure we get the ball out and make the play. We gotta get on guys in the run game. We have to get on guys and stay on guys. We cannot let guys slip off blocks. If we can control the run game, I think we can control the game and keep the ball out of their hands,” White said. “Defensively, we have to adjust to all the motions and everything. What they run on offense is not overly complicated once you break it down. But, it is all the motions and shifts. It is a bunch of eye candy. They are trying to get your guys one way while they do something over here. It is like when you get shots as a little kid and your parents jiggle the keys over here so you look and then they give you the shot over there. That’s what they do on offense. They jiggle your eyes with the motions and then they are doing stuff on the other side. They are trying to get you to overcommit one side to get to the other side. We have to have smart adjustments to the motion and not get ourselves out of positions. That is where we found ourselves the other night with two missed keys in over adjusting to run fakes and all the sudden the ball was over the top of us. Those are things we have to avoid this week.”
District matchups
The Hereford Whitefaces (1-0) travels to Happy State Bank Stadium to face the Randall Raiders (1-0) as both teams look to stay undefeated and atop the district. The Dumas Demons (0-1) host the Canyon Eagles (0-1) with both teams seeking their first district win.
How to watch
Of course you can attend by coming over to Zach Thomas Stadium at Harvester Field. It is the second to last chance to watch Pampa at home. If you cannot make it, the game will be streamed on Harvester Sports Network. You can find us on Youtube: www.youtube.com/@HarvesterSportsNetwork/. You can also follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/HarvesterSportsNetwork. Lastly, we have a Twitter/X page: www.x.com/PampaHSN. Kevin Hunt and Richard Hawthorne will be calling the game. The game will also be broadcast locally on 101.3 Legends Classic Country. That station will be piped through our YouTube feed.
The pre-game show will begin on YouTube and 101.3 at 6:45 p.m. and kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Here is the direct link for the game:
https://www.youtube.com/live/wUKaAzbXnNM.
We have also added a stat program. You can track the play-by-play along with the YouTube video at this link: https://www.turbostatslive.com/football/webcast/08002411464633.
