The Pampa Harvesters (1-2) hosted the Caprock Longhorns (1-2) at Harvester Field at Zach Thomas Stadium on Friday evening for their second-straight home game.
The Harvesters struggled to find their footing in the first half, struggling with a series of fumbles and loss plays. In the meantime, Caprock, who did struggle at times offensively, was able to put together some scoring drives late in the first half. At the half, the Longhorns led 19-0.
“It was a little bit of everything,” Head Coach Floyd White said. “We were very loose with the ball early, it got us behind the sticks. It got us in some bad field position all night. Our starting center got injured early in the game and all of the sudden those snaps were errant because the backup doesn’t get as much work as he should have. Defensively, yes, we played hard and did a lot of really good things. But our job is to keep them out (of the endzone). We had some mistakes.”
The Harvesters first drive of the second half saw the Longhorns commit some penalties to set up Pampa with first and five from the Pampa 38-yard line. Junior Jarren Hill started the drive with a seven-yard carry to move the chains. Two plays and two Caprock penalties later and the Harvesters found themselves in plus territory at the Caprock 45-yard line.
Junior Max Neff took the rock a couple of yards, followed by Hill run that saw the junior quarterback drop his shoulder to bowl over a defensive back. The defensive back didn’t take to kindly to the play and was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, moving Pampa to the Caprock 25. The very next play, Neff took the handoff up the center for six and to put the Harvesters on the board. The Harvesters followed the scoring drive up with a two-yard pass from Hill to junior Jose Alonzo for two points. With 8:34 left in the third quarter, the Harvesters trailed 19-8.
“We went into the half and talked about calming down and doing things that we do [well],” White said. “We’re pretty good on offense and on defense. We came out, gave the ball to our bell-cow and took the easy throws and drove the ball right down the field.”
The Longhorns answered that scoring drive with a touchdown drive of their own. After the extra point, Caprock led 26-8 with 5:41 left in the third quarter.
The Harvesters had another lengthy drive in the third quarter, starting at their own 27-yard line with 5:35 left in the quarter. Hill started the drive with a pass to Alonzo for three yards. Neff had two consecutive carries to move the chains. A Caprock hands to the face penalty on the next play moved Pampa to the Longhorn 34-yard line.
Neff and Hill took turns with carries for a fresh set of downs to the Caprock 22-yard line. The drive stalled after a penalty and fumble, forcing the punt.
The Harvesters struggled to muster any offense on their last three possessions, while Caprock added a touchdown to give us the final 33-8.
The Harvesters’ special No. 32 this week was junior defensive back/running back Aaron Diaz.
“He’s a guy that shows up with his lunch pail and goes to work,” White said. “He never comes off the field. Last week he played 150-plus and tonight he did about the same. He is the epitome of a Pampa Harvester and a good football player. He exemplifies what that No. 32 means.”
The Harvesters return to action next week for Homecoming. They will be hosting their Highway 152 rival Borger, who they beat last year in comeback fashion.
Coach White hopes to clean up the mistakes and get back to playing Harvester football.
“Defensively, we did a lot of really good things,” White said. “We clean up the turnovers and all of the sudden we probably win that game. They had three touchdowns on five turnovers. We can’t continue to allow that to happen. We do that, and we will be right back in it.”
Unofficial stats
Jarren Hill went 6-10 for 24 yards.
Max Neff had 80 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries; Christian Davalos had 23 yards on three carries.
Aaron Diaz had one three-yard catch; Christian Davalos had a one-yard catch; Bryce Lynn had a one-yard catch; Jose Alonzo had four catches for 14 yards.
District recap
Hereford 26-16 over Plainview
Canadian 35-28 over Dumas
Randall 49-13 over Perryton
Borger 45-28 over Big Spring
West Plains 38-7 over Lubbock Estacado
