The Pampa Harvesters (1-7, 0-3) hosted the Canyon Eagles (5-2, 1-2) on Friday night at Harvester Field at Zach Thomas Stadium. The game saw Senior Night festivities take place beforehand with the football players, trainers, filmers, and cheerleaders all being honored. The Band Senior night was at halftime.
Pampa won the toss and deferred their selection to the second half, meaning they would kick off to the Eagles to begin the game.
It was a wild start as Canyon fumbled the opening kickoff. Pampa then had an interception on their drive but Canyon fumbled on the return of that. The Harvesters had no dice with the second chance as they fumbled it back to Canyon. The Eagles scored with 4:54 to play in the first quarter to take a 7-0 lead.
Senior Running Back Max Neff went down with an injury on the ensuing kickoff return. Pampa fumbled the ball back to the Eagles on the first play of their drive, giving the Eagles great field position.
The Harvesters did catch a break on this Canyon drive as Senior Linebacker Boston Botello came in to tackle the running back for an 8-yard loss on third down after a bad snap. The Eagles did convert the field goal to put the score at 10-0 with 2:37 to play in the first quarter.
Canyon fumbled on the next Pampa punt after the Harvesters couldn’t get anything going. Junior Linebacker Wakely Ogle jumped on the ball for Pampa. Unfortunately, a holding penalty on Pampa set them back and another drive led to no points. After one quarter, Canyon 10, Pampa 0.
Canyon added another touchdown with seven minutes exactly to play in the first half. The Eagles led 17-0 after the extra point.
Canyon tried another field goal but it was blocked by Senior Defensive Back Jose Alonzo with 4:08 to go in the first half.
Pampa had their next drive extended due to a penalty by the Eagles. Facing a third-and-four with 1:38 to go in the half, Canyon called a timeout looking to try to get the ball back and score again.
The Eagles called a timeout after a completed pass to the 28-yard line so they could attempt a 45-yard field goal and try to get the 20-0 lead heading into the locker room. The kick was good and Canyon led 20-0 at halftime.
The Harvesters got the ball to start the second half but were unable to get anything going after getting into Canyon territory due to a sack.
The Eagles had a 73-yard touchdown score on a run up the middle on fourth-and-three to make the score 27-0 with 6:17 to go in the third quarter.
Canyon got the ball again but were unable to get any points as this time the field goal missed with 1:54 to play in the third quarter. The Eagles still led 27-0. The score remained 27-0 with the Harvesters in possession of the ball at the end of the third quarter.
The Eagles stayed in control of this game with another touchdown to take a 34-0 lead with 10:13 to play in the game.
The Harvesters finally got the offense rolling on this next drive as Senior Fullback Parker Webb bolted through the middle for a 55-yard gain. A few plays later, Webb busted up the middle again for a 34-yard touchdown scamper to put the Harvesters on the board. After a botched snap on the extra point attempt, the score was Canyon 34, Pampa 6. Webb finished with 103 yards rushing on just seven carries and the touchdown.
Canyon drove down and added more points to the scoreboard with 3:38 to play in the ballgame to put the Eagles on top 41-6.
Neff had a nice 18-yard run on the final drive of the game for either team but the Harvesters could not punch it in for another score.
Final score: Canyon 41, Pampa 6.
The Harvesters will host the Randall Raiders next week for their final home game of the season. The regular season wraps up with a road game against the Dumas Demons on Nov. 7th. Both games will kickoff at 7 p.m.
District Standings (As of Oct 24)
West Plains 2-0
Randall 2-0
Dumas 2-1
Hereford 1-2
Pampa 0-3
Canyon 0-3
Due to lightning delays, the game between Randall and West Plains was still going at press time. West Plains was leading 14-0 in the first quarter at press time.
