The Pampa Harvesters (6-1) will start their district schedule on Friday, when they host the Canyon Eagles (6-1).
While the Harvesters may not have played a game on Friday, each program in the athletic program took part in a community-wide public service.
“That was every program from swim to tennis, to football, to girls basketball and boys basketball,” Head Coach Cody Robinson said. “That was every program in our athletic program and every head coach in our athletic program. It was emotional for me because to be surrounded by people who are about that is awesome. Every program in Pampa ISD is led by someone you would want your kids around.
“We partnered with a lot of churches in the community and several of their youth groups....One of the most important things for us to be is selfless and to give back and serve. We want student-athletes and servant-athletes. That means your training to be a good teammate, even as a husband, father, wife or mother. You’ve got to be a good teammate.”
The Pampa Harvesters spent some time looking at Canyon last week and Robinson said it’s a program he respects greatly.
“You’ve got two football teams that have won six games in a row,” Robinson said. “But they get dressed for practice just like we do. But I have a lot of respect for that program. They’ve got their weapons and tools and we’ve got our weapons and tools. They are well-coached and they play hard. But so do we. We always expect to win a football game.”
The Eagles are led by junior quarterback Derrek Clements, running back Dario Bressler, wideout Parker Cunningham and guard Chisum Koehler.
“They run an offense similar to us, they run multiple formations, are very balanced, etc.,” Robinson said. “They’ll take big chances for big plays. They are very similar.”
Their defense is anchored by junior defensive end Rhett Patterson.
The Harvesters have outscored their opponents 300-163 and have blowout wins against Big Spring, Levelland and Borger. Canyon, on the other hand, has been in close games except for their 43-7 win over Burkburnett and 38-18 win over Greenwood.
Pampa and Canyon have two mutual opponents, Randall (Pampa won 29-28, Canyon lost 20-13) and Levelland (Pampa won 53-6, Canyon won 13-7).
“If you look at [most] of Canyon’s games, they are usually close games,” Robinson said. “But it’s not how you play, it’s who you play.”
Robinson pointed the Harvesters’ conditioning as to why the Harvesters play so well in the second halves of games.
“There have been a lot of situations, even in the Elk City game, where we were in way better shape,” Robinson said. “Usually in the first game of the season you have kids cramping, and Elk City didn’t have that either. In the fourth quarter we started pulling away from Elk City, it was just too late. That happened against Perryton and Randall. But there were games that weren’t close, where we had the foot on the gas and the opponent didn’t.”
The Harvesters will have a heavy heart when they take the field Friday, after the passing of Kooper Preston, Aydan Mooney and Luis Nevarez in a car wreck early Monday morning. Another area child is still recovering from the accident.
A candlelight vigil was held at Harvester Field on Wednesday.
“Each of our boys will have a cowboy hat, baseball glove sticker on their helmets,” Robinson said. “I’ve been here since March, so I didn’t get to coach them long. But they had awesome personalities. Every time I saw those two kids they made me smile. As a coach, you always emphasize how coaches impact kids, but you never talk about how kids impact coaches.”
Game time is at 7 p.m. and will be live-streamed at https://bit.ly/3AXUJP6.
