The Pampa Harvesters (5-1) will wrap up their pre-District schedule Friday when they host Big Spring (5-1) for their 2021 Homecoming Game.
The Harvesters are coming off a 44-41 win at Perryton that was sealed by a late field goal from senior kicker Erick Hernandez. The win was the Harvesters fifth-straight.
“Games that are hard fought teaches you a lot about life,” Head Coach Cody Robinson said. “Those are character-building games. I think those are also confidence-building games. They are also games that you can emphasize the little things. When we don’t do the little things right, this is what happens (a potential loss). Or when you do this little thing right, it enables us to be put in a position to find a way to win. I’m proud of our football team and our coaching staff for doing that.
“Perryton is a tough place to play and they are a tough, physical program. I’m looking for them to have a successful season in District and playoffs. But it was awesome to come back home with a victory after some touch conditions.”
As the Harvesters look ahead to Big Spring, Robinson wants to see the Harvesters keep improving.
“I want us to keep getting better,” Robinson said. “This is a unique opponent in that we have faced teams that want to physically run the ball a lot in Randall, Perryton, Dalhart and Elk City. Big Spring is a little bit different.”
Big Spring is a pass-heavy offense led by senior quarterback Gabriel Baeza.
“He was up for Dave Campbell’s Player of the Week last week,” Robinson said. “He accounted for 500 yards of offense by himself. He’s a good quarterback. He does a great job leading their offense. They have two receivers Kaegen Mitchell (#20) and Sa’quan Fizer (#12), both of those kids are dynamic. It’ll be a different ball game (for us). They like to throw the football around, get people in space and we are going to have to do a good job being sound.”
Along with those offensive players, Robinson said defensively the Steers have senior linebacker Adonis Lopez and a rotation of defensive linemen.
“They’ve got five or six kids they play switching out,” Robinson said. “They are big, physical kids. It’s a 5-1 football team against another 5-1 football team. There’s not much more you can say than that other than I look forward to watching our kids compete. I want to put four quarters of Harvester football together.”
It is Homecoming Week for the Pampa Harvesters and the coaching staff is looking to watch the Harvesters turn the distraction of the hoopla into some positive energy on the field.
“Any time we play at home, it’s a big deal,” Robinson said. “Whether we’re honoring our armed forces or first responders, Harvester Field is the biggest show in Pampa. Our job is to put a great product of football on the field for our community.
“I’ve been blown away by the community support from the riot, to the old-time Harvester football fans. That’s a beautiful thing. Homecoming is just an extension of that. We’ve got to keep that in mind because we’ve got boys involved in all kinds of things. We just need to have fun with that and want our kids to enjoy that.”
Game time is at 7 p.m. Festivities for Homecoming are as follows:
• Parade - Thursday at 4:30 p.m. - Starting at Mary Ellen and Harvester, going down Mary Ellen to Cuyler.
• Friday, homecoming candidates will be introduced starting at 6:30 p.m. before the football game, king and queen to be announced afterward.
