The Pampa Harvesters (0-5, 0-0) enjoyed a week off to heal up, rest up, and get ready for the District 2-4A gauntlet run. They open district play at Zach Thomas Stadium against the Randall Raiders (5-0, 0-0). After this week, Hereford comes to town on the 16th. Pampa travels to Dumas on the 23rd. The Harvesters host Canyon on Oct. 30th. Finally, the regular season ends at Happy State Bank Stadium in Canyon on a Thursday night, Nov. 5th, against the West Plains Wolves. I sat down, as I do each week, with Head Coach Floyd White to discuss the bye week and the preparations for Randall.
Harvesters Make the Most of Bye Week
Coming out of the open week, White was pleased with how the Harvesters approached the extra time and used it as an opportunity to improve rather than simply treating it as time off.
“I was real happy with the way our kids approached the bye week this year because they really spent the time and started to use it to hone skills instead of trying to find ways to get away from doing the work and just rest,” White said. “Every day that we practiced, we practiced well. It’s a process of those guys making sure that the way they approach it is, ‘I’ve got to get better every week,’ and they actually used it this year to really work on getting better. It showed with our practice yesterday.”
A Fresh Start in District Play
With non-district play behind them, the Harvesters enter Friday night with the same district record as everyone else, 0-0, and everything they hope to accomplish is still in front of them.
“You have to look at things that you may not have done well and areas that you really struggled with early in your season, and now you have a chance to get those things right,” White said. “With everybody saying you’re 0-0, the reality of it is everything that you really want is right there in front of you. It’s all in your approach.”
For Pampa, that approach begins with correcting its own mistakes rather than becoming overly focused on the opponent across the field.
“We talked to our guys this week about how it’s not as much about us beating the Randall Raiders as us beating the us that beats us every week,” White said. “Most weeks when we go back and look at it, it’s not the other team. A lot of times it’s us just doing things wrong. That’s where we’ve got to get better, and that’s what we really worked on this week.”
Scouting the Randall Offense
The Harvesters will face a Randall offense loaded with athleticism and speed, something White said has consistently been a strength of the Raiders.
“In my opinion, Randall every year has been the most dynamic group, other than last year’s West Plains group,” White said. “Every year Randall has skill kids all over the place.”
At quarterback, Randall has recently leaned on No. 15, Hendrix Funk, a player White described as capable of hurting a defense with both his arm and legs.
“Everything runs through him,” White said. “He’s a big, strong kid. He can throw the ball well and he runs the ball pretty decent.”
One of the biggest challenges on the perimeter will be No. 13 Phoenix Sherwood, whose speed gives the Raiders a dangerous deep threat.
“He’s one that’s been kind of a thorn in our side for the last two years,” White said. “He’s a district champion in the 100-meters. The kid has top-end speed, and he’s one of those kids that makes it very difficult on you because he can take the top off of you all the time.”
Randall also brings multiple options in the backfield and several athletes capable of contributing on both sides of the football.
“They’ve got a couple different backs that they use, and both of those guys are really dynamic,” White said. “They have a couple guys that play both ways. All those guys are really dynamic because they all have speed and they’re really good athletes.”
Raiders Bring a Solid, Athletic Defense
Defensively, White sees similarities between the Raiders and the Harvesters in their approach.
“They look very similar to what we do on defense,” White said. “They’re aggressive, but they’re not overly aggressive. They’re going to play really solid defense. They read keys, they trigger on the right things and they do what they do pretty well.”
The Raiders also have experience and athleticism throughout the defense, including at linebacker and in the secondary.
“Inside, they have a backer, No. 11, Daniel Nunez, and he’s a pretty dang good one,” White said. “He runs around, flies around and gets to the ball. On the back end, they’ve got two safeties that seem like they’ve been there forever. They’re just good, solid playmakers. They don’t get beat over the top very often, and they’re very athletic.”
Up front, Randall presents another challenge with a defensive line capable of disrupting what Pampa wants to accomplish offensively.
“They’re really good up front,” White said. “They have a defensive end, No. 2, Jay Lewis, who is a real tall, athletic kid, and No. 52, Saul Avitia, at nose just plugs up a lot of things. He’s good, solid and runs around hard.”
Starting Fast and Avoiding the Spiral
For Pampa, starting quickly Friday night will be important, but White said the Harvesters must also avoid allowing one mistake to snowball into several.
“We always talk about execution, but when something goes wrong, that’s where you can’t get yourself behind the eight ball,” White said. “You can’t get down on yourself because that’s where things start to spiral out of control. You get your first five-yard penalty, you get your first hold, and the next thing you know you’re behind the sticks.”
The goal offensively is to establish momentum immediately and then sustain it throughout the game.
“It’s hugely important for us to start fast on both sides of the ball,” White said. “Offensively, let’s get out there, execute, start fast, go down and score on that first drive. Let’s get ourselves set up for success.”
The same expectation applies to the Harvester defense.
“Defensively, let’s go out there and get a three-and-out,” White said. “Let’s get the ball back to our offense because when we get going, we can chew up a lot of clock. We do a good job of that. We’ve just got to make sure that as we’re chewing up that clock, we continue to execute and reward ourselves at the end of those drives with field goals or touchdowns.”
Maintaining focus will be particularly important defensively against a Randall offense that gives defenders clues they can use if they remain disciplined.
“They have a lot of tells that we can take advantage of if we’ll be locked into it,” White said. “We’ve got to make sure that we keep our intent and our focus defensively to make sure that we’re giving ourselves a chance to be successful Friday night.”
Young Harvesters Get Their First Taste of District
Friday will be the first taste of district football for several of Pampa’s younger players, but White does not want them treating the game as something bigger than it needs to be.
“The thing about district games is that they always ramp up because people understand the importance of it,” White said. “Everything is right there for them to jump themselves right into the middle of the district race and start competing for playoff spots, but we can’t make it bigger than what it is. Every week is just a week. We’re playing another football game.”
White said the growth of Pampa’s younger players, along with adjustments made by the coaching staff, should allow them to play without feeling like they have to do too much.
“I feel like those young ones are really starting to figure it out,” White said. “With some of the tweaks we’ve made offensively and some of the tweaks we’ve made defensively, it’s going to help us moving forward so they’re not under as much pressure to have to do more than what they have to do. They just have to do what they have to do.”
Keys to the Game
Offensively, one of the biggest keys will be consistently moving the football, protecting possession and helping Pampa control field position.
“We’ve got to execute, offensively,” White said. “We’ve got to be able to push that ball down the field. Even if we don’t get scores, we’ve got to get a couple first downs every time we get the ball to be able to maintain field position. We want to create as many short fields as we can and take advantage of short fields when we have them.”
Protecting the football remains another major emphasis.
“Taking care of the ball is huge for us,” White said. “We’re getting better in that regard, but we can’t just let loose of a ball and throw it to the other team. We’ve got to make sure we’re going through the proper reads and not just assume there’s nobody out there because there was nobody out there in practice.”
On the defensive side, White wants to see the Harvesters finish opportunities when they put themselves in position to make plays.
“Every game, we have dudes at the point of attack and we miss tackles,” White said. “Defensively, we’ve got to make the plays that are there for us to make. We can’t baby ourselves anymore. All these games count now.”
Creating turnovers could also play a major role in giving Pampa additional opportunities offensively.
“We’ve got to keep creating takeaways,” White said. “We’ve got to get our offense more possessions. If we can take the ball away two or three times every game, we’re going to have a chance to be successful because the more our offense has the ball, the more chances they have to score.”
More Than Just Playing Hard
More than simply seeing his team play hard Friday night, White said he wants to see that effort translate into consistent execution.
“I’m tired of us just saying, ‘We’ve got to play hard.’ Our kids already play hard,” White said. “What I want to see is us execute. That’s where all of us, from coaches all the way down to kids, have got to be better. The old college try is only going to work for so long. At some point, you’ve got to execute.”
Despite Randall entering district play unbeaten, White believes the Harvesters have opportunities they can exploit if they execute the game plan.
“I want to see us go out there and execute our game plan and give ourselves the opportunity to win the game,” White said. “Randall’s good, but they’re not unbeatable. I know they’re 5-0 right now, but they have areas where you can take advantage of them. We’ve got to make sure we take advantage of what our scheme allows us to do.”
Ultimately, White wants to see the Harvesters put themselves in position to have a chance when the fourth quarter arrives.
“We always talk about giving ourselves a chance to win the game at the end,” White said. “Well, let’s give ourselves a chance to win at the end of the game. Let’s not toy around with it or just say, ‘Man, we gave it the old college try.’ That’s not good enough anymore.”
You can find HSN on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@HarvesterSportsNetwork/. You can also follow them on Facebook: www.facebook.com/HarvesterSportsNetwork. Lastly, there is a Twitter/X page: www.x.com/PampaHSN. Mike Mitchell and Troy Schwiegerath will be calling the game. The game will also be broadcast locally on 103.3 FM KRXZ Radio. That station will be piped through the YouTube feed. The pre-game show will begin on YouTube and 103.3 FM at 6:45 p.m. and kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
