The Pampa Harvesters (1-0) hit the road on Friday night to kickoff the 2024 campaign. It was also the first game under new head coach Floyd White. They faced off against the Iowa Park Hawks (0-1). As the team left Pampa, it was drizzling and colder. The rain was with the team most of the trip until about Childress. A tale of two seasons as it was hot and humid when the Harvesters hopped off the bus at Hawk Stadium.
Pampa began the game with the ball at their own 11-yard line after a good kick by the Hawks. Senior running back Christian Davalos ran for seven yards to open up the season. Then, fellow running back, junior Max Neff ran for four and five yards on consecutive plays. Unfortunately, that is where the drive of promise would come to a halt after junior quarterback Jarren Hill had to scramble for a one-yard gain and then was sacked for a four-yard loss to bring up a punting situation.
The Hawks had a promising drive on their first turn with the ball but Pampa’s defense forced a turnover on downs in Harvester territory. The Harvester offense struck quickly this time with a 66-yard touchdown pass as Hill found a wide open junior tight end Clayton Ward for the touchdown. The extra point by junior kicker Jeremiah Davis was good for a 7-0 Pampa lead with 4:54 to play in the first quarter.
The Hawks second possession of the game resulted in another turnover on downs. This one was the result of a bad snap on a punt attempt. Davalos ran down the punter so Pampa could take over at the Iowa Park 34-yard line. Hill ran for 10 yards to get a first down to open the drive. After a false start set the Harvesters back, Hill found senior wide receiver for a 12-yard gain and a first down. Pampa called a timeout before a third-and-three situation with 31 seconds to play in the quarter. Coming out of the timeout, Hill pitched it to Davalos for an 11-yard gain and a first down on the option play. Davalos took the next play and ran down to the one-yard-line. Another promising Harvester drive ended in disaster after an illegal shift penalty and an unfortunate tipped ball which resulted in an interception at the Harvester one-yard-line.
Iowa Park would not be denied this time after a few good plays and went down 99 yards to tie the game up at 7-7 with 9:44 to play in the first half.
Pampa’s next drive resulted in a three-and-out with 7:30 to play in the half. However, Iowa Park fumbled the ball on the first play of their drive and it was recovered by senior linebacker Elijah Torres. The Harvesters had great field position at the Hawk 41-yard line. This drive was a quick one by the Harvesters as Neff ran for 22-yards to get things going. On the next play, Hill found senior wide receiver Bryce Lynn for a 19-yard touchdown pass. Pampa took a 14-7 lead with 7:26 to play in the half after the extra point was good by Davis.
The Harvesters forced another punt from the Hawks and would take the ball back for their fifth drive of the game at their own 49-yard line. Neff got the ball rolling with another 14-yard run for a first down. Neff took it again for seven more. Then, Davalos took it for six yards and a first down. Neff took it again for a 13-yard first down run. After a few more runs, Neff scampered in for a six-yard touchdown with 1:16 to play in the first half. Another Davis extra point was good for a 21-7 Harvester lead.
Pampa called their final timeout of the half with 1:05 to play in the half as the Hawks had possession of the ball trying to get any more points on the board before half. It seemed to pay off as junior defensive lineman Jack Dyer recovered a fumble with 16 seconds to play in the half at the Iowa Park 43-yard line. Hill ran for 14 yards and a first down to begin the drive but Pampa ran out of time with the lack of timeouts and the first half ended with Pampa up 21-7.
The Hawks began the second half with the ball at their own 30-yard line after the kickoff. Iowa Park had a couple of huge third and fourth down conversions before scoring on a double pass to cut into the Pampa lead. The score rested at 21-14 with 7:56 to play in the third quarter.
The Harvesters first drive of the second half began at their own 25-yard line after a touchback on the ensuing kickoff. Facing a long third down play, HIll scrambled for 15 yards after avoiding a sack to get a first down. The very next play, Neff barreled up the middle for a 42-yard touchdown scamper. The Davis extra point was good to put Pampa right back on top by a 28-14 score with 6:26 to play in the third quarter.
Pampa looked to have the Hawks stopped with a third down play being stopped behind the line to gain but the drive got extended due to a facemask penalty. The ensuing play Pampa was able to sack the quarterback for a big loss before calling their first timeout of the half with 3:31 to play in the third quarter. The Harvesters were able to hold off the Hawks and force a turnover on downs. Pampa took over for their second possession of the half at their own 24-yard line with 2:04 to play in the third quarter.
WIth a two possession lead, the Harvesters seemed content to ground and pound their way in the second half. After three straight runs by Neff gained a first down, the remaining two minutes of the third quarter also ran off the clock. Pampa looked to continue a long drive into the fourth quarter. The drive continued but started to go backwards for the Harvesters with a fumbled snap for a two-yard loss and a delay of game. Davalos ran for three yards and Pampa called a timeout before a third-and-14 with 9:33 to play in the game. The third down was unsuccessful with a negative yard passing play. Pampa seemed content to continue to milk as much of the game clock by taking another delay of game before punting the ball away with 8:39 to play. A good boot by Davis pinned the Hawks down at their own 20-yard line. The Hawks would need a quick score here to keep themselves in the ballgame.
It looked as if Pampa might have forced a quick three-and-out but a bobbled pass was ruled a catch to give the Hawks a much needed first down on a third-and-long play. The Harvesters succumbed to broken coverage to give up a long touchdown score. After the extra point, Iowa Park cut the lead to 28-21 with 7:28 to play in the game.
Iowa Park went for the onside kick due to penalties by the Harvesters on the touchdown score. It was unsuccessful and Pampa began their third drive of the half at their own 47-yard line with 7:28 to go in the ball game. Hill started the drive with a nice 13-yard first down scamper. It was clear the Pampa goal was to milk the clock with three more runs by the Harvesters. Iowa Park got a fourth down stop with 4:42 to play to give them a chance to go down and tie the game. The Hawks began the drive at their own 37-yard line. A roughing the passer penalty gave the Hawks a first down in Pampa territory with 3:43 to play in the game at the Pampa 38-yard line. The Hawks only took two more plays to find paydirt with 3:06 to play in the game and tie it at 28 all after the extra point barely trickled over the crossbar.
The Harvesters now faced a pivotal point in the game to try and take a late lead. The kickoff went out of bounds to give the Harvesters better field position and they began this drive at their own 30-yard line. It only took one play as Hill had a keeper house call for a 70-yard touchdown run. Pampa took the lead back at 35-28 with 2:54 to play in the game.
The Hawks began their next drive at their own 16-yard line and quickly faced a third-and-long with 2:15 to go after taking a sack out-of-bounds. Pampa forced a turnover on downs with 2:07 to play and the Harvesters looked to milk the game away. Pampa started this drive at the Iowa Park 21-yard line.
Davalos took the ball first on this drive and took it 14 yards for a first down at the Iowa Park 12-yard line with 2:02 to go in the game. Iowa Park took a timeout with 1:54 to play in the game and Pampa faced a first-and-goal at the Hawk five-yard-line. Another Hawk timeout left them with just one more time they could stop the clock and 1:47 to play. The Harvesters had the ball with a second-and-goal situation. Iowa Park took their final timeout of the game with 1:40 to play and the ball resting at the 12-yard line and Pampa faced a third-and-goal situation. Hill did it again for the Harvesters with a 12-yard touchdown scamper to ice the ball game. Pampa took the lead 42-28 after the Davis extra point was good with just 1:35 to play and the Hawks having no timeouts left.
FINAL: Pampa 42, Iowa Park 28.
Coach Floyd White on the performances from Jarren Hill and Max Neff.
“There is a reason why Max was a 2,000 yard rusher. He’s a great player with the ball in his hands. There is a reason why Jarren is now a captain. He can sit there and take all of it and process it and do all the things that we need to in our offense to make us successful. He put us into a couple of plays himself because he has been in there, he’s been studying and been listening. With those guys at our helm, we will be a tough out for anyone,” White said.
On the performance from the defense.
“When you get into games like that where they are having a hard time moving the ball, they do things out of the ordinary to be able to move that ball. There was the double pass and a couple of blown coverages but it wasn’t because we weren’t trying. It was because we had kids being aggressive. We can coach that aspect of it but we can’t coach them if they won’t be aggressive. I would rather them be aggressive and have to pull them back out of the fight than to push them into the fight and then not want to get into it,” White said.
Final thoughts from coach White’s first win as the Harvester Head Coach.
“I’m telling you, we have to continue to be physical. We have to continue to do the things for the tempo and brand of football we want to play here. I am so proud. I am proud of that offensive line. The one thing I can tell you is Max and Jarren don’t get all those yards if those offensive lineman aren’t blocking like that. They don’t get all those yards if those receivers aren’t out there blocking like that. This day was a total team effort. I am so so proud of all those kids because of all the grit they showed. It would have been very easy for them to turn it down when it was 28-all. Instead, they went and found a way to score 14 there at the end. It is a great day to be a Harvester,” White said.
UNOFFICIAL STATS:
Jarren Hill was 5-7 passing for 89 yards, 2 TDs, and an INT. He also added 13 rushes for 137 and 2 TDs on the ground.
Max Neff rushed 22 times for 171 and 2 TDs.
Christian Davalos ran 8 times for 39 yards.
Clayton Ward caught 1 pass for 66 yards and a TD.
Bryce Lynn caught two passes for 13 yards and a TD.
Aaron Diaz caught one pass for 12 yards.
Jeremiah Davis was 6-6 on PATs.
Pampa will dedicate Zach Thomas Stadium at Harvester Field next Friday, September 6th before the game against the Plainview Bulldogs. The game will kickoff at 7 PM.
