CANYON—The Pampa Harvesters (1-6, 0-2), who were missing Senior Running Back Max Neff and Senior Lineman Kanan Reeves. traveled to Canyon on Thursday evening to take on the (4) West Plains Wolves (6-1, 2-0) at Happy State Bank Stadium, the former home of the West Texas A&M University Buffaloes. The Harvesters were able to tie it up early in the contest, but the state-ranked, heavily favored West Plains Wolves overwhelmed the Harvesters 55-7.
“I feel like our kids came out early and competed,” Head Coach Floyd White said. “Our big thing is we can’t get beat because of the number in front of the name. I feel like sometimes that gets into our heads a little bit. Our kids continue to work and grind, especially our younger kids.
“Our younger kids are learning from our older kids that they can get out there and compete. We’ve got to start it early. We can’t start it too late.”
The Harvesters found themselves in a 7-0 hole early but in their second drive of the game, Senior Quarterback Jarren Hill found Senior Wideout Jose Alonzo for a 56-yard catch-and-run to put Pampa in striking distance at the West Plains 19-yard line. Hill, along with Senior Running Backs Reese Waldrip and Parker Webb, continued moving the ball down the field to the West Plains 5-yard line. Hill eventually found pay-dirt to put the Harvesters on the board with a five-yard touchdown run. After the extra point by Sophomore Kicker Bryan Montelongo, Pampa knotted it up at 7-7 with 5:44 left to play.
West Plains answered the touchdown with one of their own on the kickoff return to make it 14-7 Wolves. It was nothing doing on the ensuing Pampa drive and West Plains added to their score with another long touchdown run. The opening quarter ended with the West Plains Wolves leading 20-7.
The Wolves opened the second quarter with another touchdown grab and extended their lead to 27-7 with 10:55 left in the half. The Harvesters had a failed attempt at a fake punt for their first drive of the second quarter, which West Plains used to turn into a touchdown drive to make it 34-7 Wolves with 5:24 to play in the first half. Senior Defensive back Kaviontra Branch, who had three unassisted tackles in the contest, was hearing his name called a lot over the public address system for making plays against the Wolves’ offense.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the kid,” White said. “KB is a kid who has had a lot of things go wrong outside of football. But, man, he comes out every day with a smile and works his tail off. It’s amazing to see what a year will do for you.
“This time last year he was kind of in trouble with the program, but he got out there and found some guys to cling to, and man, he has had a tremendous turnaround. I couldn’t be more proud of the young man.”
On the following kickoff, R. Waldrip took a kick return to the West Plains 42-yard line. Aside from a completion from Hill to Senior Fullback Parker Webb for seven yards, the Harvesters struggled to move the ball on the Wolves’ defense and turned the ball over on downs. West Plains took this opportunity and had another catch-and-run touchdown. It was 41-7 West Plains with 1:50 left in the half.
The Harvesters’ final drive of the half was penalty-riddled, and the teams went into the locker room at the half 41-7.
The West Plains Wolves offense picked up where they left off coming out of the locker room with a touchdown to extend their lead to 48-7. The Wolves added another score following the Pampa three-and-out to make it 55-7 West Plains with 3:05 left in the third quarter.
Late in the third quarter, Junior Offensive Lineman Carter McLaughlin got hurt on a play, but came back in to finish all but one play of the game.
“He was sitting out there reeling around and was really hurting,” White said. “He said, ‘Coach I want to get back out there.’ That’s what we need from our guys. That’s what we are starting to build.
“Once we get more guys who would rather cut their leg off than come out of the game, then you will see a huge change in our program. But we have young men like him that are starting to do that and make a huge difference on our team.”
Neither team added to the scoreboard the rest of the game making it 55-7 final score.
The Harvesters return to the safe confines of Harvester Field at Zach Thomas Stadium on Friday, Oct. 24 when they host the Canyon Eagles. That night will be extra special as it will be Senior Night.
Stat Round Up
Senior Jarren Hill went 2-7 for 63 yards passing.
Senior Reese Waldrip had 37 yards on 17 carries; Senior Parker Webb had a 15-yard catch; Senior Jarren Hill had 22 yards on seven carries.
Senior Jose Alonzo had a 56-yard catch; Senior Parker Webb had a seven-yard catch.
R. Waldrip had three kick returns for 66 yards.
Sophomore Kicker Bryan Montelongo went 1-1 in extra points.
R. Waldrip had one tackle; Webb had six tackles; Senior Gage Ayala had one tackle; Senior Kaviontra Branch had four tackles; Junior Cy LeBlanc had two tackles; Junior Raidyn Brown had five tackles; Senior Clayton Ward had two tackles; Senior Alex Arreola had two tackles; Junior Kiaro Flores, Junior Zaiden Venegas, Junior Dase Scott and Junior Boston Botello all had a tackle.
