Perryton’s offense wasn’t going to be stopped and unfortunately for Pampa, the packed hometown crowd didn’t get to see a Homecoming victory as the Rangers took control in the second half and ran away from the Harvesters for a 49-35 non-district victory on Harvester Field at Zach Thomas Stadium on Friday night.
The Rangers continue to get better by the week and are now over the .500 mark for the first time all year at 3-2 winners of back-to-back games following a victory against Hereford. Perryton will have one more non-district game hosting Bushland (1-4) on Friday while Pampa closes out its non-district schedule at 1-4 and will enter a bye week before opening District 2-4A Division I play with Hereford.
“We always talk to our team about trying to take the next step,” Perryton head coach Joshua Hernandez said. “That’s such a big deal to me. We always want to grow as a football team and I feel we took a step in a positive direction with this win. There is a lot of things we still need to clean up but we responded when we needed to and dominated the second half. I’m just proud of the guys, because so many of them stepped up. Angel Lopez, Cash Wheeler did amazing on defense. Cooper (Schilling) did what he does and I thought Isaac Arellano did great with his opportunities. He ran downhill and the line created things for him.”
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The first half was good but it was the second half that saw the fireworks. Perryton came out of the gate swinging building an early 14-0 lead behind a quarterback Cooper Schilling 25-yard touchdown pass to Gordo Estrada and then an Isaac Arellano 18-yard run up the gut for a TD.
Fumbles hurt both teams throughout the night, but especially Perryton in the second quarter allowing the Harvesters to tie the contest up by halftime. Running back Max Neff punched in the first Pampa touchdown off an 18-yard score with quarterback Jaren Hill then finding Jose Alonzo for a 25-yard touchdown catch right before halftime to tie it up 14-14.
The Harvesters actually took the lead for a brief moment to open the third quarter. Off a Perryton pooch kick to start the second half, Alonzo fielded a short kick around his own 28-yard line. After shaking a couple of defenders, Alonzo used his speed to break way for a 72-yard touchdown that put Pampa up 21-14.
Perryton never flinched.
From that moment forward, the Perryton offense wasn’t going to be stopped as the Rangers went to work scoring on all five second half possessions. Perryton tied the game in a hurry on Arellano’s second touchdown this one of 15 yards. The Rangers took over the lead for good on the following possession when Schilling called his own number from 5-yards out putting Perryton up 28-21 with 5:30 left in the third.
A big moment came on the Harvesters next possession. Facing a fourth and four inside the Perryton 40-yard line, Neff took a sweep looking for a first down but was shoe string tackled by Perryton safety Angel Lopez giving the ball right back to the Rangers. Perryton capitalized off that big play, marching right down the field for another Schilling touchdown, this one of four-yards giving the Rangers a 35-21 advantage they’d never relinquish.
“That play Angel (Lopez) made was huge,” Schilling said. “That was a big stop for us. Angel is always someone we can count on and he is fearless. That was a big momentum swing and we were able to go down and take advantage. We have a mentally tough football team and that is showing right now”
Hernandez echoed Schilling’s comment.
“I think in the second half we just took care of the football and stayed out of our own way,” Hernandez said. “We had some fumbles in the first half that killed us when we had a lead and were trying to build on it. We can’t beat ourselves and that has seemed to happen to us before. We wanted to take care of business and we did in the second half.”
Perryton was on fire in the second half outscoring Pampa 35-14. The Rangers offense finished the night with a balanced attack of 532 yards rushing for 301 and throwing for another 231. Schilling was the catalyst behind the offensive explosion doing it with his arm and his feet. Through the air, the junior was stellar going 20-of-26 for 231 yards with a touchdown. With his legs, Schilling worked the Pampa defense for 181 yards rushing on 23 carries with another three scores.
“Cooper is a big-time leader for us,” Hernandez said. “He gets better by the week and it’s his preparation. He had a huge summer and that has translated into the fall. We depend on him and he makes us go. Look what he did helping the run game. The offensive line was doing their job, that allowed Cooper to keep Pampa off balance and I think it helped get Isaac going.”
Arellano had his best night out of the backfield for Perryton complimenting Schilling toting the rock 14 times for 108 yards with three touchdowns of his own. Estrada helped lead the receiving unit snagging eight catches for 118 yards including that first quarter score.
The loss spoiled an outstanding effort from Neff, who is off to a stellar season for the Harvesters. The senior running back for Pampa went over the 200-yard mark for the third time this season chewing up Perryton for 255 yards on the night on 29 carries and two touchdowns with a long of 75-yards.