ST. LOUIS—The Perryville Pirates got back in the win column Friday night against Bayless with Hancock, beating the Bronchos 35-15.
The Pirates started the scoring early, with junior Xzyavier Wilson returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown.
Sophomore quarterback Lucas Buchheit threw for 114 yards in the games, but was more effective on the ground, running for 138 yards and scoring three rushing touchdowns.
Sophomore Jasper Burress-Johnson got his first start of the season following an impressive performance late in the game against St. Vincent last week. Burress-Johnson ran for 122 yards and a touchdown.
With a one touchdown lead at halftime, head coach Brent Roth was happy with the offensive performance but wanted more out of his defense, who gave up two Bayless touchdowns. Roth said the defense was much improved coming out of the break.
“We went into halftime up 21-14, and then we kind of challenged the guys and said it wasn’t good enough,” Roth said. “And they came out and the defense played better and did not allow a score in the second half. And the offense got the running game going.”
The Perryville defense forced two turnovers in the win, an interception from Wilson and a fumble recovered by Burress-Johnson. The Pirates got to the Broncho quarterback for three sacks.
The Pirates, now 2-2, will have a short week for the second time this year, playing at home against Grandview this Thursday night. Roth said it will be important to make the most out of the limited practice time a short week gives you.
“We are going to dive into the film and correct some of our mistakes that we made on Friday and then kind of move ahead to Greenview and see what they’re all about,” Roth said. You really only get one actual practice on Tuesday, so you have to make sure you are pretty crisp and locked in then. Before you know it, we’ll be playing another game, so it’s gonna be a quick turnaround. We have to really capitalize on our time at practice and just improve on the areas that we weren’t so successful on this week.”
Thursday night’s game against Grandview will be senior night for Perryville. Kickoff from Pirates Stadium is scheduled for 7 p.m.
