Pirates fall to Blue Jays in ‘slugfest’

After putting up 90 points combined the previous two weeks, Jefferson made sure Perryville returned back to a sense of normalcy on Friday. The Pirates scored first, but was held scoreless the rest of the game in a 20-7 loss to Jefferson R-7 Sept. 30.
Perryville football coach Brent Roth noted that the Blue Jay safety Nate Breeze was a big reason why Perryville could not get anything going offensively. Breeze had 11 tackles in the game, the most of any Jefferson player.
“The reason we weren’t able to make big plays is their safety was coming down to make tackles,” Roth said. “Typically, when the safety is making tackles it means you are blocking everything well up front. We couldn’t make that guy miss. We were moving the ball fine. We just couldn’t break the big one.”
Cameron Young plunged into the endzone from one yard out on the second drive to put Perryville ahead 7-0 in the second quarter. However, it was a key Pirate turnover that swung momentum in the Blue Jays’ favor. Perryville fumbled on their own 30-yard line with approximately 45 seconds left in the first half.
Jefferson quarterback Kole Williams made the Pirates pay with a touchdown pass to Nate Breeze to close the half with the score tied 7-7.
“It was a killer,” Roth said. “I don’t know if it was necessarily the game because we still would have had to score in the second half. It definitely killed our momentum there.”
Roth felt like his team was able to run the ball effectively for much of the game, but was unable to bust a big run. Senior Ben Hotop led the way with 71 yards on 14 carries, while Alex Sanders had 59 yards on 12 carries.
“We had a few good runs on our touchdown drive, but after that we weren’t able to get past the second level,” Roth said.

The Blue Jays, on the other hand had no such problems.
Jefferson had 277 yards rushing in the game and were led by Sean Usery and Max Schnitzler who had a combined 220 yards themselves.
“The game was a slugfest and we started missing a few tackles that led to touchdowns for them,” Roth said. “The game really came down to Breeze and their triple option.”
The loss snaps the Pirates two game winning streak
Perryville (2-4) will try to get back on track this Friday when it takes on New Madrid County Central (5-1) on senior day. New Madrid defeated Kennett last week 60-28.
“They have some talented receivers and have speed all over the field,” Roth said. “It is going to be a challenge for us to stay in front of them and make tackles on guys who will make you miss.”
Perryville has a class of 20 seniors and Roth knows how important it is to win for not only the team and the ongoing season, but also his seniors.
“These guys have dedicated a lot to the program,” Roth said. “You don’t only want to make sure you get the seniors out on the field, but also get a win for them.”