The Perryville Pirates put on an offensive show on Friday. The Pirates led from beginning to end in a 50-0 victory over Herculaneum to spoil their homecoming.
“Herculaneum did a good job defensively with their schemes taking away some of the things in our passing game,” Perryville coach Brent Roth said. “There were times where we just made plays and got the ball in the right guys’ hands.”
With the win Perryville surpassed its win total from last season and currently sit at 4-4.
“I think this year has been on par with what we have wanted to do this year.” Roth said. “We went into those games expecting to win them.”
Barrett Wheeler had 82 yards rushing and four touchdowns as the Pirates rushed for 182 yards on the night. Rilaynd Graham passed for 106 through the air and two touchdows.
“Barrett had a great night and has been running the ball really well,” Roth said. “One of those touchdowns was set up by a long kickoff return by Chase Richardet to open the second half.”
This is the third time this year the Pirates have scored 40 points and Roth said this year has been “fun” offensively.
“The playbook continues to evolve and we add things to it,” he said. “I think we have gotten to the point where defenses are going to have a hard time keying in on one single thing that we do. They are going to have to defend the whole field and every player on the field.”
The Pirate defense was on point as well as the offense as the Pirates led 29-0 at the half and preserved the shutout in the game as well. Herculaneum had just 91 yards of total offense in the game and had approximately 35 yards rushing until the final drive.
“We don’t have anyone on the defense that is selfish,” Roth said. “We were flying to the ball and making tackles and really playing for each other.”
Perryville (4-4) will have a chance to finish the regular season with a winning record if they beat St. Pius (5-3) on Friday night. St. Pius is coming into the game having beaten Bayless 48-8 last week. Perryville is also third in the Class 4, District 1 standings with a possible district home game on the line.
“This is a big week for us,” Roth said. It’s time to lock in with our focus and to prove to ourselves that we can beat one of the better teams in our conference and that we can compete with and beat some of the better teams in the area. “
