The Perryville Pirates fell to 3-5 after a 27-21 loss to Herculaneum on homecoming Saturday.
The Pirates kept the game close throughout after leading early, and just missed a chance to take the lead on a drive in the closing minutes.
PHS scored first on a short pass from backup quarterback Nolan Behrle to Joshua Gremaud. Xzyavier Wilson’s extra point made it 7-0.
The Blackcats responded with a game-tying drive on the following possession, as several long running plays set up Aaron Mardirosian for a 3-yard run and extra point to bring the game to 7-7 at the end of the opening quarter.
Herculaneum continued to run the ball well in the second quarter, taking the lead on a 78-yard quarterback keeper touchdown and extra point.
The Perryville offense wasn’t able to score on their next drive, but the defense forced a three and out and fell on an errant snap on the punt attempt to give the Pirates excellent field position in the final moments of the first half.
The Pirates took advantage of the field position, giving Jasper Burress-Johnson the ball, who scored a touchdown with just under four minutes to go in the half, making the score after 24 minutes 14-14. Johnson would finish the game with 60 yards on 16 carries.
Following an extended halftime featuring the crowning of the 2026 homecoming queen and king, the Pirates received the second half kickoff.
The Pirates drove down the field, mostly on the ground with a long rush from Xyzavier Wilson to get into field goal range. On fourth down, the PHS offense decided to go for the conversion, and turned the ball over on downs on an incompletion in the end zone. The PHS coaching staff and many fans in the stands believed there was defensive pass interference on the play, but no call was made and the blackcats took over.
“I know that’s up to judgment, but that was one that we thought should have been called,” head coach Brent Roth said. “The guy kind of ran to the back of our receiver and there was no flag there, so. That one’s definitely difficult.”
Penalties were a problem for both teams the entire game, especially in the second half as things became increasingly physical.
“It was kind of a chippy game,” Roth said. “I thought [Herculaneum] was kind of playing a little dirty. They’re doing some things after the whistle, and we did some dirty things as well that we can’t have happen. I did not think it was ref’d real well personally, but I don’t think that was eventually the reason we lost the game. I’m never gonna blame a game on the refs, but it just seemed a little chaotic out there. It didn’t seem like they had too good control of the game.”
The Pirate defense once again stepped up in the third quarter, forcing and recovering a fumble at midfield, to give the offense the ball back with the game still tied at 14.
On this drive, the Pirate offense was able to convert a first down on fourth and short, and this led to a 34-yard touchdown pass from Behrle to Gremaud, their second scoring connection of the game. The extra point gave Perryville a 21-14 lead. Greamud led the receiving offense, finishing with 75 yards and two touchdowns on five receptions.
Herculaneum scored on their next drive to tie the game again heading into the fourth quarter, a long drive aided by penalties concluded in a 5-yard touchdown run from Luke Smith, The extra point made the game 21-21 with 33 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
The two teams traded turnovers and defensive stops in the fourth quarter, with the Blackcats eventually getting the upper hand and scoring on a 2-yard Chase Luebbert run. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty backed the Blackcats special teams up following the touchdown and made for a missed extra point attempt, giving Herculaneum a 6-point lead at 27-21 with less than two minutes to play.
With no timeouts to work with, the Pirate offense drove to midfield in the final seconds, but were unable to convert on a fourth and long pass attempt, allowing Herculaneum to take a knee and win by 6.
“You took your hat to Herkey and the coaching staff there for coming out with a game plan that we weren’t prepared for,” Roth said. “They were just dropping everybody back in coverage, and we still were struggling to run the ball. Our run game has been struggling a little bit all year. When you can’t run the ball and they’re dropping everybody in coverage, it makes things a little difficult.”
The Pirates will hit the road for the final game of the regular season this Friday night against Cuba. kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
“We have to stay motivated and keep working hard,” Roth said. But the thing about the Missouri playoff system is at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what your record is. When you get to the playoffs, the winner moves on and the losers are done. So we just got to prepare for that.”
