The first half of Thursday’s Class 2, District 1 semifinal match between the Perryville Pirates (14-4) and the St. Pius X Lancers (8-13) left Perryville coach Jerry Fulton a little perplexed.
The Lancers took an early 1-0 lead on a free kick in the first half, and the Pirates — despite showing the same dominance they had most of the season — weren’t able to catch up.
“We were out playing them,” Fulton said. “We had possession. We had the ball. I told our guys at halftime, and the other coaches, this was not going to be a 1-0 game. ‘You guys have been outplaying them the whole game.’”
Fulton’s speech worked. The Pirates rallied in the second half, outscoring the Lancers 3-1 to finish with a 3-2 victory and their first district title since 2021.
“We made a couple of adjustments,” Fulton said. “We brought Kade Baundendistel from the center back to center mid. And as soon as we did that, their No. 4 player was, ‘Coach, we need another player. We can’t mark him with two. We need three guys.’ That’s the kind of energy Kade brings to the center of the field, and you can see our team turn on a dime.”
With Baundendistel moving to midfield, the Pirates were able to take a 2-1 lead before St. Pius evened the score on a corner kick, much like their first goal.
“They never scored a goal in regulation,” Fulton said. “It was all offset plays.”
With the score tied, the Pirates went on the offensive once again, pressuring the Lancers and finally finding the net once more.
“For us to come back and get the last goal was just amazing,” Fulton said. “It was hard work. We kept telling them, ‘If you go to the box, somebody’s going to get it. We’re going to get it. Just keep going. Take it to the goal.’”
Treyton Barnett finished with 2 goals for Perryville, and Baundendistel had a goal and an assist. Vincent Schaaf and Karston Schilli each had an assist. For St. Pius, Lane Kohler and Drew Ribaudo had 1 goal each, with Cullen Bramhall getting an assist on each.
In goal, Perryville’s Waylon Huber earned his 12th victory after recording 9 saves, giving him 92 on the season. St. Pius’ Mason McNutt took the loss after making 6 saves.
“These guys have worked their butts off for four years and haven’t won anything,” Fulton said. “I can’t say enough for everyone. From the keeper to the forwards, everybody played outstanding.
"They were due. They deserve this. We’re going to enjoy it.”
Fulton’s words were echoed by his captains, all seniors.
“It feels amazing,” said Barnett. “I’m honestly speechless. I am so happy. I’m ready to go home and eat, shower, and get back to work.”
Huber said the team’s only focus was on winning.
“It’s been four years and we’ve battled and battled,” Huber said. “We wanted this so much. We knew we couldn’t go down without a fight. We knew we couldn’t lose this game. We wanted this for four years, and we have been so close, and now we finally got it.”
Baundendistel, on the other hand, looked back to the Pirates’ final regular-season home game, a 3-2 loss to Cape Central on Senior Night.
“We’re out here on our home field,” Baundendistel said. “I was like, ‘God, we can’t lose another one. We can’t lose another big game like that on our own field.’ These are all my buddies. We’ve been playing since we were like 4 years old. And we were like, ‘We are not going to end like this. We’re going to go out there. We’re going to give it our all, and we’re going to play as a team and win this game.’ That’s what we did.”
Schilli said getting the chance to lead the team back to the state playoffs was a big deal.
“It means a lot, going from freshman year, losing it to Saxony on [penalty kicks], and then losing to them again on PKs the next year, and last year losing in overtime. It just means a whole lot to finally make it all the way through. We’ve had the teams to do it, and it just hasn’t worked out. It’s finally worked out in our favor.”
As for Fulton, who was all smiles following the match, he had a simpler thought.
“We’re going to get ready for the next round,” Fulton said. “It’s been a long time.”
Perryville will host a quarterfinal matchup against Bayless (21-7) on Saturday for a shot to advance to the state semifinals.
