Turnovers will kill any momentum and hinder the chances of winning a football game.
Perryville found out the hard way as four first-half turnovers proved costly as the Pirates fell 48-0 to Oakville on Friday at Pirate Stadium.
“We thought we were evenly matched with these guys and obviously we were not,” Perryville football coach Brent Roth said. “I don’t think we played our best guy, but at the same time Oakville proved to be the better team.”
That was true early on Oakville scored on its second drive on a four-yard run by junior Ethan Venable. The drive was aided by a Perryville facemask call.
The running back accounted for 130 yards on 10 carries with four touchdowns.
Perryville got the ball back and fumbled on the drive with 1:37 left in the first quarter and Venable scored again to give Oakville a 14-0 lead.
“We tackled a little too high,” Roth said. “They had really good backs and offensive line. Their scheme is not tricky, but they are really good at it.”
Venable scored again to open the second quarter and one of the most positive plays of the game for Perryville was a 35 yard pass to Alex Sanders that got them deep out of their own end.
Perryville proceeded to fumble on the next play.
“Our defense was on the field too long,” Roth said. “They got tired and wore us down.”
The offense struggled for much of the night gaining just 88 total yards, while Oakville gained 454 yards on the night, including nearly 400 on the ground. Oakville led 41-0 at halftime.
“We were moving the ball a couple of times and a fumble killed us each time,” Roth said. “I should have stuck to the run game. I thought I started throwing it a little too soon and kept the clock from ticking and then our defense was right back on the field again. I feel like we got away from the gameplan a little too quickly.”
Perryville will travel to Windsor on Friday. The Owls fell to Herculaneum 42-6 in week 1. Perryville defeated Windsor last season, but Roth knows that the game was in the past.
“We can’t be overconfident on anything right now,” Roth said. “We have to go out and prove it.”
