Another week of focusing on the “little things” worked wonders for the Perryville Pirates (4-2), as they romped past the visiting Jefferson Bluejays (4-2) in a 35-0 shutout.
Pirates coach Brent Roth said his team came ready to play.
“I’m not sure what we did differently, but for whatever reason, our guys were amped up for this game,” Roth said. “We had high energy in the locker room. We came out in pregame, everybody was locked in, jumping around excited, and we carried that into the football game.”
The Pirates finished with 136 yards and 3 touchdowns on the ground and 240 yards and 2 touchdowns in the air, while the hometown defense held Jefferson scoreless with high pressure, solid tackles and even a pair of sacks.
Roth said his team’s focus for Week 6 was exemplary.
“We’ve been doing a better job of [focusing on the little things],” Roth said. “As a coach, there’s so many little things. You’re never — or at least I haven’t seen it — you’re never going to take care of all of them. But we’ve been doing a better job. We extended our practice time an extra 30 minutes on Tuesday and Wednesday. With us practicing off campus, everything seemed to be hectic and squeezed into a very short amount of time, so we added 30 minutes of practice time. That let us sort of hone in on things, be a little more specific. I think that made a difference. And then offensively, we as a coaching staff typically script 10 plays coming into the game. We extended that out to 30 tonight, and I think made a big difference as well.”
That script led to 240 passing yards and 2 passing touchdowns for senior quarterback Kayd Luckey, who completed 10 of 12 passing attempts. The majority of those went to fellow senior Drew Leuckel, who finished with 4 catches for 128 yards and 1 touchdown, a monster 75-yard run in the opening seconds of the second half.
“That’s exactly how it was scripted,” Roth said. “Obviously he had to make a great play. He made a man miss, and then Barrett Wheeler, we give him a hard time for not blocking well, and we kind of challenged him tonight. It was like, ‘Hey, man, these guys are blocking for you. Why don’t you return the favor once in a while?’ He understands that. He’s a team player. And he got down the field and made a big block for us. The thing about Drew is, he’s not the shiftiest kid, but if he makes one guy miss, you ain’t catching him. He is fast.”
After the game, Leuckel, who plays both ways and also serves as the team’s kicker, was all smiles as he agreed that he was a “little tired.” He was 5-for-5 on extra-point kicks, and at least one of his booming kickoffs nearly cleared the goalpost. On defense, he finished with 5 solo tackles — including one for loss — and 2 assists, and one pass breakup.
Wheeler also had a big night on offense, rushing for 106 yards and 3 touchdowns on 13 carries. He also caught a pass for 14 yards.
Sophomore receiver Xzyavier Wilson caught 3 passes for 68 yards and a touchdown to round out the Pirates’ scoring effort.
While the offense proved much flashier, Roth praised his team’s work in the trenches, particularly on defense.
“The defense performed excellent tonight,” Roth said. “Everybody on the field. [Defensive coordinator Ryan] Mueller did a great job of scheming us up this week and having our guys prepared and in the right spots. We were just flying around tonight, and we were playing football.” Roth said this game was a definite indicator that the Pirates are on the right course, but they still have a ways to go.
“We’ve had kind of a rocky start this year. We’ve had a rough offseason with all the obstacles we’ve had, but I knew this team had it in them. I knew they were talented. This was kind of our first glimpse of, ‘Hey, we might be a dangerous football team,’ but we’ve got to keep getting better. We’re not fully there yet.”
Perryville’s next obstacle will be the Saxony Lutheran Crusaders, who’ve had an up-and-down first season in varsity competition. The Crusaders (2-3) are coming off a 28-7 loss to the Charleston Blue Jays and are averaging 32 points per game – aided by a season-opening 54-18 victory over Veritas Christian — while allowing 27.4. The loss to Charleston marked the first time this season the Crusaders failed to score at least 30 points, even in a loss.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday at Pirate Stadium.
