Perryville soccer gets three on Class 2 All-State team

Perryville boys soccer coach Jerry Fulton was not surprised by the honors that his players recently received. Three Pirates were named to the Class 2 All-State team by the Missouri Soccer Coaches Association when the honors were announced.
Despite not winning the district, or even reaching the district championship game, Fulton felt like the awards were deserved.
“It speaks to the caliber of our players and program,” Fulton said. “When you lose to Saxony Lutheran twice in penalty kicks, it just makes you think about what could have been if we score one of the opportunities we created. If we get one goal maybe the roles are reversed. I thought three was pretty deserving and were chosen off the performance of our team.”
This is the fourth consecutive season that Perryville has garnered at least one All-State player, including four in 2021 as the team reached the state championship game. Each of the players were captains on this year’s squad.
Senior midfielder Carson Adams received a first team all-state honor while contributing 11 goals and 12 assists on the season. However, Fulton noted that his impact was much more than that.
“It’s just everything he does on and off the ball,” he said. “He totally commands the midfield and we are certainly going to miss that next year. Carson gave us great minutes and probably played the most minutes of anyone on the team.”
Senior Jarrett Anderson earned a spot on the second team and did not have any distinguishable statistics but was the leader of the Perryville defense that allowed just over one goal per game.

“He was primarily our center back and unfortunately that position doesn’t generate a lot of stats, but are crucial to our defense,” Fulton said. “Jarrett was a four-year player for us and led the defense this year as a senior. It’s always tough to get a defender noticed for awards so to get Jarrett on there is special.”
Junior Andrew Welk earned an honorable mention for his performance this season. Welk contributed 12 goals and five assists this season, and Fulton noted was a big difference for his team late in the season.
“Andrew was huge because not only play in the midfield for us, but we moved him up front because we were having trouble scoring and he created things up there,” Fulton said. “He brought a lot of energy for us.”
Of the three, Welk will be the only one of the three honorees that will return next season.
“Andrew got a bunch of experience, and he is strong on the ball,” Fulton said. “Hopefully as a senior he will take another step and we will see a lot of good things from Andrew next year.”
Perryville went 15-10 this past fall and captured another JCAA conference title. Fulton hopes that the team will have more honorees again in 2023 and possibly make a deep postseason run, especially losing just two seniors.
“We have a lot of good freshmen on the bench, who weren’t ready for the varsity level just yet, but with the experience they got this year that should make them that much better,” Fulton said. “You have that younger group and lose just two players from this year’s team and that should give us a good foundation going forward.”