The Perryville Pirates boys’ soccer team had a strong showing at the St. Louis Varsity Soccer Showcase held July 11-13 at the Creve Coeur Park Soccer Complex in Maryland Heights.
Despite playing the games in the middle of a hot Missouri summer against class sizes that exceeded the Class 2 ranking in which the Pirates are placed, the team won all three of them.
According to Head Coach Jerry Fulton, the Pirates have participated in the showcase for the past 14 or 15 years.
“They always say there's a bunch of college scouts there,” he said. “I don't know if I believe that 100 percent, but what it gives you is a chance to get your team play against some quality teams and see where you're at. Now, I've never put us in an easy bracket. You don't learn anything by ‘killing’ somebody, so we always play up.
“This year, we played a Class 6 team out of Kansas and two Class 4 teams out of Missouri, so if we can compete with those teams, then we should do fine in Class 2. Winning all three games this year was a surprise, but I think that shows a little bit of the caliber of team that we are getting ready to put onto the field.”
The first game, held July 11, saw the Pirates vanquish the top-tier Class 6 Blue Valley High School from Stilwell, Kan., with a 3-2 win.
“We just wanted to play well because Blue Valley is a huge school,” Fulton said. “They actually finished third in Class 6 last year in Kansas, so we think that we have our hands full with them. To our surprise, our guys came out and a couple goes in the net and got us up to 2-0 on them. I think they scored 1 and made it 2 to 1. Then we scored again, making it 3 to 1. They came back real late and scored a second time, so we were tickled to death to walk away with a victory in that game.”
Being the first game of the tournament, Fulton admitted it was a challenge for both teams.
“You could just tell everybody on both sides were getting tired by the end of the game, so we were kind of hanging on there, but the guys pulled it out,” Fulton said. On Monday, my starting keeper broke his ankle a basketball game, so he only played about 40 percent of that game. The amazing thing was that we did that with our JV team. That speaks high for the defense.”
Game two, held July 12, pitted the Pirates and Smith-Cotton High School from Sedalia, a Class 4 team. The Pirates shut them out with a 3-0 win.
“Here again, you're playing one of the biggest schools in Missouri and the largest class,” Fulton said. “So, we take nothing for granted for goodness sakes. We are still a Class 2 school, but the guys got running in that game. Maybe we just played very well, but we beat them 3 to 0.
The third and final game on July 13 saw the Pirates once again come out on top with a 2-1 win against the Francis-Howell North High School from St. Charles, a Class 4 team.
“We actually had them down to a goal and it was the third day,” Fulton said. “Our guys were running out of juice. I mean, when you play three games and in that heat! From the time we started the first game to the time we finished the last game, took place in like a 48-hour period, so it was something for our guys to perform that well.
“We were winning the whole game, but I'm going to say that with about five minutes left in the game, we had a little bit of a hiccup where they got a break and got behind us there once and got to goal, but at no time was I worried that there was enough time left in the game for them to come back. Then the guys buckled down and played very good defensive that last five minutes and controlled the game.”
Fulton said that, despite winning all three of its games at the showcase, he cautioned the team to not let it go to their heads.
“I told them, ‘Yes, you guys did very well, but let's keep this in perspective. They're friendly, you know what I mean? So, it's hot — everybody's hot. You just want to keep everything in perspective and not get too high on yourself — that we're all that and don't have to do anything, because that's not the case. We have to keep training. We have to keep getting better.”
All-in-all, Fulton believes the showcase affords his team a chance to get some competitive playing in before the start of the regular season.
“The showcase is awesome because you can take a few younger guys and see how they do without any repercussions for the team because it's just a showcase,” he said. “But I'm going to be honest, while the freshmen we took were in the game, we didn't lose our footing. They never caused us to have to play more defense. They held their weight. They give you the minute you need to rest somebody, and to me, I think that's huge for those guys.”
