After a tough loss against St. Vincent last week, the PHS Pirates went on the road and released some of their frustrations on the Bayless Bronchos, giving them another shellacking with a final score of 52-14 in district play.
Last year, the Pirates slammed the Bronchos 62-6.
Coach Brent Roth was happy for the win considering the injuries incurred in recent days by his team.
“We came in a little banged up,” he said. “We played without both of our corners except Richardet who played defense only. Gavin Hemmann and Drew Leuckel didn’t play. Barrett Wheeler got hurt in the first half, and then Brett Bohnert got hurt in the third. So, we had a freshman running back and a bunch of new guys in our defense and all over the place. We were a little undermanned.
“We could have done a little better, honestly. I hate saying that. I know it was a blowout but we left a few points out there that we could have had and made a few mental errors to get with those touches. We could have kept them at zero and could have played better.”
Roth said he thought the offensive line did a good job in pass protection across the board, but he admitted that the Pirates had a little trouble running the football.
“I really think the biggest thing was that some of our young guys stepping up,” he said. “Mason Ehlers at corner played pretty well and Korbin Rollet. Cyler Myers played pretty well at linebacker and Dawson Wolk played well. We had a bunch of freshmen in our kickoff team.
“In a week that we were without some of our main guys, it’s good to give the young players a chance, so that’s good. It’s important for our program too. The fact that they’ve been there and done that now, and hopefully, we can give them some more experience throughout the year, so they’re ready to go for next year.
Looking forward to Friday when the Pirates play Grandview at home, Roth said, “It's senior night, so obviously it’s a big night for our seniors and only two more home games guaranteed for those guys. We're obviously trying to get our seniors in there and get them involved as much as we can. Grandview beat Bayless, so we’ve got to be a little better this week. You know, we're playing a little better opponent, and so we got to step up our game.”
Perryville enters Week 5 with a 3-1 record, with its only loss coming in its close game against No. 2 St. Vincent. The Pirates are among the best teams in the I-55 Conference this season and they continue to improve every week. If they continue their climb, they will only keep moving up we move into post-season.
On another topic, Coach Roth spoke about a special emphasis the team has taken on for the entire month of October.
“We are going to be starting our sponsor of Touchdown, which is a fundraiser that we do for the American Cancer Society,” he said. “Any business or individual community member can pledge a certain dollar amount to Touchdown for the entire month of October or they do that just for our only home game in October. It all goes directly to the American Cancer Society. I think we raised about $5,000 last year. We all know somebody who has had cancer, so this is a big thing that we do.”
