The Perryville Pirates’ boys’ soccer team has built a long history of excellence over the past 18 years since the program was founded, including four trips to the Missouri State High School Activities Association Class 2 state championships. During that span, the Pirates captured one state title, finished runner-up twice and most recently earned a third-place finish in the 2025 finals.
That history began just seven years after the program’s founding, when the Pirates accomplished something unexpected by winning a state championship. Former PHS boys’ soccer coach Jerry Fulton, speaking in a 2023 interview, said the achievement still gives him goosebumps.
“That team was just resilient,” Fulton said. “It was an unbelievable year, and you just never knew what was going to happen. Those guys would just not quit.”
The Pirates went 29-1 in 2014 and set numerous school records, including most wins in a season, fewest losses, fewest goals allowed (13), most shutouts in a season (19) and longest winning streak (25 games), along with several others. The team scored 130 goals — a mark that has since been broken — and became the first small public school to win a state title in a decade.
Fulton, who announced his retirement last month after 18 seasons, had set high expectations for the 2014 campaign but wasn’t sure how far his team could go. “We had reached the state quarterfinal the year before, so we felt we had the talent,” Fulton said. “But we were still worried because anything can happen. It takes one thing to mess everything up. The main thing that we as a team had to do was just stay focused and keep our eyes on the prize.” The Pirates’ lone loss came against Poplar Bluff (1-0) in the Notre Dame Tournament, and the team did not lose again. The season culminated with a 7-0 victory over Soldan International in the Class 2 state championship game. Perryville set a record for most goals scored in a state championship game that season. “It was a surprise,” Fulton said. “We were up 1-0 at halftime, and it was obvious to me that Soldan had some great athletes, but weren’t a great collective team. You would think that when you’re winning at halftime in the state championship, the speech would be uplifting. But instead, I went a different route and chewed my guys out because I felt we were so much better.”
The Pirates responded by scoring three goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half, and the rest was history.
“That team had the ability to respond and come back and take control of a game,” Fulton said. “It was the best way to cap a season off.”
Perryville defeated Pius X– Kansas City in the Class 2 state semifinal, a game Fulton said “maybe should have been the state title game” that year.
The Pirates jumped out to a 2-0 lead before St. Pius rallied to tie the contest. Conner Stark scored the game-winning goal on a header in the final minute, despite battling the flu leading up to the match.
“We gave Conner Pedialyte all day to get him ready to play,” Fulton said. “All the Kansas City players dropped their heads and looked mentally defeated.”
The Pirates had five all-state players in 2014, including Class 2 Player of the Year Matt Moran.
Perryville followed up its championship season by returning to the state title game in 2015, finishing 24-5 before falling to O’Hara 1-0. That postseason run felt different to Fulton.
“In the first season, it felt like we fought tooth and nail to get out of district,” Fulton said. “We fell behind in the sectional game [against Bayless] and had to come back. In the second run, it felt like there weren’t many close games that I can remember.”
Although the 2015 season was enjoyable, Fulton said nothing compares to winning a state championship.
“I’ll never forget it,” he said. “Anyone that wins a state championship is never going to forget that feeling. It’s a feeling I can’t describe and one that I hope to feel again.”
The Perryville soccer program returned to the final four in 2021 during another remarkable season. The Pirates finished 23-4 and were part of one of the most dramatic playoff games in program history.
Perryville trailed Excelsior Springs 3-0 at halftime before rallying for a 4-3 victory.
“I asked the team if that was the way they wanted to go out,” Fulton said. “If it was, then don’t do anything, but if we wanted to do something, we needed to start winning the ball.”
The Pirates did just that, scoring four goals in the final 23 minutes. Dayton Strattman began the comeback with goals in the 57th and 59th minutes to cut the deficit to 3-2.
“At that moment, you could just see the heads of the Excelsior Springs team just drop,” Fulton said. “They knew we had all the momentum, and we rode it all the way the rest of the game.”
Riley Hagen tied the match in the 74th minute on a redirect off a corner kick, and Stratton Kaempfe put the Pirates ahead for good with two minutes remaining.
“I have never been a part of a game like that,” Fulton said. “It was amazing.”
Perryville finished the season with a team-record 133 goals and was led offensively by Dayton Strattman (43) and Bryce Brewer (41).
Most recently, the Pirates earned a third-place finish in the Class 2 state championships, led by senior Treyton Barnett, who scored 3 goals and added an assist in a 5-1 victory over Harrisonville (15-10). The win capped a 16-5 season.
That third-place match followed a 2-1 semifinal loss to eventual state champion Principia (14-12), which scored a late goal to send Perryville to the consolation game.
“We played a really good game,” Fulton said after the semifinal. “They got a goal late, and we just had a little bit of a rough day there, and we ended up going down. We had a chance to go up and missed it, and they got a corner kick late and scored off of it.”
Against Principia, sophomore Ethan Pohlman scored the Pirates’ lone goal off an assist from Barnett. In goal, Huber (14-5) recorded 14 saves in his fifth loss of the season.
The third-place game told a different story. The Pirates jumped out to a 2-0 lead 15 minutes into the first half on a goal by junior Dez Hampson — one of two on the day — and led 3-0 at halftime. Pohlman and Karston Schilli each recorded 2 assists.
Even though the season didn’t end the way he had hoped, Fulton summed it up simply.
“Not a bad season,” he said.
