Pirates take to air in 7-on-7 camp

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Perryville football coach Brent Roth is looking for plenty of balance on the offensive side of the ball. However, that was not the case June 21. The Pirates participated in a 7-on-7 camp in Sikeston, which focused more on the passing game.
Roth enjoys going to the camp for several reasons.
“I like it because it helps teams work on their play-calling process and getting in the right formations and running good routes,” he said. “It’s really good for the quarterbacks because they are able to get live repetitions and they get to read keys with the defenses that are out there.”
Perryville went 2-2 in four contests beating East Prairie and Chaffee, and falling to Poplar Bluff and Malden.
“Poplar Bluff and Malden are quality teams,” Roth said. “You get points for turnovers and we had a few in both of those losses. I felt like we played well in every game.”
The Pirates operated on a minimal playbook for much of the day, and Roth felt like some of the mistakes and turnovers were because the players were still learning.
“We put the plays in about two weeks before,” he said. “They were a little confused out there and that’s to be expected. The thing that I did like was that we had some plays where guys ran the wrong route, but they didn’t quit. They were playing backyard football at times and guys were just trying to find openings.”

Despite the passing camp, don’t expect the Pirates to be throwing the ball up and down the field this year.
“The problem with putting in a lot of plays like that is that the kids have to learn them and it’s just more stuff,” Roth said. “I want to get good at the basic plays and build off of them first.”
Perryville took 35 players to the event in grades 9-12, (10 linemen and 25 skill players) including two quarterbacks senior Aiden McGarvey and junior Rilaynd Graham. Both players started five games each last season and Roth noted that the quarterback competition is wide open.
“We are going to give both of them their shot at it,” he said. “McGarvey went in first because he is a senior and I think he deserves that. Our quarterbacks are probably two of our hardest workers in the program. It’s a friendly competition, but they are pushing each other to be better. They are both athletic enough to get outside the pocket and pick up yards with their legs, but we won’t be running any read option stuff.”
Along with the quarterbacks, Roth was also excited to see Ethan Blythe back on the field. The senior wide receiver went down with a knee injury in week 3 last season and Roth felt like Blythe looked good.
“He was our go-to receiver before he got hurt, so it’s good to see him back out there healthy,” Roth said. “It looked to me like he was back to his old ways. When you mess up the knee it’s not just the knee, but all the surrounding muscles weaken as well. Ethan has looked ahead of schedule and we are trying to get the whole leg back to full strength.”
Roth noted that the younger linemen got much of the repetitions in the big man challenges.
“Senior Jacob Lyerla got in for about two reps on a pass rush drill and I thought he showed me enough,” Roth said. “It was the same thing with Adam Hotop and Caleb Triller. They weren’t happy with me, but I need them in August, not in June. After that I let the younger guys take over. It was good to see them jump out there and get some live action.”