After winning their first game of the 2024 season at home, the Perryville Pirates traveled to DeSoto last Friday and beat the Dragons 31-28.
The Pirates took an early first-quarter lead of 3-0 with a 35-yard field goal by Drew Leuckel. The team added to their lead with a 33-yard touchdown pass by quarterback Kayd Luckey to receiver Dominic Seiler.
After the Dragons scored six points, the Pirates scored again with a 31-yard touchdown pass from Luckey to senior Chase Richardet, giving the team a 17-6 lead in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, the Pirates’ junior running back, Barrett Wheeler, made a 1-yard touchdown run, making it a 24-6 lead for Perryville.
Trailing the Pirates 24-12 in the fourth quarter, DeSoto tried to add more points on the scoreboard, but the attempt failed as Luckey threw another touchdown pass to Seiler, leading the Dragons with a score of 31-14 with just a little over four minutes left in the game. The Dragons made another attempt at a comeback but ran out of time.
While admitting the game wasn’t perfect, Pirates coach Brent Roth was pleased that his team controlled most of the game.
“We came out and scored touchdowns on our first two drives,” he said. “Then the Dragons made their first touchdown, but our defense did a good job of not giving up the big play. If you make a team run that many plays, it’s hard to do that and not make mistakes, so kudos to DeSoto for that.
“Our offense played really well. We were up 31-12 with about four minutes to go, so we pretty much controlled the whole game. And then we kind of let off the gas — quit playing hard or got tired — I’m not exactly sure what it was. They busted off two big runs late in the game to make things interesting, and we had to recover an offside kick. That sealed the deal.”
The coach praised the effort of several team members during the game.
“Kayd was seven for nine with 120 yards and three touchdowns,” he said. “Barrett had his back-to-back with over 100 yards rushing. Kayd protected the ball, and we didn’t have any turnovers, so that’s kind of been what’s made the difference for us this year — taking care of the football. And then, on defense, we had two turnovers last week. I think any coach will tell you that if you can win the turnover battle, you’ve got a good chance of winning. Dominic Seiler had two receiving touchdowns. Chase Richardet had one, so it was a good night and a fun night.”
With the Dragons nearly scoring at the end of the game, Coach Roth hopes his team learned an important lesson.
“You can never give up,” he said. “The game’s not over until it’s over — ever. It got a little hairy there at the end, but we played really well on both sides of the ball. Overall, I’m happy with it. We’re at 2-0. A win’s a win. You’ll take them any way you can.”
The Pirates have now turned their attention to Friday’s game against the St. Vincent Indians.
“St. Vincent’s playing good football right now,” he said. “To beat Ste. Gen and Valle in weeks one and two, that’s a heck of a start to the season. We already had our hands full, which makes it even a little tougher for us. They’re going to come in confident and flying around, so we’ve got to match that intensity and be confident in our ability as well. I think it’s going to be a great game. It’s definitely an interesting matchup, so I think we’ll find out a lot about both teams this Friday.”
