The Perryville Pirates advanced to the next round of the of the 2026 Class 3 state tournament with a 17-6 victory over the Fredericktown Blackcats on Friday night in the last home game at Pirate stadium in 2026.
Much like the week one meeting between the two teams, offense was at a premium in a low scoring defensive battle.
Both teams started slow, trading punts and turnovers on the opening drives, before the Pirate offense found the end zone late in the first quarter for one of the only explosive plays for either team in the game. Junior quarterback Bryce Weber connected with Xzyavier Wilson for a 94-yard touchdown. The extra point gave the Pirates a 7-0 lead at the start of the second quarter.
The 7-0 Pirate lead would last until halftime, as both teams’ defenses battled throughout the second quarter, forcing short drives and punts.
The Pirates special teams provided a spark coming out of halftime, returning the second half kickoff across midfield, giving the offense excellent field position to start the third quarter.
Joshua Gremaud then broke through the Blackcat defense for a 25-yard rushing touchdown, giving the Pirates a 14-0 lead following the extra point.
The Perryville defense took control on the ensuing Fredericktown drive, pinning them deep in their own territory and forcing a three and out, in which a bad snap on fourth down allowed the offense to take over on downs inside the 10-yard line.
The Fredericktown defense kept Perryville out of the end zone, but Xzyavier Wilson added a field goal, making the Pirate lead 17-0.
Fredericktown’s only score followed on their next drive, when Ryder McMinn caught a touchdown pass from Kasen Whitener. The Blackcats went for two and were unsuccessful, leaving the score at 17-6 in favor of the Pirates.
The 17-6 score would hold throughout the fourth quarter. The Pirate offense slowed down, but the defense kept the game close, sacking Whitener twice in the final two drives.
Mason Ehlers picked off Whitener for a game sealing interception with just over two minutes remaining on the clock, and despite the excellent field position, head coach Brent Roth decided to send the offense out in victory formation and take a knee to run out the clock, rather than going for a final scoring opportunity.
Roth said the game was a completely different experience than the game against the same team in week one, in which the Pirates won 16-0, mainly due to injuries and lineup changes on both sides
“Both offenses have changed quite a bit, going to a heavy formation, but then still sprinkling in some of the spread stuff as well, so different football games, but same result,” Roth said. “The whole first half was pretty much smash mouth football. Each team trying to run it down each other’s throats minus the one big pass play that we were able to complete, and I loved it. I went in there so excited at halftime because I told the boys this is the best type of football right here.”
The tougher, more defensive style game also led to several personal fouls on both sides.
“I knew it was going to be like that coming in,” Roth said. “I don’t want to insult Fredericktown in any way, but they’ve kind of played dirty the last three times we’ve played them. Week one this year was not quite as bad, but the last two years prior to that, they’ve had a ton of personal foul penalties, and really they’ve helped us win some of those games by doing silly things on their own. And I just made sure our guys knew coming in that once it starts getting close to the end of the game and we’re winning, they’re gonna start to do some dirty stuff to make sure we don’t retaliate. We did a couple times, I’ll have to look at it and see how bad it was, but I thought we did a good job of keeping our heads and letting them make the dumb penalties.”
With the win, Perryville advances to the second round where they will go on the road to play 8-1 Kennett. Roth said that with the injuries the Pirates have been through to this point, he isn’t sure yet what the game plan will be against the Indians. He said he is preaching confidence to his players, telling them not to worry about records.
“The key would be confidence,” Roth said. “If you go down there with doubt because they’re eight and one, then you’re probably gonna lose the game. You gotta look at their schedule. They haven’t played a whole lot of people that are real talented teams, so we should be going down there with confidence.”
Kickoff against the Indians from Kennett is scheduled for 7 p.m.
