Perryville may have found its lucky charm when it comes to winning football games, and all they add to do is add a color to their wardrobe.
With coaches and players clad in pink to raise awareness for breast cancer, Perryville broke loose offensively and handled Herculaneum in route to a 48-12 victory in their annual homecoming game on Saturday.
The point total was the highest for the Pirates this season, and the victory snapped a four-game losing streak.
“I almost forgot what winning feels like,” Perryville football coach Blane Boss said. “It’s always nice to get a homecoming win.”
The team had an extra incentive as local businesses donated $400 to the American Cancer Society for each touchdown the Pirates put on the board in a fundraiser headed by assistant coach Brent Roth.
The Pirates made sure the fundraiser would get its fair share.
Perryville put up 574 total yards, including 508 on the ground, and reached the endzone seven times in the victory. Perryville had three players go over 100 yards rushing as quarterback Evan Daugherty mustered 150 yards on 15 carries, while Jay Jannin and Dylan Holt rushed for 113 and 122 respectively. Dawson Camden added 72 yards rushing and another 16 through the air. Camden scored three touchdowns, while Holt added a pair of rushing touchdowns and Jannin and Oettle chipped in one score apiece.
“When you have a promotion like that and can put up some points that what you want to do,” Boss said. “I think our kids bought into that before the game and said that if we can score some points, we can get some money donated to a good cause.”
Perryville got things off on the right foot on their first drive of the game. Camden scored on the second play as he took a sweep 50 yards for the first touchdown of the game.
Perryville continued the offensive show in the second quarter after Tyler Rhyne forced a Blackcat turnover with a interception in the endzone. Jannin scored shortly after that on a 75 yard score for a 14-0 lead.
That’s the hardest I’ve seen them run,” Boss said. “I don’t know how many tackles we broke but that was the most we broke by far all year.”
But Boss said that his team wasn’t without some flaws. Perryville had three touchdown called back because of holding penalties, or the Pirates could have added even more points to the scoreboard.
“We weren’t perfect,” Boss said. “But we did what we needed to do to get the job done.”
The miscues did not deter the Pirates as they added a 36 yard pass from Daugherty to Hunter Oettle to go up 20-0. Herculaneum scored a touchdown of their own on a 68 yard run by Blackcat quarterback Dalton Stegall, but Peryville added a touchdown on a nice leaping touchdown by Camden with 17 seconds remaining before half to extend the lead to 27-6.
The momentum carried into the second half, when Perryville moved the ball easily down the field that was capped by a eight yard run by Camden. Holt added a pair of touchdown later on runs of 11 and 40 yards.
Perryville will move on to Class 4 district play against second seed Hillsboro Friday. The Hawks enter with a record of 4-4, but will not have played a game since Oct. 16 because their game with Poplar Bluff was cancelled Friday.
Boss is optimistic about his team’s chances in postseason play.
“I think we improved this week a little bit,” Boss said. “We’ve really got nothing to lose, so we’re gonna play that way next week and whomever we have to face up against we’ll give them everything we have.”
