Defensive stop fuels Perryville football team in win over Sumner

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- The Perryville Pirates defense took the field with 3 minutes, 41 seconds remaining in the first half of its season-opener against Sumner on Friday night.

The Bulldogs had taken the ball over on the Pirates' 19-yard line after Perryville, which was clinging to a one-point lead, took a couple of large losses on third and fourth down.

Sumner gained five yards on its first two plays of the drive before Dontrez Banks barreled through the defensive line to reach the 5-yard line for a first down.

He gained two more yards on his next run before Perryville took a timeout with 1:44 left before the intermission.

Sumner's first play out of the break resulted in a 5-yard penalty for an illegal shift and Bulldogs quarterback Andrew Rodgers had three incompletions to give the ball back to the Pirates with no damage done and the confidence coach Mike Wojtczuk wanted them to have for the second half.

Perryville powered through for a 36-18 win at Pirates Stadium.

Perryville's Kyle Creason carries on his way to scoring a touchdown against Sumner during the third quarter Friday, Aug. 21, 2015 in Perryville, Missouri. (Fred Lynch)

"That stop was huge," Wojtczuk said. "That stop was huge, especially after stalling out a couple of times in the red zone. Our kids, they didn't quit. I felt like we may have dropped our heads a little bit, but that stop rejuvenated us a little bit.

"We went in at halftime, made some adjustments. Basically the only thing I really said in the locker room at halftime was I challenged them to come out and win the second half. It might've only been by one point, but we won the first half. If we come out and win the second half we win the ballgame."

The Pirates held a 7-6 lead at the break. After the Pirates' first drive stalled out at the 11-yard line Blake Mattingly recovered a Sumner fumble on the Bulldog's 18 with 5:06 left in the first.

Junior running back Kyle Creason ran it in from 5 yards out 30 seconds later and senior Kameron Fears made his extra point kick to go up 7-0.

The lead held until midway through the second quarter. The Bulldogs started on their own 27 after taking over on downs but quickly got to midfield with a 19-yard pass to Terry Evans.

Perryville head coach Mike Wojtczuk talks to his players during the game against Sumner on Friday, Aug. 21, 2015 in Perryville, Missouri. (Fred Lynch)

Demontrae Cooper then hauled in a pass from Rodgers and ran it in for a 54-yard score. The Bulldogs' 2-point conversion pass attempt failed to make it 7-6 with 5:54 left in the half.

"I knew that we had to stop them because if not then guys would get down at halftime and we wouldn't come out like we did in the second half," lineman Matt Terbrak said of the late first-half stop. "The way we came out was amazing. We took it and we won the game in the second half."

Wojtczuk implemented a few adjustments at halftime and put an emphasis on the offensive line and the running backs.

"One of the things was not abandoning the inside run game," Wojtczuk said. "We knew that we were pretty much controlling things between the tackles so I told our offensive coordinator, I said, 'We need to stay between the tackles until they stop us,' and really they never did stop us between the tackles."

Creason did exactly what his coach had in mind when he broke through the defense and sprinted into the end zone for a 51-yard touchdown with 7:31 to go in the third. His second touchdown put the Pirates up 14-6.

"I was going and I cut off my good bud Jesse Yates, No. 54 over there," Creason said, pointing to his teammate standing nearby. "Cut off him because he was blocking and I just saw an opening there. I thought I was going to get caught because they're fast."

Perryville quarterback Brandon Renaud carries up the field against Sumner during the second quarter Friday, Aug. 21, 2015 in Perryville, Missouri. (Fred Lynch)

Sumner was forced to punt on the ensuing drive, with the kick only going about 10 yards, allowing Perryville to go on the offensive on the Bulldogs' 26.

After a penalty pushed the Pirates back five yards, junior Aaron Mueller used the next four plays to run the ball to the 9.

Quarterback Brandon Renaud kept it for a 2-yard carry on third-and-6 and then punched it in from 7 yards out.

He ran in the two-point conversion to put the Pirates up 22-6 with 2:52 remaining in the third.

"Their defensive line was busting through the O-line pretty good and it was hard to pass the ball so we just kept running it up their throats," Renaud said of the offense. "The line did a lot better the second half and we ran it so much better."

Sumner moved the ball to Perryville's 30-yard line by the end of the quarter and 1:03 into the fourth Rodgers hit Cortez Troupe slashing across the middle and into the end zone.

The Bulldogs' 2-point pass attempt was broken up and the Pirates held a 22-12 edge.

"We didn't know what to expect," Creason said. "They almost beat us last year. In fact they should've beat us last year, so we were a little nervous coming out. We just played our game and it just escalated from there."

Perryville extended its lead on a 4-yard run by Mattingly with 7:34 remaining and a 7-yard touchdown run by backup quarterback, sophomore Ross Hadler, with 1:04 to play.

Sumner, which had its most success with deep passes throughout the game, took the ball from its own 46 in the final minute and scored the final points of the game on a 12-yard pass to Evans with 7 seconds remaining.

Perryville improved to 1-0 for the fourth consecutive year, snapping an eight-game losing streak from last season in the process.

The Pirates have begun the past two seasons 2-0 before losing their final eight games of the season each year.

"You want to be happy with a win, but at the same time, as a coach you're already looking towards next week," Wojtczuk said.

The Pirates host St. Pius X of Festus at 7 p.m. next Friday. Perryville won the meeting between the two teams 23-17 last year.

Perryville 36, Sumner 18

Perryville 7 0 15 14 - 36

Sumner 0 6 0 12 - 18

First quarter

P -- Kyle Creason 5 run (Kameron Fears kick), 4:37

Second quarter

S -- Demontrae Cooper 54 pass from Andrew Rodgers (pass failed), 5:54

Third quarter

P -- Creason 51 run (Fears kick), 7:31

P -- Brandon Renaud 7 run (Renaud run), 2:52

Fourth quarter

S -- Cortez Troupe 11 pass from Rodgers (pass failed), 10:57

P -- Blake Mattingly 4 run (Fears kick), 7:34

P -- Ross Hadler 7 run (Connor Stark kick), 1:04

S -- Terry Evans 12 pass from Rodgers (pass failed), 7 seconds

P S

First downs 14 11

Rushes-yards 40-235 12-34

Passing yards 21 255

Passes 2-9-0 20-29-0

Punts-average 0-0 3-30

Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-1

Penalties-yards 4-35 21-150

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing -- Perryville Creason 10-91, Mattingly 14-88, Renaud 9-32, Aaron Mueller 4-11, Austin Bohnert 2-6, Hadler 1-7. Summer -- Evans 2-8, Darron Jones 2-5, Banks 4-16, Anthony Miller 1-3, Colin Williams 2(-1), Corleone Thomas 1-1

Passing -- Perryville, Renaud 2-9-22-0; Sumner, Rodgers 19-27-217-0, Anthony Miller 1-2-38-0

Receiving -- Perryville, Mueller 1-13, Mattingly 1-9; Sumner, Cooper 7-130, Miller 5-15, Evans 4-62, Darron Jones 1-7, Cortez Troupe 2-40, Thomas 1-11