Perryville coach Jerry Fulton, soccer program grow together

Jerry Fulton never had a chance to play soccer growing up, but there was always something about the game that intrigued him.

Now in his 18th year as a coach and seventh at the helm of the Perryville boys soccer team, the veteran coach is regarded as one of the best in Southeast Missouri.

For the first time in his career, Fulton is leading a team to the final four. The Pirates will play in a Class 2 semifinal against St. Pius X of Kansas City on Friday in Blue Springs, Missouri.

But the road to get there has been long and improbable for Fulton.

"I didn't even have an opportunity to play soccer because it wasn't offered here in Perryville until the year after I graduated high school, but you know, I really wish I had," Fulton said. "I was the typical kid. I played baseball, softball and basketball. I was too small to play football, but something about soccer kind of interested me."

Fulton did not get involved in soccer until his daughter had a desire to play in 1996. When a spot on the local Perryville youth soccer team opened up, Fulton enrolled her and also agreed to became an assistant coach.

Fulton, who knew very little about soccer, had the assumption that his role would be limited and he would mainly be there to support and watch his daughter play.

That all changed when the head coaching position on his daughter's team became vacant the following season.

Fulton was reluctant to take the job at first, but also liked the idea of learning a new sport.

Fulton said he's far removed from the novice soccer coach of his first year. Looking back on it, he's thankful for those days when he says he became a student of the game.

"I think every dad gets kind of rookied into it and maybe doesn't have that much interest, but I liked it so much that I just kept studying it and studying it," Fulton said about that first year. "Every chance I'd get, I'd get on the Internet and look up stuff. If a coaching class came up, I'd go take it. There were first aid classes that I took, just in case something like that ever came up. Everything you needed to do to be a coach I was doing. I just kept studying strategies and styles of play. I watched a ton of soccer in that first year, and I just fell in love with it."

Two years into coaching, Fulton was enjoying soccer more than he thought he would, but he had a desire to learn more.

In 1998, Fulton became a certified MSHSAA official. It was during this time he truly grasped the rules of the game.

"Those were fun days because, again, it was more of an opportunity for me to learn and not only that, but I could turn around and take what I was learning to teach others," Fulton said.

In that same year, Fulton got his official coaching license, which granted him the opportunity to coach select soccer clubs. When his daughter started fourth grade, Fulton began coaching her select team. He continued coaching his son and daughter's select teams, and also served as vice president of the Perryville Optimist Soccer League for 10 years.

Fulton thought his soccer career was over once his kids started high school, when really it was just beginning.

"My son got to be in eighth grade and my daughter was already in high school. My soccer and coaching career was over, or so I thought," Fulton said. "I did some refereeing for awhile, but it just wasn't the same."

In 2007, the head coaching position for the Perryville girls soccer team opened up. Fulton applied for it and was hired.

After his first season coaching the girls team, Perryville announced plans to start a boys program. With the boys' season beginning in the fall and the girls' season in the spring, Fulton decided to take on both jobs. Fulton still holds the job as coach of the Lady Pirates.

Fulton said starting a soccer program has been the biggest challenge he has faced in his coaching career, but not for the reasons that most people think.

"Most people would say, 'It's hard to start a team from scratch and expect to do good,' and let me tell you it is," Fulton said. "But the first thing we had to overcome by starting a soccer program was that it was going to kill our football program. That was a huge hurdle for me personally and our school."

Fulton said people in the community and the football team were not excited to welcome a soccer program at first. Tryout numbers declined for the football team in the first few years that soccer was introduced, but since then, tryout numbers for both teams have evened out.

"The Perryville football team had more players tryout for the team this season than ever since we started soccer," Fulton said. "We have plenty of students to do both. It was just getting everyone's mind set that we could do both."

Perryville's Luke Schlichting embraces coach Jerry Fulton after their 1-0 win over John Burroughs in the Class 2 quarterfinals Saturday in Perryville, Missouri. (Glenn Landberg)

The next step toward winning for Fulton and the Pirates was to put together a team that would buy into what Fulton was trying to teach.

It only took two years before Perryville had a winning season, and another two to experience success in the playoffs.

In 2010, the Pirates had a 15-7 record but lost to Sikeston 3-0 in the opening round of the 2 Class District 1 tournament. The following year, the Pirates reached their first district championship but lost to Sikeston 1-0.

Since then, Fulton has helped Perryville improve its record and have a better finish in each season.

Perryville senior and captain Luke Schlichting said current and past players have bought into his coaching style and ideals because they wanted to win.

"I remember the first day of practice, and we knew it was going to be different because this was our first different coach for the first time in 10 years," Schlichting said. "We had a lot of respect for him because he was our coach. We came in, saw what he was doing, we liked it and we bought into it. I truly do believe that we are so successful and have been so successful because of coach Fulton. If we weren't going to listen we weren't going to win games, and we knew that from day one."

In 2012, the Pirates won their first district title with a 3-2 win over Central. The Pirates were the favorite to beat Windsor in a state sectional but suffered a demoralizing 1-0 loss to the Owls in penalty kicks. Fulton said the loss hurt but said it prepared his now senior class, who were sophomores at the time, to play well in high-pressure games.

"We had heard about them and we had decent players, but when these guys got here you could just tell there was a little something special. There was just something about them," Fulton said.

All six of the seniors on this year's team suited up with varsity as freshmen, and most of them got their first playing time as sophomores.

Perryville got even more experience in big games by defeating Notre Dame 1-0 in penalty kicks of the district championship game last season. The Pirates took their season one step further by beating De Soto in a sectional but eventually fell to St. Mary's in a quarterfinal.

Schlichting said the Pirates' style of play has not changed from previous seasons, but to get to a state championship game, they're changing their mindsets.

"I know a lot of the guys on this team, including myself, have worked year-round just to get ready for these big games," Schlichting said. "In past years, it was more of a let's-try-to-make-it-to-state mentality, and this year it's been all about taking it one game at a time, and as you can see, it's been working well for us. I think that has helped us to not get too far ahead of ourselves. We're keeping a balanced and clear task list of what we need to do to reach our ultimate goal of winning a state championship."

The Pirates' one-game mentality has helped them win against some tough opponents all season, and so far it's worked.

Perryville finished with its best regular-season record in school history at 23-1 and defeated St. Pius X (Festus) to claim its third straight district championship. The Pirates went on to defeat Bayless 3-1 in a sectional, thanks to three goals in 6 minutes, 12 seconds in the final 12 minutes of the game. The Pirates faced another tough test in a quarterfinal game against defending Class 1 state champion John Burroughs. Perryville scored the first goal the Bombers had allowed in a playoff game since 2012 to advance to their first-ever final four appearance.

Fulton said Perryville's road to the final four has only been possible because of the lessons they've learned in previous seasons. He's also never coached a team as dedicated and determined as the Pirates are this year.

"I think it's been the experience that we've all shared," Fulton said. "Most of these guys were on the team when we lost sectionals, all of these guys were on the team that lost in quarterfinals, so it's been the determination. To sit there last year when the quarterfinals were over and say, 'We're getting back to this game next year,' was a huge thing to say. I'd like to sit here and say that I never doubted, but it's a long season. We've been coming here for four months to come to a common goal and it's going to end on Saturday."

As he leads his team into a semifinal against the Warriors in what he calls "the biggest game" of his coaching career, Fulton said he looks back at times and still wonders how he's made it to this point.

"From the early days I think back, and how we ever won a game when my kids were little, it shocks me," Fulton said. "My knowledge of the game back then was so poor, and now I'm about to take these guys to a game that I never even imagined being in, let alone coaching in. I get chills thinking about stepping out on that field, and I still can't believe it's real."