Pirates fall to Herky

Penalties haunted Perryville in a 21-7 loss to Herculaneum.

By Jeremy Joffray ~ Southeast Missourian

Penalties and missed opportunities plagued Perryville's football team as the Pirates could not overcome another first-half hole and fell at home 21-7 Friday night against Mineral Area White Division foe Herculaneum.

The Pirates (1-2) committed five first-half penalties for 40 yards, including a couple of penalties after getting a first-and-goal at the 4-yard line.

"It seems like we really shot ourselves in the foot in the first half," Perryville coach Rick Chastain said.

Perryville had the first opportunity to score, using some strong passing plays to get down the field. Quarterback Cory Buerck completed a pair of passes to Kirk Luckey to help move the ball to the 4. After a Matt Unterreiner run failed to net any yards, Perryville was called for a holding penalty. Another 5-yard penalty sent the ball back to the 23, and Perryville's field goal attempt on fourth down fell short.

"Penalties killed us," Chastain said. "In crucial situations we had some really ugly penalties that hurt us bad."

Those penalties helped lead to Herculaneum's first score. After the Pirates' failed field goal, Herculaneum returned the short kick all the way to Perryville's 43. After a first down, Herculaneum running back John Lyons broke a run 21 yards for a touchdown. The kick failed, leaving the Black Cats (3-0) up 6-0 with 51 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

"He's a kid who was a great player for us last year. He's just phenomenal," Herculaneum coach Bill Sucharski said. "He's got the knack for making the first kid miss."

Herculaneum's passing game did not really click until the final minutes of the half, when quarterback Mike Sobol hit his last five passes. The killer was a 34-yard touchdown pass with 28 seconds remaining to Jake Alexander.

Despite allowing a few big plays, Chastain said he liked the way his team was playing.

"At halftime we liked the things we were doing," he said.

Sobol finished the half with 115 yards passing and a touchdown. Unterreiner led Perryville with 41 yards rushing.

The second half started out right for the Pirates. After forcing Herculaneum to punt early in the half, Perryville's David Ochs blocked the punt and Clinton Rice recovered. A couple plays later Buerck was in the end zone on a 3-yard keeper. After the kick Perryville trailed 14-7 with 9:29 left.

But once again it was penalties that hurt the Pirates. Herculaneum drove 74 yards on six plays to make the score 21-7 with 6:46 left in the third. Lyons went in on a 22-yard run. Herculaneum got 30 yards on the drive from Perryville penalties.

"We're a lot better than what we showed tonight," Chastain said.

Perryville kept coming in the fourth quarter, but simply could not finish a drive. An illegal block penalty late in the game negated Perryville's last chance.

Unterreiner managed less than 10 yards in the second half to finish with 50 yards on 18 carries. Buerck finished 12-for-29 for 121 yards.

Lyons finished with 87 yards on 15 carries. Sobol finished with 151 yards on 11-for-28 passing.

Perryville will face Ste. Genevieve on the road next week before returning home for its homecoming game Saturday, Oct. 2.

Chastain said he still sees plenty of positives and hopes the crowds continue to support the team the way they have this season.

"The people, they're so excited," he said of the fans. "It's great to see those people out here supporting us."