Pirates plunder former coach, Herculaneum on Blackcat homecoming

HERCULANEUM — By defeating Herculaneum 50-0 on Friday, Oct. 13, the Perryville football team broke two streaks.

The Pirates won their first road game since defeating Grandview on Sept. 23, 2022. The rare victory this late in the season is big for the Pirates' confidence, who were previously 0-3 on the road by a combined 151-19 margin.

"We had a really tough away schedule," Perryville quarterback Rilaynd Graham said. "It means a lot to win on the road. It's nice to not just be a home team anymore."

"It means a lot saying that we're more than just a home team," Perryville running back Barrett Wheeler said. "We can win wherever we play."

The Pirates also won their fourth game for the first time since the 2019 season, when they finished 5-5.

Back then, Blane Boss was the head coach of the Pirates. His last game strolling the sidelines was a homecoming win over Herculaneum to end the 2020 season. He just so happened to become the head coach of the Blackcats soon after and thus a rivalry was born.

"It means a lot," Graham said. "Last year we barely scraped by with a win and then the year before we were here and they beat us. So it means a lot to come here and beat them on their home turf."

Perryville's win on Friday gave head coach Brent Roth the 2-1 edge over his former boss.

"I think I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a little sweeter," Roth said. "I have all the respect for Coach Boss. I got started in coaching when he was the head coach so I learned a lot from him and I respect the way he does things."

Perryville head coach Brent Roth chats with Herculaneum coach Blaine Boss after Perryville's 50-0 win on Friday, Oct. 13, in Herculaneum, Mo. Boss was previously the Perryville coach from 2017-20.Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

The plundering by the Pirates was instant. Evan Hayden intercepted Blackcats quarterback Keaton Reeves' pass on the opening drive. A long scramble by Graham on fourth down set up a one-yard touchdown run by Wheeler to give the Pirates an early 7-0 lead.

A 40-yard punt return by Chase Richardet set the stage for Wheeler's second rushing touchdown of the game. Kayd Luckey later scored on a 10-yard run to put Perryville up 22-0 in the first quarter.

The Pirates defense got the ball back on a fumble recovery due to a faulty snap. The offense capitalized on the opportunity by scoring another touchdown, this time on a pass from Graham to Domonic Seiler before the end of the first half.

Richardet continued to make an impact on special teams, starting the second half with a kickoff return that brought the Perryville offense to the red zone, once again setting up a Wheeler rushing touchdown. The sophomore fullback entered the game with three rushing touchdowns. He finished the game with four.

Perryville's Chase Richardet returns a kickoff past Herculaneum defenders on Friday, Oct. 13, in Herculaneum, Mo. Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

"He's a smart kid and he makes our offense better, even when he doesn't have the ball in his hands just because of his intelligence," Roth said. "His past protection, he knows where to motion, and where to line up, and where to go at all times. This is definitely the best game he's had. He's still a young kid, a sophomore. He's still figuring out how to run the ball and obviously has natural ability. But he did a much better job of hitting the hole harder tonight, running people over, putting his foot on the ground getting upfield."

Wheeler credited his offensive line for his success.

"The O-line has been improving like crazy this whole year," Wheeler said. "Every game they've gotten so much better, and that has caused so much trust in them and that has helped me a lot."

To Wheeler, this was the game where all the hard work in the summer paid off.

"I've put so many hours in the offseason and this game really proved it," Wheeler said. "I was running my heart out. I mean, everything was just clicking for everyone."

Before Wheeler scored his fourth touchdown, Graham threw a 35-yard pass to Hayden. The senior single-caller entered the game having passed the 1,000-yard passing benchmark.

Perryville quarterback Rilaynd Graham looks to pass against Herculaneum on Friday, Oct. 13, in Herculaneum, Mo. Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

"I wasn't really searching for it this season but it was definitely nice," Graham said. "It definitely helps our team out, it opens up the run game."

Since taking over as the starting quarterback, Graham has led the Pirates to a 7-7 record, dating back to last season. The difference between 2022 and 2023 for Perryville is the offense is more capable of moving the chains through the pass.

"It's just been nice to be able to throw the ball," Roth said. "Obviously, Rilaynd was our quarterback last year, but he didn't start out as a quarterback. So the offense wasn't really catered around him. It was nice to have an offense that was designed around him and it's been working for him."

Since Roth took over in 2021, the Pirates have gone from 2-8 to 3-7, to now 4-4. With a win over St. Pius X next Friday at home, the Pirates will finish the regular season with a winning record for the first time since 2019, which would only be the third winning season since 2010.

The Pirates are also sitting in third place in the C4D1 standings behind Festus (6-2) and Hillsboro (7-0). A win over St. Pius X would also put the Pirates in third place in the I55 Conference behind St. Vincent and Jefferson, who will play each other for the conference title next week.

"One of those goals was to win more games and we lost," Roth said. "So we got to take care of business next week to accomplish that goal. Another goal for us was to win a district game so we're putting ourselves in position to accomplish those goals, and obviously, we wanted to win the conference that just kind of fell away from us. But that's the thing about setting goals, you're not always going to achieve every one you set. You got to make them achievable, yet challenging, and if we can get two of our three preseason goals this year, that'd be a success."