Ste. Gen routs Perryville 50-20

STE. GENEVIEVE — Senior quarterback Kory Faulkner created a lot of trouble for the Perryville defensive secondary Wednesday.

And Perryville caused a lot of trouble for itself with early mistakes.

Faulkner, who is generating interest from several Division I college programs including Southeast Missouri State, completed 27 of 36 passes for 293 yards and four touchdowns, plus ran for two scores and caught one.

While Faulkner shined, the Pirates turned the football over three times in the first quarter alone, including fumbling the opening kickoff to put the Dragons in terrific field position.

Ste. Genevieve turned all three Perryville first-quarter turnovers into scores and cruised to a 50-20 victory in a Class 3 regional.

"He's a good ballplayer," Perryville senior Josh Perreault said about Faulkner. "You've got to bring your A game every time you're up against him. He's not always going to make a good pass, but he's going to try like hell."

Perryville running back Brent Roth said Faulkner threw a number of passes to targets near the sidelines.

"He was hitting on the outsides all day," Roth said. "And he has the ability to buy time and he has a strong arm. You give him a little alley, he's going to find it."

The Ste. Genevieve offense has been impressive all season, averaging 49.3 points per game and scoring 63 points or more three times and 70 points once.

The Dragons, who are the seventh-ranked team in Class 3, beat Perryville 41-17 in Perryville during Week 3. Since then, they have won nine straight games, including Wednesday. Their one loss was a 28-25 defeat to Valle Catholic in Week 2.

"Our offense, when everyone is healthy, we're pretty hard to stop," Faulkner said. "So when we get the ball, we score usually as much as we can. We came up with the big onside kick at the beginning of the game, and to get up 14-0 was big for us."

Faulkner said his touchdown catch came on a new play for his team.

"We put it in during practice, and I begged coach to run it," he said. "I didn't know if he would, but ... we ended up running it and it turned out good."

After the Pirates fumbled the opening kick, the Dragons had terrific field position at the Perryville 31-yard line. It took Ste. Genevieve seven plays to find the end zone. Faulkner threw a 1-yard pass to Jeremy Vaeth for the score. A successful 2-point conversion made it 8-0.

The Pirates started at their 47-yard line on the next series. Perreault had a nice first-down run on the first play to put the Pirates at the Dragons' 40-yard line. Later in the drive, Perryville quarterback Garrett Flentge completed a pass to Roth in the middle of the field. Roth sprinted for the first down, but fumbled when he got to the 20-yard line.

"I was trying to get a few extra yards," Roth said. "I got spun around and somebody got a helmet on the ball. It was just one of those things."

Faulkner drove Ste. Genevieve more than 80 yards for a 14-0 lead.

Perryville punted its next drive and the snap was high, which ended up causing the kick to be partially blocked. Ste. Genevieve again had great field position as a result, starting at the Perryville 38-yard line. Faulkner would take advantage, throwing a 21-yard touchdown pass to make it 20-0.

Perryville fumbled again later in the first half. That set up Ste. Genevieve at the Pirates' 44-yard line, and the Dragons scored to make it 26-0 when Faulkner ran it in.

Ste. Genevieve never looked back, leading 42-12 at halftime and going on to the 50-20 win.

"We did what it took to get into the playoffs, and I don't care what anybody says, we deserved to be in the playoffs," Perryville coach Jim May said. "My kids played hard. They came out here tonight and we had a few turnovers. We moved the ball offensively. We did some good things and they never quit. They played their guts out and they did that all year long."

Perreault had 253 yards rushing on 32 carries. Roth had five carries for 15 yards and caught three passes for 80 yards.

Flentge had 47 yards passing and carried eight times for 88 yards.

Perryville01280—20

Ste. Genevieve202280—50

First Quarter

Ste. G — Vaeth 1 pass from Faulkner (Bach pass from Faulkner), 10:42

Ste. G — Meyer 4 pass from Faulkner (run failed), 5:36

Ste. G — Meyer 21 pass from Faulkner (pass failed), 1:47

Second Quarter

Ste. G — Schmelzle 6 pass from Faulkner (pass failed), 9:57

Ste. G — Faulkner 7 run (Meyer pass from Faulkner), 6:40

P — Flentge 10 run (pass failed) 4:44

P — Perreault 10 run (kick failed), 1:30

Ste. G — Faulkner 8 pass from Cox (Meyer pass from Faulkner), :0.5

Third Quarter

P — Roth 36 from Perreault (Roth pass from Flentge) 10:22.

Ste. G — Faulkner 17 run (Bach pass from Faulkner), :09