WINLESS PIRATES HAVE YET TO PLUNDER, HOPE TO BEGIN TONIGHT AT SCOTT CITY

There was more than just a hint of urgency in Perryville football coach Jerry Tucker's voice when he was talking about his Pirates' game at Scott City tonight.

Tucker simply came out and said it.

"We have to win this one," said Tucker, whose Pirates are 0-3. "It's time for us to start rolling. In Missouri, the only important games are the last three, but if you don't play well heading into the last three, it's hard to do well in districts."

Perryville is coming off a 30-13 loss to Jackson. In the season opener, the Pirates fell 38-19 to a tough Farmington team. Then, in Week 2, Perryville lost 25-22 to Ste. Genevieve.

"They haven't won a game, but they have a lot of potential," said Scott City coach Roy Williams. "I think they'll give us all we want."

The Pirates are much better than their record indicates. They moved the ball against Jackson last week, but failed early on a couple of fourth down conversions.

They played well against Ste. Genevieve, but two kickoff returns for touchdowns cost them the game and a barrage of penalties played a major part in Perryville's loss to Farmington.

But Tucker doesn't want any more excuses.

"We have to come out and play 4A football," he said. "Offensively, we have to line up and take it to them. They're not as big as we are and we need to control the ball. We haven't done that yet."

Scott City, meanwhile, is a hard team to gauge at this point.

The Rams were blown out in the opener by Malden, then came out and blasted Portageville and East Prairie -- two struggling teams by a combined score of 100-6.

Perryville will offer much more competition.

"They're a wishbone power team," Williams said. "They run inside the tackles a lot. They have big, strong linemen and have a fairly quick team."

The game will feature two of the area's top running backs -- Scott City's Matt Underwood and Perryville's Shawn Statler.

"Matt's a little stronger, while Shawn is a little faster" Tucker said. "Shawn's a pick-a-hole type runner, while Matt is more physical. Matt's very good at what he does and we'll have to control him."

Perryville won last year's game in Perryville 13-12.

"They don't have quite the team they had last year," Tucker said. "But apparently we don't either. We haven't won a game yet."

St. Vincent vs. Herculaneum

The Indians moved up one spot to No. 1 in Class 1A in the state media poll this week after going 3-0.

But the ranking won't last long if they can't take care of Herculaneum tonight.

Herculaneum figures to pose a formidable threat to St. Vincent. The Indians won the game just 14-12 last year.

"They've changed their offense and they do a lot of different things," St. Vincent coach Paul Sauer said. "They've gone to a split-back set and they throw the ball more than they have in the past. We'll have to make some adjustments on the field with their formations and that gets scary sometimes."

Herculaneum (2-1) lost to St. Francis Borgia -- the third-ranked team in Class 3A -- but beat Berkeley and De Soto.

Chaffee at Portageville

The Red Devils and Bulldogs enter tonight's game with a combined 1-5 record, with Chaffee having the win.

But one win doesn't make Chaffee the favorite.

Chaffee and Portageville have one common opponent, that being Gosnell, Ark.

Portageville played Gosnell much closer than Chaffee did, falling 21-19 as opposed to the Red Devils' 33-6 loss to Gosnell.

Portageville is coming off a 22-15 loss to Fulton County, Ky., while Chaffee suffered a 50-28 loss to Piggott, Ark.

"I know they're kind of banged up," said Chaffee coach Allan Horrell. "They've played some pretty tough ball teams so it's hard to judge them on the three games they've played."

Portageville beat Chaffee 20-0 last year.

Fredericktown vs. Farmington

The Black Cats hope to ride last week's momentum and pull off another upset this week.

Fredericktown beat Ste. Genevieve for the first time in 16 years last week, 15-12, and face a strong Farmington team which is 3-0.

Fredericktown is 2-1 despite scoring just 29 points in three games. However, the Black Cats have allowed just 41 points during that span, with no team scoring more than 17 points against them.

"Somewhere along the line our offense will have to get better," Fredericktown coach Kent Gibbs said. "Defensively, our linebackers will have to play well and make a lot of tackles for us to have a chance. We'll try to get some consistent offense and continue our good defense."

Sikeston at Poplar Bluff

Poplar Bluff, at 3-0, goes into this SEMO North Conference game as the heavy favorite.

Visiting Sikeston is 2-1, but its wins have come against Charleston (1-2) and Dexter (0-3). The only decent team Sikeston has played is Jackson and the Indians disposed of the Bulldogs easily, 35-0. Poplar Bluff, going into the season, was thought to be the team to beat in the conference and has done nothing to disprove that theory.

Poplar Bluff defeated Dexter 36-7 in Week 1, then blistered Blytheville, Ark., 46-18 and downed Jackson, Tenn., 14-7 last week.

Charleston at New Madrid County Central

New Madrid County Central, after posting three impressive wins, entered the Class 3A media poll this week.

The Eagles, featuring Ricky Smith, one of the best running backs in this part of the state, has knocked off two large schools -- Cape Central and Mt. Vernon, Ill. -- easily and disposed of Malden, one of the area's best 2A schools, 54-13 last week.

New Madrid, despite its success, relies on many sophomores. As many as eight have started.

Charleston (1-2) pulled out an overtime win over Caruthersville last week.