Festus freezes Perryville in Class 4 District 1 title game

An otherwise magical season of Perryville football ended in the frozen tundra of Festus, as the Pirates were sunk in shutout fashion by the Tigers 43-0 in the Class 4 District 1 championship game on Friday, Nov. 15.

Their season ended in an emotional loss, but the Pirates did not leave empty-handed. Their second-place district trophy is something they can finally place in their previously empty treasure chest, right next to their 10-win season.

“We’ve always been passionate about our football team,” Perryville head coach Brent Roth said. “Winning is a hard thing to do and that’s really the difference in this team is they were able to win football games. This is just the start for me.”

Special teams doomed Perryville early, as Festus took a 7-0 first-quarter lead off a punt return touchdown.

The Pirates started the second quarter five yards from the end zone but came up short. The Tigers later marched down the field and scored on a 16-yard rushing touchdown by Leuantae Williams to extend the lead to a 14-0 lead with 7:27 left in the second quarter.

Special teams continued to haunt the Pirates in the first half, as the kickoff return team fumbled the ball and the Tigers were able to pounce on it and recover it to get their offense back on the field.

Festus instantly scored another touchdown, this time on a 30-yard run by Trey Lacey, who later intercepted a pass from Perryville quarterback Kade Luckey in the end zone to end the first half with a 21-0 lead.

Lacey picked up where he left off by scoring a 67-yard touchdown run on the first offensive play of the second half to extend Festus’ lead to 28-0.

The Tigers once again found pay dirt on fourth down with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Kamden Yates to go up 35-0 with 9:07 left in the third quarter. Williams scored his second touchdown, this time for 12 yards to cap the scoring for Festus with 3:06 left in the third quarter.

The Pirates will return their offensive duo of Luckey and running back Barrett Williams, who finishes his junior season with 22 rushing touchdowns. A talented junior class sets up Perryville with the opportunity to build off this season and enter 2025 with expectations.

“In my mind, we’re not turned around yet,” Roth said. “We had one good football season and we got to keep it going.”