Perryville boys soccer team tops Bishop DuBourg, heads back to final four

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Of all the shots and scoring chances Kyle Wood peppered towards the Bishop DuBourg net, the one that went in was the most unlikely.

Penalty kicks hadn't been kind to the Perryville senior captain ever since he missed a deciding shot in the Pirates' sectional loss to Windsor as a freshman.

With 4 minutes, 40 seconds remaining in a Class 2 quarterfinal, Wood was fouled in the box, setting up a shot at redemption almost three years to the date after his haunting miss.

Wood's low shot to the right side of the goal was initially saved by DuBourg goalie Thomas Marshall, and for a brief moment, another nightmare scenario appeared to be in the works. Instead, the ball bounced directly back to Wood, who tapped in an easy goal to give the defending state champion Pirates a 2-1 win and another trip to the final four on Saturday at the Bank of Missouri Soccer Complex.

Perryville's Eann Bergman (20) fwins possession against a Bishop DuBourg defender in the seccond half of a Class 2 sectional Saturday in Perryville.

"I was just trying to keep that bad memory, all that trash out of my head and hope for the best. I just wanted redemption on that," Wood said. "I was confident I was going to bury it. He guessed right, and it just bounced back to me. It was luck."

The Pirates' latest run has a different feel compared to a season ago when they only lost one game before claiming the school's first state championship, but the goal still remains the same.

"There's no exceeding expectations for this bunch," Perryville coach Jerry Fulton said. "There were high points and low points, where as last year it seemed like we were on a high the whole season. This team struggled at times, but they're always able to pick themselves up."

Eight players will make their second trip to state for Perryville, including senior Eann Bergman, who scored a natural hat trick to propel the Pirates to a 7-0 rout in the championship game.

"About halfway through this season, it seemed really far away," Bergman said of Perryville's chances to make it back to state. "To look back and think it's been almost a year since we won it and the fact that we're going back for another is a little surreal."

Perryville players celebrate after Kyle Wood, right, scores a penalty kick goal in the first half of a Class 2 quarterfinal Saturday in Perryville.

Shots on goal for the Pirates and Cavaliers were even at five as the two teams played through a scoreless first half, but both teams had their respective chances.

DuBourg (15-7-1), the No. 9 ranked team in Class 2, had two shots on goal within the first 20 minutes, and both were knocked high over the net by Perryville goalie Trent Unterreiner. The sophomore knocked down two more corner kicks in the first and finished with 12 saves.

Bergman intercepted a pass near midfield and got free for a breakaway at the 6-minute mark, but couldn't get off a clean shot before colliding with Marshall 10 yards in front of the goal.

"I thought we still controlled the whole first half even though we didn't have a lot of chances to put the ball in the net there," Fulton said. "We just told them we had to keep the ball out of the middle, which was their strongest point, and send crosses in."

Bergman missed two more crossing one-timers before halftime, but that didn't seem to bother him eight minutes into the second.

Emilio Mattingly battled and won a ball just outside the DuBourg box, flicking a lob pass to Bergman, who sprinted past his defender with just the goalie to beat. One quick side step to the left eluded Marshall as Bergman buried a goal into the upper left corner for a 1-0 Perryville lead.

Perryville's Eann Bergman (20) hugs teammate Kyle Wood after winning a Class 2 quarterfinal over Bishop DuBourg Saturday in Perryville.

"We've scored in a few games off that same exact play where he puts it over the defense and I just run into it," Bergman said. "We're not going away from it anytime soon."

Seven minutes later, the Cavaliers nearly countered when a lapse in defense by the Pirates left David Allred with the ball at his feet and a wide open net in front of him. Luckily for Perryville, Allred's shot was well high of the net.

"I don't know how he missed it or why we left him so open, but we caught a break there," Fulton said. "That was the center's mark, and we were just not paying attention there."

Allred had two more shots on goal in the final eight minutes and finally spoiled Perryville's shutout by scoring with two seconds left.

Perryville (23-4) will face Southern Boone (25-1-1) in a semifinal at 2 p.m. Friday at World Wide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton, Missouri. The winner advances to Saturday's championship.

"It's the most amazing thing in the world to be standing here thinking about another shot at winning state," Wood said. "We weren't supposed to go back. Everything was against us and we felt that all year, but look at us now."