Brent Roth, Perryville football

Perryville senior Brent Roth did a little bit of everything — again — for the Pirates football team Friday night.

This time, he was in on enough key plays to propel 3-6 Perryville into the Class 3 playoffs, as the Pirates clinched a spot with a 28-6 victory against Dexter.

Roth, a former receiver/tight end now playing fullback but still leading the team in catches, had 23 yards rushing and 50 yards receiving, including a 10-yard touchdown catch that accounted for the game's first scoring.

"It was just the craziest catch I've seen him make all year," senior teammate Garrett Leible said. "He's full of them but that's probably the best one I've seen all year."

He did it on defense and special teams, too.

Roth, Perryville's leading tackler coming into the game, had nine tackles and plucked an interception after a Dexter receiver juggled the ball.

In addition, in one of his turns as the kickoff man, he opened the second half by blasting a squib pick off one of Dexter's front-line receivers and then made the recovery 25 yards downfield when the Bearcats failed to cover the ball. He caught a 30-yard pass on the next play as Perryville regained the momentum and scored on the next play for a 21-6 lead.

"Brent will never lead the area in stats, but I believe he is as good a football player you will find in Southeast Missouri," Perryville coach James May said. "He is the heart and soul of our team and the player we lean on when we have to have something."