Perryville football coach Chris Johnson succinctly summed up his team's 51-36 loss to visiting Rising Sun Friday night when he said, "nobody was stopping anybody." That also explains why Rising Sun coach Clem Vaughan elected to try an onside kick to start the second half with the score tied 17-17.
Eric Farrell pounced on Ivan Herrera's kick to give the Tigers the ball. Noah Boyd capped the drive with a two-yard TD run to put Rising Sun in front and the Tigers never trailed in the second half. "You know what, we weren't stopping each other and I said, let's roll the dice," Vaughan said. "And I did not want (Panthers' kick returner Christian Penrow) touching the ball ever again. That kid's fantastic." Boyd's score, one of four he had on the night, was the first of a combined eight touchdowns by the two teams in the second half alone. There was one big play after another. Of the 12 touchdowns in the game, nine came on plays of over 25 yards, including the last seven scores. In the end, Rising Sun made a couple more big plays than the Panthers. "Very, very exciting. Holy cow!," Vaughan said. "These kids came to play, executed, and kept their heads in the game, never got down. We got two muffed punts and we didn't mess with it. It's good." Rising Sun amassed 520 yards on the ground. Boyd gained 259 on 27 carries with scoring scampers of 3, 26, 2, and 65. "I credit my offensive line and my coaches for the play-calling," said Boyd. "I saw holes that were like some of the biggest I've seen in my life. The play-calling is just amazing. I feel like the defense isn't really sure what to expect next, and I think that's what kept us rolling." The Tigers' Dustin Flowers carried 11 times for 175 yards and a touchdown. Cole Stafford rushed for 80 yards and a TD on nine attempts. Justin Brooks carried twice, including a 27-yard TD jaunt. Quarterback Eric Williams completed 4 of 7 passes for 52 yards. "We did a little more passing than we have done in the past," Boyd said, "and I would say that it worked out pretty well. I think we got the ball in the air. We had a good amount of good plays from wide receivers and our quarterback to complete the passes and keep the chains rolling." After Boyd's touchdown to start the second half, Perryville answered with a game-tying 34-yard scoring strike from Tyler Nasuta to Penrow. Nasuta tossed four TD passes in the game, including three to the Havre de Grace transfer Penrow. Then the turning point came during three consecutive plays from scrimmage. Justin Brooks galloped 27 yards for a go-ahead TD, dragging a Perryville defender into the end zone, to supply the Tigers with a 31-24 edge. On next play, Rising Sun defensive back Drew Opp picked off a pass at his own 35. Then, Boyd scooted 65 yards to paydirt to pad the Tigers' cushion to 38-24 with 1:56 left in the third quarter. Perryville did not quit. Matt Woods caught a 68-yard TD throw from Nasuta to trim the deficit down to 38-30. In what turned out to be an important play, Devlin Foster blocked the extra point. Following a Rising Sun special teams miscue, Penrow hauled in a 30-yard TD pass from Nasuta to bring the Panthers within two points, 38-36. On the potential tying two-point conversion try, the Tigers' Sean McDaniel and Stafford teamed to take down Nasuta a yard short of the goal line. Rising Sun responded with a 47-yard TD run by Flowers to make it a two-score game, 45-36, with 6:46 to go. The final momentum shift came when Perryville lined up for a 29-yard field goal on 4th and 7 from the 12. The snap was a little low and the holder tries to run for a first down but was stopped a yard shy. The Tigers took over with 3:44 remaining and put the game away when Stafford scurried 36 yards for a touchdown with 1:40 to play. "I figured the team that made the least amount of mistakes was going to win the game, and somehow, we made more mistakes and still won the game," said Vaughan. "These kids wanted it. They kept it together, played very well." Compared to what transpired after the break, the first half was relatively uneventful. A five-yard TD run by Nasuta put the Panthers ahead 7-0. It was set up by Liam Johnson's punt block. The Tigers tied it on a three-yard run by Boyd which came a play after Flowers gained 33 yards and hurdled a Perryville defender. Penrow booted a 25-yard field goal on the second play of the second quarter to provide Perryville with a 10-7 lead. Rising Sun went back in front on Boyd's 26-yard TD run before Penrow caught a short pass from Nasuta and turned it into a 58-yard touchdown. The Tigers tied it 17-17 on a Herrera 29-yard field goal 21.7 seconds before halftime. "Barnburner," Chris Johnson described the game. "Lot of offense. Not a whole lot of defense. And at the end of the day, they played a little more defense than we did. That's really what it came down to. really nobody was stopping anybody in that game. Defensively, we had played well all year so I was really shocked, but I've got to give it Clem and his staff. Those guys execute to the utmost. Every pad level, every step is perfect. They really put a stress on any other team's defense and we just weren't up to the task. I tell you what, though, I'm proud of our kids. I'm really proud of how hard we played. We were down by two scores and we came battling back to bring it within [two points]. We just didn't have enough to finish it. The opportunity was there. But I think we can grow from this. We're 2-3. Fortunately, we're in 1A. If we can string some wins together, we have a really good opportunity to play in the playoffs and make some noise there." Comments are closed.
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