Perry football defeats Peach County for third straight year

PERRY— In Perry’s home opener, the Panthers (2-0) defeated the Peach County Trojans (1-1) 49-39. 

Perry led by as much as 49-25, but Peach County scored 14 unanswered in the fourth quarter as they attempted to mount a comeback.

This is the closest final score of the last three years, and Perry football coach Kevin Smith had praise for the Trojans’ program after the game:

“ Our guys played hard. Peach County has a good football team. Coach [Marquis] Westbrook and his staff do an outstanding job. They have competitors over there. We just couldn’t quite put it away, but I feel good about our team. We’ve got some things to clean up but overall we played well”

PHOTOS: See more pictures from Friday night in the Panther Pit.

Perry’s offensive production carried them to this win. Peach County struck first early and went up 7-0. After this, the Panther’s offense woke up and scored touchdowns on six consecutive drives.

The formidable Panthers backfield had a lot to do with this success. Ahmad Gordon and Decorrion Daniels led the offense with two and three touchdowns respectively. 

The Panthers appear to be testing limiting Gordon’s snaps. On multiple occasions, Daniels started the drives and stayed for the first two sets of downs. Then, Gordon relieved Daniels and took advantage of a more fatigued defensive front. 

This had mixed results and resulted in some early three-and-outs, but shows that the Panthers are committed to splitting time between these running backs and keeping Gordon away from overuse.

Cullen McDaniel had a near-flawless outing when comfortable in the pocket, but his play on the run made the difference tonight for the Panthers.

On a drive late into the second quarter, the pocket collapsed and McDaniel was chased to the Panthers’ sideline. Before he was caught, he floated one to Daniels for a 30-yard touchdown.

On the next drive, just before the half, McDaniel escaped another collapsed pocket on third and long. He delivered a huge hit on a safety to get a first down by a yard, allowing the Panthers to score again before the half ended.

These two broken plays salvaged by McDaniel led to two Perry touchdowns and were paramount in a game decided by 10.

“He played with a lot of confidence. He got us in the right place and made great decisions,” Smith said.

However, the Panthers struggled on the defense side of the ball on Friday. Even though they went up big, they could not put the Trojans away. While the run-stopping ability of the Panthers remained solid, the secondary continues to need improvement. 

The defensive line had their work cut out for them trying to contain the mobile quarterback DJ Hudson. While they were able to hold him from any major rushing attempts, sometimes the pressure would come late on dropback attempts.

This led to Perry’s defensive backs continually being burnt on go routes. The Panthers gave up multiple 70-plus-yard touchdown receptions. The Trojans had a couple of other overthrown would-be touchdowns as well.

UP NEXT

Perry hosts Houston County on Friday, Aug 30. at 7:30 p.m. in the Panther Pit.