Perry football dismantles Veterans on Freedom Field

WARNER ROBINS — Perry was held to negative rushing yards against Houston County in Week 3; They faced no such struggles on Friday.

The Panthers (3-1) reestablished the run as they took care of the Veterans Warhawks (0-4) 38-0 on the road.

Three observations:

PHOTOS: See more shots from Friday’s action.

1. Veterans needed to start quicker, but instead never got started

One of the biggest focus areas for the Warhawks on the off week was to cut down on procedural penalties to allow their offense to get off to faster starts.

For the most part, they accomplished that goal. But it was something else that prevented their offense from being productive on Friday.

High snaps, dropped snaps and passes took a big toll on the Warhawks’ offense. There is merit in blaming some of that on the weather; Perry also had their fair share of dropped passes with the rain.

However, the rain subsided early into the game, and it happened consistently in the first half.

On the first drive of the game a snap went soaring over Brooks Masters’ head and backed Veterans up to their seven-yard line. Tylan Glover nearly got them back to the original line of scrimmage on the next play, but Masters fumbled the next snap and put the Warhawks back on their 13-yard line on fourth down.

Even in the second quarter when Trey Byrd came in for a series, he fumbled a snap and had to fall on it. These types of plays erased the positive gains from Glover and others, and put the Warhawks in a 28-0 hole by the half.

2. Perry reestablished their run game

After being held to -10 yards on the ground against Houston County the Panthers’ scored four of their five touchdowns running the ball.

It took a flock of ‘Hawks to bring down Ahmad Gordon on any one possession, and Decorrion Daniels showcased his speed and agility in space. Rodarious Lewis had his fair share of sweeps and passes that acted as runs, too.

Veterans struggled to guard faster players in space in their scrimmage against Howard, and though Daniels and others didn’t run quite as free as Howard did then, those were some of their most productive offensive plays.

Despite Kane Byrd, Bryan Williams, Hudson Warden and other talented members of the Warhawks’ front seven, Perry was able to get the bounce back game they needed.

“We got a lot of things cleaned up. Our running backs did a good job making [cuts upfield], and the biggest thing was the offensive line got better,” Perry football coach Kevin Smith said. “We’re still not where we want to be by all means. Veterans, those kids play hard, they’re well coached, but I was proud of our guys for bouncing back after being held to -10 yards.

3. First shutout in nearly a year

Friday was the Panthers’ first shutout win since Sept. 22, 2023 in a 41-0 win over Howard. It was in jeopardy, too, as Masters found Jackson Smith on a 63-yard pass to put the Warhawks on Perry’s four-yard line.

Though, after three straight incompletions, Jordan Donald shut down Veterans’ hopes of getting on the board with a stop on fourth down.

According to Smith they worked all week on defensive possessions inside the five-yard line.

“We had worked all week, if they got inside the five that we were going to be in our heavy defense. Unfortunately we didn’t work our [second string], we just worked our [first string], but we did rotate a few guys in there,” Smith said. “But we wanted to try to stick to the plan and we’re trying to get better for down the road, and we were able to get a stop right there.”

Noteworthy

Veterans rotated in Masters, Byrd and Rowan Singleton throughout the night, though it felt sporadic at times. After the third series Byrd came in, but once he also fumbled he was pulled for Masters. There was also a drive late where Singleton started the series, and Byrd came in for the final couple of snaps.

It’s unclear who will garner the majority of the snaps as the Warhawks enter region play.

UP NEXT

It doesn’t get any easier for Veterans as they travel up the road to the MAC to take on Warner Robins on Friday, Sept. 20 at 7:30 p.m.

Perry will finish their non-region slate at home against East Coweta on Friday, Sept. 20 at 7:30 p.m.