Red zone struggles doom Perry in second-round loss to Eastside

PERRY — The buzzer sounded on Friday night, but instead of singling a Perry victory, it signaled the end of many Panthers’ high school football careers.

Some cried, some wandered around in a daze and some embraced Eastside players after a 21-10 loss in the second round of the GHSA playoffs.

Here are three observations from Perry’s final game:

PHOTOS: See more photos from Friday’s game.

Coffee bean culture

Kevin Smith’s “coffee bean culture” is based off of Jon Gordon’s “The Coffee Bean: A Simple Lesson to Create Positive Change,” that, in short, focuses on not letting your environment change you but changing your environment for the better.

That’s something his seniors have been soaking up for four years now, and will now take with them into the next phase of their life and beyond.

“If the worst thing that’s gonna happen to them in life is to lose a high school football playoff game, then they’re gonna have a great life,” Smith said of his seniors. “I hope that we’ve instilled a coffee bean culture that we’re gonna do things the right way, and it doesn’t guarantee we’re gonna win every game. But at least we know we got a chance to win, and tonight just wasn’t our night.”

That culture has led to Perry football’s most successful period in program history, which saw the Panthers win the school’s first state championship in 2023.

Red zone struggles

Outside of a few big plays, Perry’s defense did a good enough job to give the Panthers a fighting chance. However, the offense just couldn’t put together a complete drive.

The run game struggled to start; The offensive line wasn’t able to open up many holes for Ahmad Gordon, who was the sole back with Decorrion Daniels in a boot and using a scooter.

There were several drives when Gordon was able to find holes for big gains, the most successful was in the second quarter when Perry scored their lone touchdown.

The Panthers got into the red zone two more times, but only came away with three points in both trips. The 24-yard field goal in the third quarter was followed by a 35-yard attempt in the fourth, but it missed with about three minutes to go.

“We just couldn’t execute. I wanted to get points…if would have been nice to score a touchdown, but we still had a chance. If we’d have made [the second field goal] it’s a one possession game. It changes what they do a little bit,” Smith said. “I wouldn’t trade one football player from my team for anybody in the country. I wouldn’t trade one coach for anybody in the country. We win together, we lose together. We win with class, we lose with class.”

Barr was a big problem

Georgia Tech commit Jayden Barr was a problem last week when he scored four touchdowns (one on defense), and he gave Perry problems right out of the gate.

A penalty on Perry during the opening kickoff forced a re-kick, and on the ensuing kickoff Barr took it to the house for six. On the Eagles first offensive drive he had a 29-yard run down to the five-yard line before punching it in out of the wildcat formation to make it 14-0.

He was quiet scoring from there, but felt like a secret weapon. Whenever Eastside needed a first down he came in breaking tackles and somehow finding himself moving the chains.

“It was pretty obvious that he was going down tonight swinging. He’s a great player, he played on both sides of the ball all night and made a bunch of plays,” Smith said of the safety. “We knew he was a good player, and we didn’t get him on the ground. We had third-and-long and he gets the first down…He just was resilient, was not going to be denied.”

Perry finishes the season with a Region 1-4A championship and an 8-4 overall record.