PERRYVILLE, Mo. (KFVS) – Damage done to Perryville Football’s playing surface has forced the team to move operations to the city’s nearby flag football field.
And while they are only around a mile away from their school, there have been a multitude of challenges the team has had to deal with.
“It just makes everything a little bit more difficult,“ head coach Brent Roth said. ”Just the little stuff, like getting water. We don’t have an ice machine right now, so you go buy ice from the ice machine, and you’ve got to go over to the school to print out your practice plans. And then you get here, and we’ve got to fit all of our football equipment into a travel trailer, and just little stuff like that. It kind of wears on you.”
The move is not ideal. But it is still a chance to play football.
“I mean, it’s a blessing,” said senior running back Barrett Wheeler. “Football’s one of the greatest games on Earth, so just to be able to play it, we’re blessed, and to have a field is pretty awesome.”
Coming off a 10-2 season that saw the Pirates reach a district title game, all the ingredients are there for Perryville to make another run.
But actually doing that is much harder.
Coach Roth said in order to be successful, he will need the seniors to be just as hungry as they were when they were juniors last fall.
“We’ve been challenging them to make sure they actually step up,” he said. “I’ve seen guys in the past that have better junior years than they do senior years, where they maybe relax a little bit and sit back on what they’ve accomplished in the past. And then, they don’t progress and everybody knows they’re good, and everybody’s got a target out for them. So they’ve got to continue to push, but we’re definitely excited for them.”
One of Perryville’s seniors expected to lead the way is defensive end Drew Leuckel.
Leuckel picked up Division 1 offers over the summer, which has helped motivate him more when it comes to practice.
“After I got my first one, I really started grinding a lot harder,” he said. “I hit the weight room every single day. I don’t really take a break at all. And I look forward to coming to football more.”
Wheeler is expected to lead the offense again after a dominant junior campaign on the ground. But another senior, starting quarterback Kayd Luckey, is hoping to equally excel in what may be his final season playing competitive football.
“This might be the last time I ever play football,” he said. “So it’s always in the back of my mind, injuries and all stuff like that. So I’m just trying to take it slow and stay healthy and play a good last season.
Perryville opens its 2025 season on the road at Fredericktown on Friday, August 29.
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