Photo courtesy of Tammy Reynolds
By Nolan Ruth
X – @RealNolanRuth
PERRIN— Six-man football can be a strange game sometimes. Games can end low scoring, like Weatherford Grace’s 24-12 win over Weatherford Christian last week; games can end 100-70 like the 2018 state championship game between McLean and Milford. Then there are the games that still end in a mercy rule but take a long time to get there. That is what happened on Thursday night when the Perrin-Whitt Pirates hosted the Covington Owls and proceeded to win 68-20.
In a strange variation of the gridiron game the American public has come to love, strange plays can happen as well. This game was not short on those kinds of plays either. However, there is no better way to describe Perrin-Whitt’s win than calling it a team effort.
“These guys put the work in,” head coach Kevin Loyd said about the team. “They were bugging me all summer long. They were up here working out, I was on vacation and they said ‘We’re still going to work out…’ So I think that helps when something goes wrong on the field, they’re close enough to talk to each other and work things out even without me.”
The Pirates have slowly been on a rise since originally dropping down to 1A in 2018. Despite obstacles and a few controversies, Perrin-Whitt is establishing itself as a force to be reckoned with come November.
After a basketball state championship back in March, the community is hungry for more and the football team feels like it can deliver.
The game opened with Covington driving all the way down to the goal line before Travis Welch came up with an interception. Being more of a lineman, Welch knew that he may get caught or run out of gas. With that in mind, he pitched the ball to Noah Morris who completed the pick-six to put the Pirates up early. From there, the offensive floodgates opened.
Nate Scruggs then began his stellar game on the next Perrin-Whitt drive by scoring his first of three touchdowns from 44 yards out. Then it was Cole Keeney who kicked off a fantastic performance of his own by taking a pitch 22 yards to paydirt.
Then, right before the first quarter came to a close, Keeney came up with one of the strangest plays in recent memory. Riley Sims threw a pass to Keeney that was deflected and appeared to fall to the ground. However, the ball caught Keeney’s foot and bounced into his hands without ever touching a blade of grass. Keeney took advantage of a stunned Covington defense and raced to the end zone to put the Pirates up 26-0 after one quarter of play.
Then, Covington started its push back. On a controversial call, quarterback Gavin Burt rolled out and found his receiver, though it appeared Keeney may have come down with the interception. The referees awarded the touchdown to the Owls and the score became 26-6.
The Pirates punched right back as Scruggs got his second of the game on a run around the end from nine yards out. Covington responded right back as Burt kept the exchange himself and plowed right through the defense for the score.
Once again, Perrin-Whitt was quick on the response. Scruggs made a cut when the defense followed him to the left side of the field, kept his feet in bounds like a tightrope, and scored from 35 yards away.
With the score at 40-12, the Pirates knew they were setting up to end the game by the six-man 45-point mercy-rule at halftime. Sims then found the end zone with his legs to extend the lead to 48-12, bringing Perrin-Whitt even closer to the early finish.
However, the first half was far from over. Covington punched right back on a key 37-yard fourth-down-play that saw Burt find Joseph Vierra wide open behind the defense to keep the Owls’ hopes alive with 1:14 to go in the first half.
It only took eight seconds for the Pirates to deliver a counter blow in very similar fashion, as Morris found himself all alone behind the defense, and Keeney delivered a perfect pass to him for the touchdown. Perrin-Whitt was just nine points away from ending the game. It was then that the defense came up with another huge play.
Morris came on a blitz and was able to knock the ball out of Burt’s hands for a fumble. Keagan Nevarez was right there, also on the blitz, to jump on the ball for the second defensive touchdown of the game.
The Pirates led 62-20 with less than a minute to go; three points shy of ending the game by mercy rule. Burt led the Owls on a good drive that culminated in on final play from the six yard line with three seconds left in the first half. Keeney then came up with what was arguably the biggest play of the game, when he stopped Burt dead in his tracks and dropped him as time expired.
The stop by Keeney kept Perrin-Whitt three points from victory at the halftime break. With the Pirates getting the ball to begin the second half, victory seemed inevitable.
Out of the locker room, Perrin-Whitt slowly drove down the field knowing they had the game in hand. However, when the offense reached the one yard-line, they fumbled the ball. Covington took over.
After three plays with no yardage gained, the Owls were desperate and it showed. Twice, Burt fumbled the ball in the endzone and the second time resulted with Keeney falling on it to solidify the Pirates’ win at home.
The win moves Perrin-Whitt to 3-1 on the season with a big matchup with private school Granbury Grace coming up next Friday at home. Covington, on the other hand, drops to 0-4 and will be back at home next week when they host Moran.
