ThePerryNews.com will update the following story when official statistics become available.
CARROLL — Facing a 21-0 halftime deficit, it might have been expected that the 0-4 Perry football team would simply fold in the second half and suffer a blowout loss.
Instead, the opposite happened, as a gritty defensive effort throughout the game and renewed motivation helped the Bluejays play even with host Carroll in the second half before eventually falling, 34-13, in their Class 3A District 2 battle Friday.
Tiger tailback Matt Pauk entered the game with 612 rushing yards on 90 carries, but it was Dayton Ross — who had 169 yards on 30 rushes — who chewed up the gridiron Friday, finishing with four touchdowns to help lift Carroll to 3-2 overall and 2-1 in D2 play.
Carroll blocked a Perry punt on the first Bluejay possession of the game, but Eli Saemisch fell on a Tiger fumble on their first snap to stall any thoughts of a quick score.
A short passing touchdown sandwiched two scores on the ground from Ross to give the hosts a 21-0 lead, but the threat of a 28-0 deficit was erased when Brandon Juarez intercepted a Tiger pass in the end zone near the end of the second quarter to leave Perry down by three scores at the intermission.
Carroll fumbled the opening kickoff of the second half, with Ivan Garcia recovering for Perry on the Tiger 16-yard line. The Jays scored moments later when Taviar Lucas found pay dirt on a short run to trim the Perry deficit to 21-7.
Ross scored again to make it 28-7, but the Perry secondary — which has played well this year, especially in the last two games — rose to the occasion again when Jacob Thompson made a quick break on a Tiger pass and returned his interception 65 yards to set the score at 28-13.
Unfortunately the Perry offense simply could not sustain any kind of steady drive in the contest, with Ross scoring from a yard out on a fourth-down play midway through the fourth quarter to cap the scoring.
Unofficially, quarterback Ryan Rathje was just 5-of-16 for only 18 yards through the air, while Saemisch’s 22 yards led Perry on the ground.
Perry (0-5, 0-2) will be hoping a large crowd and the emotions of Homecoming will lead to their first victory of the season when they host Algona Friday at Dewey Field.
