Huskies run away from Bluejays to spoil Homecoming

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The Perry Bluejays gather just before Friday's kickoff at their Homecoming game against Winterset. Photo courtesy Doug Wood.

The Winterset and Perry football teams met on the gridiron Friday for the first time in 15 seasons. If future results are to mirror those Friday, the Bluejays might not want to see the Huskies again until 2035.

Winterset ran around — and through — poor tackling from Perry to open a 41-0 halftime lead en route to a 48-0 Class 3A District 8 win.

Junior tailback Dawson Forgy entered the game as the number two rusher in 3A and did nothing to sully his standing, dodging, racing, and bullying his way to 183 yards and four touchdowns on just six carries, all in the first half.

Perry fumbled the ball away at midfield on their first possession, with Forgy turning his first touch into a 49-yard TD gallop. He added a 54-yard TD moments later, with Christian Barker pulling in a 17-yard TD pass from Caden Kleemeier as the Huskies opened a 21-0 lead after one frame.

Kleemeir hit Tyler Brown for a 25-yard TD early in the second quarter, with two more Forgy runs moving the score to 41-0 at the intermission.

While the Perry defense struggled, the Bluejay offense was all but absent. A 35-yard scramble from backup quarterback Jeremiah Cregeen just before the half now stands as the longest play from scrimmage for the Jays this season. The hosts entered the break having rushed 23 times for negative-six yards, even after Cregeen’s spurt.

Little changed in a fast-moving, continual-clock second half, with the Winterset reserves scoring in the third quarter when quarterback Connor Pashek ran a sneak straight through the defense for a 16-yard TD and 48-0 lead.

Winterset (4-1) finished with 311 rushing yards and five TDs on 25 carries, with Kleemeier 6-of-8 passing for 66 yards (the team passed for 75) and two scores.

Abraham Ruiz had 19 yards on 10 rushes to lead Perry on the ground. Cregeen was 1-of-1 passing, connecting with Ruiz for a yard. Jeremiah Baker was 2-of-5 in the air for 23 yards, finding Ruiz once for eight yards and Cayden Widen once for 15 yards.

Emmanual Soto led the Perry defense with 5.5 tackles, with Juan Hernandez and Tanner Burgin each making five stops while Jose Flores had 4.5 denials.

Perry (0-5) travels to Madrid (1-2) Friday for a non-district game that will kick off at 7 p.m. The Class A Tigers have missed two weeks due to COVID-19 issues, while Perry is replacing Des Moines Hoover on their schedule.

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