De Soto Grinds Out 6-3 Victory Over Perryville In Week 1

(PERRYVILLE, Mo.) – A defensive affair on a sloppy field saw the De Soto Dragons sneak away from the Perryville Pirates with a 6-3 road victory Friday night in a game heard on J-98. After a botched snap on a De Soto punt in the first quarter, Perryville capitalized on the good field position with a field goal from Eli Bierk.

Both offenses struggled to score for the remainder of the game. Toward the end of the first half, Perryville quarterback Drew Hotop gave the Pirates a boost with a big run.

That 70-yard run set up the Pirates for another scoring chance before halftime as they lined up for another field goal.

That kept it at 3-0 Perryville into halftime. After stopping the Pirates on their first second half drive, the Dragons marched down the field for the only touchdown of the game.

Briar Fischer completed 12 of 15 passes for 133 yards on the night. A missed extra point kept the score at 6-3. Both teams traded possessions in the fourth quarter. The Pirates had one final chance to drive down the field, but were stopped on fourth and four with two minutes to play. De Soto then iced the game away with one final first down run from Cole Watson.

De Soto took a couple of knees to close out the 6-3 road victory. Dragons head coach Chris Johnson said he was proud of the grind-it-out mentality his players showed.

Pirates head coach Blane Boss said his group made just a few too many mistakes.

De Soto has now won two out of three season openers over Perryville. Next week, the Dragons will hold their home opener when they host Mehlville, while the Pirates will travel to face St. James.

FULL INTERVIEW WITH DESOTO COACH CHRIS JOHNSON: