Perry sophomore Roberto Gomez drilled a 22 yard field goal with five seconds to go to lift Perry past Knoxville 17-14 in a muddy and sloppy 3A District game at Dewey Field.  The win marked Perry’s first District victory in six years.  The weather impacted both offenses as a steady rain fell through out the night making for a muddy field by the end of the evening.

Jacob Cerna set the tone taking the opening kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown.  It was the first touchdown of his varsity career for the talented sophomore.  The Perry defense frustrated the Panthers in the first half, forcing two fumbles, two punts and two fourth down stops allowing Perry to start four of their five drives on the Knoxville side of the field.  The conservative Perry offense didn’t muster any points until late in the first half as quarterback Geren Kenney raced nine yards to the outside behind a Kain Killmer block with 36 seconds to go to give Perry a 14-0 halftime lead.  Perry carried a 14-0 lead into halftime after dominating field position, special teams and turnovers.

Knoxville turned the game around in the second half, especially in the third quarter.  Junior quarterback Brendan Woolsey connected on 16-24 passes in the second half including a pair of touchdown strikes.  The junior’s 12 yard touchdown pass to Connor Willoughby capped off a monster, 13 play 50 yard drive to start the second half.  Following a Perry punt and fumble, the Panthers used the short field as Woolsey found Connor Willis in the back of the end zone from 16 yards out to tie the game at 14, early in the third quarter.  Perry’s offense took only five snaps in the entire third quarter.

The fourth quarter proved to be entertaining with each team missing opportunities.  Kenney led the Perry offense on a drive to the Knoxville 30 yard line with eight minutes to go only to get stopped on 4th down.  The Panthers proceeded to take their next drive all the way down to the Perry 24 yard line and faced a critical decision with 4th and 3.  After a timeout, the Panthers decided to attempt the long 42 yard field and Willis hooked it left giving Perry the ball with just over 2 minutes to play.  Following back to back to back penalties which pushed Perry back to their own six yard line, Kenney found Egan Leber on a quick receiver screen that the senior took 53 yards to the Knoxville 37, setting up the late night heroics.

Faced with a fourth and 10 from the Knoxville 37, Perry reached into the bag of tricks with a halfback pass, as Alix Colas took a jet sweep and threw the ball 32 yards to a wide open Drake Levan who was tackled at the Knoxville 5 yard line with five seconds to go.  Perry called a timeout and Gomez remained perfect on the season, connecting on the biggest kick of his young career.

Perry finished with 284 yards of total offense despite throwing the ball only seven times, including the trick play late.  Perry relied on the ground game, pounding out 186 yards in the mud, with Kenney leading the way with 71 yards on 24 carries.  Alec Burgen finished with 50 yards on six rushes.

For the second straight week, Synder led a strong defensive effort finishing with a pair of sacks.  Kevin Collin and Egan Leber also finished with a high volume of tackles.

The Panthers gained 254 yards of offense with 192 via the air.

Perry improves to 2-6 while Knoxville falls to 2-6.  The Bluejays return home next week against top ranked Creston.