Perkins faces familiar foe in Napoleon

Perkins' defense of its Region 14 title gets serious this week. The Pirates, the No. 6 seed in the region, travel to third-seeded Napoleon in a rematch from a Division IV regional semifinal that Perkins won 35-21. That game at Lake High School ended with coaches yelling at each other and Napoleon fans screaming at the Pirates after the postgame handshake. Perkins kept its team on the far end of the field, waiting for Napoleon to go to the locker room. "I really don't know what happened," Perkins coach Jalen Santoro said. "I thought it was a pretty clean game throughout. There were some plays on the field that we saw when some kids got carried away and emotional on their side. That's gonna happen in playoff football. "Obviously got a little chippy after the game for whatever reason. It was kind of bizarre. No big deal, moved on from it." Santoro doesn't expect last year's postgame posturing to affect the Pirates on Friday when they make the 75-mile drive to Henry County. "Maybe on their end, I don't know," he said. "At the end of the day, we're not focused on that. Just go beat them." Perkins was the No. 1 seed in the region last year when 13th-seeded Napoleon gave the Pirates a game. The Wildcats tied the game in the third quarter before Perkins scored the last two touchdowns on two of Braylon Collier's four touchdown catches. Running back Isaac Bunts ran for 198 yards. Collier and Bunts are playing college football now, but Perkins returns plenty of talent, including senior quarterback Sam Schweinfurth, who was named MOP of the SBC Lake Division on Tuesday. Schweinfurth has thrown for 2,640 yards with 26 touchdowns and just one interception. "He's very smart, very good decision-maker," Santoro said. "Understands the offense in its entirety. One of those guys you gotta tell them one time and they pick it up." Schweinfurth's favorite target is senior receiver Blake Parker, who has 68 receptions for 1,174 yards and 10 touchdowns. Perkins is 8-3 and has won seven straight games in dominating fashion. The Pirates have outscored their last seven opponents by an average score of 47-7. "Guys growing up, players getting better," Santoro said. "We got guys healthy, too. That's a big thing." Perkins' running game has become a factor. The Pirates totaled just 160 yards on the ground in their first four games. They've piled up 802 in their last three outings. Running backs Braxden Martin, Levi Jackson and JoJo Moore have very similar statistics. Moore has rushed for 468 yards and seven touchdowns. Martin has added 456 yards and five touchdowns and Jackson has 443 yards and eight touchdowns. All three average more than six yards per carry. "Different styles but they're all effective in their own right," Santoro said. "Kind of feed the hot hand. One might get more carries one week than the other. Just kind of go with the game flow. You want to keep them fresh because they're all playing both ways." Napoleon, champion of the Northern Lakes League Cardinal Division, is 8-2 and has won seven straight. The Wildcats' only losses were to Defiance (20-19) and Anthony Wayne (7-0). Napoleon wrapped up conference play with a 7-0 win at Fremont Ross in Week 9. Running backs Hayden Groll and George Eggers lead the Wildcats' offense. Eggers, who scored two touchdowns last year against Perkins, was a first team All-NLL pick at running back and defensive end. "They're a good team, one of the better teams we've played in awhile," Santoro said. "They run the ball a lot. They have some good running backs, good O-line. Gotta tackle well and win the line of scrimmage." Perkins will try to draw on its recent playoff success in a big road matchup. The Pirates have won 12 playoff games since 2021, including five during last year's run to the state championship game. "Our guys have played in some big football games," Santoro said. "Not everybody, but the guys that weren't playing last year at least were there and got the experience from a practice standpoint and from getting on the bus and traveling."