The Perry football team had an extremely disappointing 2013 season. The Pumas finished the season with a 2-8 record, losing their last seven games of the year. There have been many rumors around the team for why they did not succeed to their expectations, but head coach Preston Jones has the real answer.

“There weren’t a lot of returning starters, so we lacked experience”, Jones states about the struggles this year.

Jones also added that injuries and tougher competitors contributed to the disappointing season. However, not only Jones believes moving up to D-I was a cause of a poor season. Senior and Stanford bound Lane Veach agrees with his coach.

“The adjustment to 5A1 was more than some of us thought. Every team we faced was huge,” Veach commented.

Despite playing tougher teams, the Pumas faced multiple injuries over the course of the year. The team saw players like seniors Sean Harms, Aaron Ratliff and Drew Scipione suffer harsh season ending injuries. The biggest injury that fell upon the team was junior quarterback Austin Nightingale who tore his ACL early in the season. In his place, junior wide receiver turned quarterback Alec Monte stepped in.

“Monte did a very nice job. He showed flashes of greatness at quarterback,” Jones states about Monte’s performance this season.

Jones also praises Monte with how well he played two positions all year.

“He played defensive back very well all year,” Jones says. “He would prefer to play receiver, but [Monte] is a selfless guy. He is a great asset to the team.”

Even with a substandard performance by the team this year, players still say the season had some positives.

“It was still fun,” senior wide receiver and defensive back Jackson Spilsbury states. “[Football] is still my favorite sport.”

The 2013 football season was just a modest bump in the road for the Pumas. It was a year of rebuilding and evaluation of younger players. Many players and coaches believe the team is in good hands for the upcoming years and will put this shocking season behind them.