Prior to his team’s game at Perry on Oct. 25, Hawken coach Mark Iammarino looked at the Pirates warming up at the far end of the field and sighed. “Nothing against last year’s team,” the longtime area coach said, “but I think Perry’s better this year.” Nobody in Division IV, Region 17 — where the Pirates will spend postseason play starting next week — will want to hear it, but Iammarino might be right. Perry scored on its first, third and fifth offensive plays of the game and hammered the visiting Hawks, 68-0, in a game that saw Pirates quarterback Walter Moses set a new program record for career touchdown passes. With the win, Perry (9-1, 5-0) clinched the outright CVC Chagrin Division championship and gave itself a major head of steam heading into the first round of postseason play next week. Despite the loss, Hawken (8-2, 4-1) has already clinched a spot in the Division III, Region 9 playoffs. “I think there’s another level to be hit,” Moses said. “I think we proved that last year, and we can still prove that going into Week 11.” Hawken came into the game with a six-game winning streak, but Perry scored via the pass, run, punt return, interception return and a fumble recovery — all before halftime — and turned what many thought would be a hard-fought league championship game into a blowout. “That,” Iammarino said, “is a great team. A GREAT team. I’ve seen us play much better than we did tonight, but a big reason for that is Perry. They’re rolling right now.” After Armani Chiappone intercepted a Donovan Moorhead pass on the second play of the game, Perry capitalized on its first play when Moses hit Luke Sivon for a 48-yard touchdown pass. Perry’s Carter Hopkins intercepted Moorhead on the next series. Two plays later, Dare’On Howard ran in from 24 yards out for a 14-0 lead. When Perry’s defense forced a three-and-out on Hawken’s next series, Luke Sivon returned the punt 49 yards for a 21-0 lead at the 8:17 mark of the first quarter. At that point, 39 minutes and change remained in the game, but for all intents and purposes, the game was over. “It snowballed for both teams,” Perry coach Bob Gecewich said. “It’s hard to stop when you’re on the other side of it. We were on the other side of it a couple years ago at South Range. I’m more proud that our kids stayed engaged.” Boy, did they ever. Perry made it 27-0 when senior Vince Tomasic scored on a reverse. Then the Pirates intercepted Moorhead for the third time in the first quarter, this going going 27 yards to the house by Howard. “That was my first (career) pick,” Howard, a senior, said. “My first pick is a pick-six. It felt great.” Howard scored his third touchdown of the game midway through the second quarter on a 20-yard run. Then after another Perry stop, Moses found Trent Taylor for a 14-yard touchdown, giving him a program-record 80 career touchdown passes. The 80 touchdown passes eclipses the former record of 79 held by Drew Schiano. “It’s definitely exciting,” said Moses, a University of Toledo commit. “It’s a great team accomplishment. I’m not doing it without the receivers I’ve had and the line I’ve had. It’s more of a testament to the players we’ve had here.” To cap off an outlandish first half, Drew Smith scored his first career touchdown when he took a punt directly off the foot of Hawken’s punter before it was kicked and returned it for a touchdown and a 54-0 halftime lead. “I didn’t think it would ever happen, but it felt great,” Smith said of finally scoring a touchdown. “It’s a lineman’s dream.” The second half was played with a running clock, but Perry still punched in two more scores, with Carter Crofoot scoring on a 30-yard run and Brody Krantz catching a six-yard touchdown pass from McKoy Richards. Statistically, the game was every bit of a blowout that the scoreboard suggested it was. The Pirates outgained the Hawks, 330-44. Perry’s defense held Hawken to negative-2 yards rushing, a number that was aided somewhat by Hawken’s Jordan Johnson going down with a rib injury on the first play of the game and not returning. Johnson entered the game with 1,000 yards rushing this season. “I love the job our defensive staff does,” Gecewich said. “Coach (Scott) Niedzwicki prepares the kids. The studying and preparation of our defense is impressive and admirable.” Moses threw for 87 yards, while Howard (57), Tomasic (49), Graydon Crum (46), Crofoot (45) and Hopkins (36) led the ground attack to lead Perry. Moorhead threw for 40 yards to lead Hawken, but was stung by three interceptions. “We hadn’t turned the ball over since Week 3,” Iammarino said. “We did it a lot tonight. … We’ll get rid of this one, bounce back and get another opportunity next week in the playoffs.” Meanwhile, Perry sets its sights on another deep playoff run in Division IV after winning the Division V state title in 2023. “I think we’re playing really good as a team,” Howard said. “I think we’re ready for a really good run. Hopefully we can go back to where we were last year.” THE SCORE Perry 68, Hawken 0