Perry’s Andemichael wraps up at state, football season recap
This past week marked the last time Perry will be seen for the fall season, bringing on a time for reflection.
Cross Country
Perry’s state cross country meet drought ended this season as the Bluejays’ earned a slot with Yonas Andemichael making the cut in Fort Dodge.
Running on Saturday, the star Bluejay placed 110th with a time of 17 minutes 46 seconds. Just a junior, he’ll have one more chance to crack the top 100, something he was clinging to for the first mile.
Pacing 5:22 through the first 1,600 meters, Andemichael was in 92nd place. Holding that pace to the second for the next mile, his placement slid to 103rd place as others amped up their pace before he settled into his final poll position.
Next season could spell some more success for Perry as the middle school team is promoting some intriguing prospects. Incoming freshman Thomas Clark-Obbink won the Heart of Iowa middle school conference title with a time of 11:36.
And for some extra excitement, two Perry middle-schoolers also won gold. Eighth-grader Harper Peterson won the girls 3k with a time of 13:04. Last year, Myers took fourth place at the conference meet with a time of 14:08. The boys also had a champion emerge, as incoming freshman Thomas Clark-Obbink cleared at a time of 11:36. As a 3000 meter race, that projects as a time of 19:21. While that won’t be enough for a solo qualifying time, that is right in line with Andemichael’s best time as a freshman, one that set him on the course to make the run in Fort Dodge this weekend.
Football Season Recap
2023 marked a major turning point for Perry football.
A year after the school district opted to shorten the team’s season out of safety concerns due to a depleted roster, the Bluejays went 2-7 for the season — the first multi-win season in Perry since 2017. That came under the direction of first-year head coach Tyler Hovey (though, he had been part of the coaching staff for the past few seasons prior).
Perhaps the best news, as the past few years were the peak of the program’s growing pains, the Bluejays should have some experience going into 2024 instead of a hard reset that has marked previous seasons.
Junior quarterback Geren Kenney gave the team some renewed faith in the passing game, tossing seven touchdowns and 842 yards, and became the first Perry QB to attempt over 100 passes since Kaleb Olejniczak in 2018. Both were their team’s leading rusher as well, with Kenney putting up 403 yards and four scores.
One key difference beyond Kenney’s superior efficiency through the air, he is eligible to be a two-year starter, something not seen in Perry since Will Whiton in 2013-14.
While the team loses the likes of Keegan Snyder (312 rushing yards, 3 TDs) and leading receiver Drake Levan (259 yards, 1 TD), key pieces should make their return, like receiver Eric Lagos who led the team with three touchdowns. Along with senior Egan Leber, Lagos and Levan were the first Perry receiving trio since before 2008 to log over 200 yards each.
With a trusty duo of running backs coming back as well between Alec and Aiden Burgin who combined for 296 yards at 5.5 yards per attempt (compared to the team’s 3.9 yard average), Perry’s offense has the potential to take another step forward.
Most of the team’s turnover comes on the opposite side of the ball where they’ll be without one of the program’s best tacklers in recent memory, as Kain Killmer led the team with 52.5 tackles. That ranked 11th in the district this season. Burgin was next in line for Perry with 30.5 tackles for 25th place.
More than the individual numbers, the team went from allowing over 50 points per game to just 36 points on average. The gap is starting to close and this was the first step in that direction.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Perry’s Andemichael wraps up at state, football season recap
