Whatever glimmer of hope Hamilton had going into their matchup against Perry on Friday evaporated quickly when the Pumas smacked them in the mouth for 19 first-quarter points en route to a 63-28 victory.

The Huskies marched the length of the field in their first possession of the game, but Perry running back Jalen Young set the tone for the contest when he cut loose on a 74-yard touchdown run on the Pumas’ second offensive play.

From there on, Perry never looked back and picked apart the Hamilton defense. Quarterback Chubba Purdy accounted for 364 yards and seven touchdowns, both through the air and on the ground.

“All week we prepared ourselves well as an offense,” Purdy said. “We just worked hard, watched a lot of film, and we just executed. We knew we could run against them and what would work.”

In addition to Purdy’s contributions, Young ran for 103 yards on 10 carries.

Perry head coach Preston Jones saw room for his team to improve, even after their comfortable victory.

“I don’t think our offense paid attention to details,” Jones said. “We’ve got to become one unit and really think about the team and focus all about the team and do anything we can do to make sacrifices and show selflessness.”

Jones said that even though Friday’s game wasn’t going to make or break their season, they had to treat it like a dress rehearsal for the playoffs.

Despite the defensive struggles for Hamilton, they were able to get going in the second half offensively. Quarterback Nick Arvay led the attack for the Huskies with 253 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns.

Hamilton head coach Mike Zdebski saw his team’s perseverance as a bright spot in the loss.

“The kids kept playing,” Zdebski said. “They kept playing, they kept having fun competing and trying to get better and represent Hamilton High School. That’s all we wanted to do — to keep playing for 48 minutes.”

Zdebski said that he would like to see his team improve on the fundamentals as they head into the final week of the regular season.

While Perry has all but officially punched their ticket into the state playoffs, Hamilton’s season may come to an end next week. In the official AIA ranking, which selects the 16 teams who make the playoffs, Hamilton was ranked No. 17 coming into Friday’s game against Perry.

Hamilton will likely drop a few more spots in the next rankings on Tuesday, raising the likelihood that they will not qualify for the playoffs for the first time since the school’s inaugural year, when they played an independent schedule.

With a 3-6 overall record, Hamilton would need a win in their final regular season game to even have a chance at sneaking in. That final chance will be tough as the Huskies will host their rival, top-ranked Chandler, next Friday at 7 p.m.