PERRY — Perry must’ve felt like a shiny new Porsche sitting idle on the side of the road with all the spark plugs removed Friday night.

With injured star quarterback Vinny Hokavar rendered ineffective and their defense gutted with four missing starters, the Pirates’ unbeaten season came to a screeching halt in a 41-7 blowout loss to archrival West Geauga at Alumni Stadium.

Perry (8-1, 5-1 Chagrin Valley Conference Chagrin Division) could’ve locked up at least a share of its first league title in seven years with a win over the Wolverines (5-4, 3-3). But things quickly went sour for the Pirates with Hokavar’s arm too sore to throw effectively and their depleted defense unable to stop West Geauga’s power ground game.

Perry coach Matt Rosati, who was coaching for the first time against the school he guided for 11 years, looked like a man whose car broke down in the middle of nowhere Friday.

“We were in a bind,” Rosati said of playing Hokavar. “We made the decision to play Vinny. He wanted to give it a shot. He hadn’t practiced all week but he came out today and said he felt well enough to give it a go. We tried to condense our formations, but we got out of rhythm. It was my responsibility.”

Hokavar, who played only the first half before being replaced by senior Kevin Siegel, was limited to seven yards passing on 1-3 completions on the night. With their offensive leader ailing the Pirate offense never got on track gaining just 115 yards total — 254 yards under their season average.

But as many problems as Perry had moving the ball, it had even more trouble stopping the Wolverines. With two linebackers and the 6-foot-3, 230-pound Phelps absent in the middle, the Pirate defense, which led the area in fewest rushing yards allowed per game (80.0) heading into the fray, was victimized for a season-worst 317 yards on the ground.

First-year West Geauga coach Dave Bors, who served under Jim DiPofi at Chardon for many years and brought that smash-mouth football mentality to the Wolverines, had one strategy entering Friday’s battle. Run, run and run some more.

“We felt we were a physical team that could get after them,” Bors said. “We felt, man-on-man, we could go after them. That’s nothing against Perry, who was missing some players. Perry’s strength is not their size. We thought they’d be more tricky. We expected 100 shifts and several reverses. We played this game expecting Hokavar to be 100 percent.”

West Geauga capitalized on one huge Perry mistake early to really get things rolling. With the Wolverines punting from the Pirate 40, Siegel stepped up to receive the kick at his own five, but the senior dropped the ball and it was recovered by West G’s Jeff Corbo at the Perry 2. One play later senior fullback Bobby Scott (game-high 118 yards rushing, 3 TDs) dove into the end zone for the 7-0 lead.

It only got worse for the Pirates.

On Perry’s next offensive series Hokavar was sacked for a nine-yard loss at his own one to force another punt from its end zone. Starting at the Pirates 46, West Geauga marched to a 14-0 lead on a seven-play drive capped off by quarterback Louis Link’s 21-yard touchdown run on the option keeper.

West Geauga made it a 20-0 lead when senior tailback Joe Barille (88 yards, 19 carries) dove in from four-yards out with 2:44 left in the first half. Offensive lineman Zak Poucher then put the Wolverines up 27-0 early in the third quarter when he ran in a Statue of Liberty play from five yards out in a bit of trickery of Bors’ own.

“It was a legal play,” Bors said. “You can’t hand directly off to an offensive lineman who’s at the line of scrimmage, but if he takes one step backward and is one yard behind the line and turns around and faces the quarterback when the ball is snapped, he can carry the ball. I asked the official.”

Perry, which was held to 13 total yards and 0 first downs in the first half, finally came to life on its ensuing possession. With Siegel under center the Pirates marched 70 yards on just four plays resulting in Siegel’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Patrick Byrne with 7:18 left in the third quarter. Kenny Crockett’s 31-yard reception from Siegel was the big play on that drive.