St. Francis junior Matthew Perry would have liked to watch his older brother, Benjamin, get a handful of tackles and a sack Saturday afternoon for Louisville in a wild shootout against Miami.
The two brothers, both Mount Carmel graduates, were close growing up in Country Club Hills. And it was the younger brother who influenced the older brother on the direction of his football career.
“I actually started playing defense first,” Matthew said of his sway over Benjamin’s play. “He followed after, and we taught each other. He’s pretty good. He’s a very athletic guy.
“He’s NFL draft eligible, and hopefully he gets scouted and picked up.”
But Matthew couldn’t cheer when Benjamin’s team nearly pull off a shocker against the Hurricanes on TV because he was busy in Chicago helping his own team win a huge college football game.
Matthew, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound defensive back, had a team-high 10 tackles and was credited with a half of a sack to help the visiting Saints stun No. 18 St. Xavier 36-29 in overtime.
Sam Tumilty passed for 242 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 59 yards and two more TDs as the Saints (5-1, 1-0) rallied from a 29-7 halftime deficit in the Mid-States Football Association Midwest Division opener for both teams. Lockport’s Ryan Little added four catches for 44 yards.
Stuart Ross passed for a career-high 365 yards and Ronnie Foster caught nine passes for 145 yards for the Cougars (4-3, 0-1), who find themselves in jeopardy for NAIA playoff consideration.
Heading into Saturday, St. Xavier had a 25-1 record against the Saints, but the Cougars won the previous six games by seven or fewer points, including two wins in OT.
“This feels good — really, really good,” Perry said of the reversal of fortune. “We were down 29-7 and came out of the gate with a different energy in the second half.
“To win this game in overtime and shut them out in the second half? That’s St. Francis football.”
Perry, who had a team-high 41 tackles in five games before Saturday’s outing, was moved from his usual spot at cornerback to an interior nickel position.
“He’s a great tackler and we wanted him closer to the ball,” St. Francis coach Joe Curry said. “He did a great job with that in this game.”
“I’m surprised I got 10 – it didn’t feel like it,” Perry said of his tackles. “I was just flying around and trying to make plays. Ten tackles is pretty good in my book.”
Perry played a year at Trinity International, but that school shut down athletics after the 2022 football season and he found his way to St. Francis in Joliet.
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Little, who broke his leg early in the 2023 season, also said he and Perry have mixed it up in practice quite a bit this year.
“He pushes me to get better — shout out to him,” Little said of Perry. “Our practices against each other are tough and competitive.”
Perry said he’s glad he was able to find a place to play football with a winning team because he enjoys the sport so much.
“I love the physical violence and the mental part of the game,” he said. “And I love the atmosphere you get with the crowd, especially after big games like this one.”
And, yes, growing up with the name Matthew Perry meant he heard a lot of “Friends” references because of the famous actor with the same name.
The actor died nearly a year ago, causing confusion around the St. Francis standout.
“When he passed away — rest in peace — a lot of people I knew thought it was me,” Perry said. “Then they realized it was the actor.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
