In a hodgepodge of fractured plays, stumbles, staggers, penalties, miscommunications and head-shaking moments came that one brilliant streak of salvation for Perry last night.

It was all the Commodores needed.

In a game that featured the City League's top two ranked teams and was scoreless through the first three quarters, No. 1 Perry earned a 7-0, season-opening victory against No. 2 Brashear at Cupples Stadium.That one moment of salvation ...

That was a 27-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown run by bullish 5-foot-9, 205-pound senior running back Richard Lowry with 9:23 left that, meshed with John Dubensky's extra point, provided the only points.

The loss ended a streak in which the two-time defending City League champion Bulls had defeated 20 City opponents in a row since losing the 2006 championship game against Oliver at Heinz Field.

One would think that Brashear's long winning steak served as motivation for the Perry players.

One would think they had a reminder of it tacked up on their bulletin board all summer.

Not exactly.

"Until I read the newspaper just the other day, I didn't know that. I just found that out the other day when I saw in the newspaper, and it said they had 20 straight [City League] wins," said Perry quarterback Greg McGhee, who rushed for 146 yards on 14 carries.

"When I read that, that's when I told the team, 'We got to cut that out. They can't have that many wins because this is Perry's town.' "

And last night, even though it was ugly from virtually the opening kick to the final horn, it was, at least for one night, Perry's town.

The first half provided little continuity, and the teams went into halftime in a scoreless tie.

The Bulls and Commodores worked in concert to commit 12 penalties.

There were 75 combined penalty yards.

There were three combined turnovers.

Two times, there were passes that were completed for minus yardage.

The umpire -- positioned behind the linebackers -- was knocked over. Twice.

Over those first 24 minutes, there was about as much flow to this one as a dried up creek bed.

It was glaringly evident the summer break formed a thick band of rust around the two teams that played each other in the most recent City League title game in November, with Brashear beating Perry in that one, 26-20. on the same piece of artificial turf.

But, last night, especially early on ...

"We probably set football back to when I played with leather helmets," Perry coach Bill Gallagher joked. "It was bad, first-game jitters.

"Our kids were really excited, but we knew we had to settle down, so we tried to slow it down for them in the second half."

In the third quarter, the game began to provide a bit more continuity, less semblance of disarray -- but, still, no one scored until the fourth quarter.

Brashear threatened late, driving into Perry territory with a little more than three minutes left, but Perry defensive back Devin Ghafoor picked off a pass in the end zone from Brashear quarterback Henri Chatman that was intended for receiver Eric Lynch.

"Defense wins games," McGhee said.

"We were going back and forth and back and forth and, at the end our defense made some plays for us."

n Schenley 14, Westinghouse 6: In another City League season opener, Schenley jumped to a 14-0 lead and held on to defeat Westinghouse.

Shawn Davis and DeAndre Black scored on rushing touchdowns for the Spartans, who gained 108 yards on the ground as a team. Marcus Falls had eight catches for 67 yards for Westinghouse but the Bulldogs were unable to overcome five turnovers.

Westinghouse scored its lone points when David Pryor returned a fumble 85 yards for a touchdown to pull within eight points, but Schenley shutout the Bulldogs the rest of the way.