Belle Vernon ‘a different team’ since lopsided loss to Thomas Jefferson in September

By: Jeremy Sellew
Friday, November 15, 2019 | 9:02 PM

For Belle Vernon’s football team, it doesn’t matter what you call them heading into Saturday’s WPIAL Class 4A championship game against conference rival Thomas Jefferson.

You can call them underdogs, you can call them Cinderella.

Either way, they’re ready for the ball.

The Leopards (10-1) and Jaguars (12-0) meet for the first time since Sept. 6, when Thomas Jefferson scored 27 unanswered points in the second half to claim a 34-7 win.

“I felt we really contributed to that loss,” Belle Vernon coach Matt Humbert said. “We blew a couple coverages in the secondary. We had some guys go out, and we got burned a couple times.

“At this point in the season, though, the kids that stepped in back then, now they’re battle-tested.

“That game was 10 weeks ago. We’re a different team, they’re a different team. There will be different narratives. A lot of people will look at us as the Cinderella, and we’ll embrace that narrative. We don’t care about that.”

The Jaguars come into the game after a 49-0 stomping of Blackhawk in the semifinals. Belle Vernon is coming off a thrilling 41-30 come-from-behind win over South Fayette, avenging a semifinal defeat last season.

“(South Fayette) is the New England Patriots of the WPIAL,” Humbert said. “I pulled them together before heading off the field at halftime. They know what kind of football we were going to bring out in the second half. There’s not one game, with the exception of Week 2, that we didn’t wear a team down in the second half.”

Like most football games, everything will start with line play and the matchups of Belle Vernon’s offensive and defensive lines battling with their counterparts.

“The motor gets better as we go,” Humbert said. “I think our pass rush was terrible against South Fayette in the first half. Then Jesus, in the second half it was great. Sometimes it takes a second half to get things going a little bit. Hope we can carry a little bit of that mentality from the South Fayette game.”

A lot of the confidence last week came from senior quarterback Jared Hartman. He completed 15 of 17 passes for 162 yards and two touchdowns in the win over the Lions.

His arm will be the key for the Leopards offense if they plan on hoisting the WPIAL championship trophy when the clock hits zeroes.

“Jared has to be productive in the passing game. We have to be able to throw the football, and we can’t rely on running the football with a traditional tailback or the quarterback,” Humbert said. “We have to be able to throw the football and take our matchups. It’s cookie-cutter to say, but we have to take advantage of our efficiency and realize we’re not going to get 10 to 12 yards per play. Three yards is three yards. Have to be positive in our offensive progressions and be consistent. We can’t go three-and-out. We have to stay true to who we are and keep making the right adjustments on the fly.”

Larry Callaway finished with 20 carries for 138 yards and a touchdown last week, wearing the Lions’ defense down as he gashed them for big chunks of yards on the play.

“Larry is such a tough runner, especially when he gets downhill,” Humbert said. “But there were times, too, we had Whitlock, Jared and Callaway in the same backfield at the same time. You don’t know who’s going to get the ball and what they’re going to do with it. That hasn’t been something we just started last week, but we never had to show it before.”

Both coaches are well aware neither of these teams are the same as those that took the field back in September.

“For us, the key difference is the experience factor,” Humbert said. “Playing each week, you get to refine your skill a little bit. You see more scenarios, have more adjustments in your repertoire.

“I hate to say that, but Jared was coming off a huge surgery, just looking at the first two games, for every touchdown he threw there were two or three plays that you’re like, ‘Oh man, OK, I get it.”

And the development of sophomore Devin Whitlock has grown since the first meeting between the two teams. He’s become a shifty weapon that can run, throw and catch, in the Belle Vernon offense.

“Honestly, his first true game was TJ,” Humbert said of the Monessen transfer. “I don’t care about the reps at quarterback and the catches he makes. He’s a kid that’s disciplined, he’s coachable and all about the team. He’s a ‘yes sir, no sir’ kid that could have come over here and had so much success at his previous school that he expects to be the guy. But he’s not that kid. He’s going to help out no matter where he is. That’s more valuable for me.”

Overall, the Leopards are confident their fans in the stands will see a different type of game than the first meeting.

“Practice so far has been really good,” Hartman said. “There’s no need to make this game bigger than it is. We just need to go out there and play the game we’ve been playing our whole lives. In the end, it’s football.”

Humbert is confident his team won’t get caught up in the championship hype and atmosphere at Heinz Field. The team took part in a short pep rally Wednesday at James Weir Stadium, but most of the hoopla and championship fever has come from those surrounding the team.

“Honestly, I don’t make a big deal about it at all. The kids are just resilient enough, they understand it. I just take a non-chalant approach to it. It’s not something I have to worry about,” Humbert said. “We didn’t want to have something big out in the community. We wanted it right here where we were. Twenty minutes after practice, that’s it. The kids don’t want any distractions, just like last week.

“We have senior leadership that, even though we haven’t been there, they’ve played in big games and they understand the rhetoric we’ve preached from Day 1 is the same thing we’ve preached this week. You have to put those things in place, so when we get to a week like this, I don’t have to worry about this stuff. They understand it and they’re ready for it.”

Tags: Belle Vernon, Thomas Jefferson