Deep junior class bolsters starting lineup for Thomas Jefferson football

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, September 7, 2018 | 7:25 PM

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Notebook items from around Thomas Jefferson’s vaunted football landscape:

• The starting lineup for the Jaguars consists of eight juniors, five seniors and four sophomores.

OFFENSE: junior QB Shane Stump, senior RB Max Shaw, junior RB Nathan Werderber, junior WRs Dan Deabner, Bowen Dame; sophomore WRs Preston Zandier, Ian Hansen; junior TE James Martinis, senior linemen Dom Serapiglia (C), Darius Barrett (G), junior linemen Logan Danielson (G), Mike Huber (T), Mac Duda (T), and senior kicker A.J. Meshanko.

DEFENSE: senior lineman Sean Barrett, Serapiglia, Barrett and Danielson; sophomore linebacker Trevor Barrett, Shaw, Werderber and Martinis; sophomore defensive back DeRon VanBibber, Deabner and Stump.

• There are three Barretts on the team: Darius, a 5-10, 295-pound senior lineman; Sean, a 6-2, 210-pound senior TE/DE; and Trevor, a 6-0, 205-pound sophomore RB/LB.

Sean and Trevor are brothers. “We push each other to do better,” said Sean, who plans to major in environmental studies in college.

• Gabe Dominick, (6-0, 170) a senior TE/DE, offered a compelling definition of what it means to be a TJ football player.

“It means being able to push past the mental limits you set for yourself and achieve things you never thought you would be able to,” he said.

Shaw (6-0, 190), a senior RB/LB, said it’s “being involved in something bigger than yourself, carrying the tradition and passing it down to the classes below you.”

• Shaw, Stump, Martinis and Serapiglia served as co-captains in the team’s first game, a 62-0 conference win at home against Ringgold.

Serapiglia, who has been playing football for 12 years, is a fourth-year starter for the Jaguars. He is a two-way lineman who has specialized in long snapping since his freshman season.

• Deabner scored his team’s first touchdown of the year against the Rams on a 29-yard pass from Stump at the 11:34 mark of the first quarter.

• Huber (6-0, 290), Darius Barrett (5-10, 295), Serapiglia (6-1, 295), Danielson (6-1, 255) and Duda (6-4, 275) make up the offensive line.

Their average height and weight is 6-1, 282 pounds.

• Quinton Hill, a 2017 TJ graduate and a sophomore member of the Howard football team, is the Jaguars’ all-time leader in career rushing.

Hill owns five career rushing records at TJ: yards (4,432), carries (576), touchdowns (63), total touchdowns; rushing/receiving (63) and scoring (385 points).

After rushing for 1,940 yards and 28 touchdowns on 255 carries as a senior running back/linebacker in 2016, Hill was recruited by Howard at the running back position.

“I chose Howard because I believe in the success that the program will have in the upcoming years,” Hill said. “I expect to help the team any way I can as early as possible.”

• Bill Cherpak, a Steel Valley graduate, is a member of an elite group of individuals who have both played and coached in a WPIAL title game.

That group includes only Pete Antimarino (Gateway) and Eric Kasperowicz (North Hills), who is now coaching at Pine-Richland.

• Stump began this year with 1,643 yards and 25 touchdowns in the passing department.

He also rushed for 153 yards and eight scores over the previous two seasons, accounting for 1,796 yards and 33 touchdowns in total offense.

• Meshanko, a senior captain on the TJ boys soccer team, hit on 65 of 72 PAT attempts and 25-, 27- and 32-yard field goals last season.

He also knocked 37 of 88 kickoffs into the end zone, including nine touchbacks in one game.

Meshanko, who connected on a 50-yard field goal in his first year of preseason camp, has been to Jamaica three times on mission trips.

He plans to be a chiropractor after graduation.

• TJ jumped from No. 5 to No. 1 in Class 4A in the TribLive High School Sports Network state rankings following its season-opening win.

• The TJ football roster consists of 10 seniors, 11 juniors, 17 sophomores and 22 freshmen.

• Alex Territ, a 6-4, 225-pound senior TE/DE, is nicknamed “Croc.”

Territt started playing football when he was 4, wearing an extra small helmet. He plans to study chemistry in college.

• Michael Janosko’s nickname is, appropriately, “Big Mike.” Janosko is a 6-4, 295-pound senior lineman. His dad also played for the Jaguars.

• Jake Puckey, a 5-9, 235-pound senior lineman whose also known as the “Puckster,” plans to major in accounting in college.

• Austin Sobeck, a senior lineman, said his biggest influence in football is Pat Tillman.

• One final quick fact: Dominick used to play the saxophone.

Ray Fisher is a freelance writer.

Tags: Thomas Jefferson