McKeesport rallies quickly to defeat Thomas Jefferson, win title

By: Jose Negron
Friday, October 27, 2023 | 11:55 PM

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McKeesport used a big first-half performance and a strong defensive showing to showcase its conference supremacy in enemy territory Friday night.

After going down by seven points early in the first quarter, the Tigers scored 28 unanswered, including 21 in the first half, and held Thomas Jefferson in check for the final three quarters to secure a 28-7 victory and the Big Seven Conference title outright in Jefferson Hills.

“It’s another difficult road win for us,” McKeesport coach Matt Miller said. “We already had our share, but I’m not gonna lie, we wanted to win and have (the conference title) for ourselves. It’s a huge win for us and a huge win for our program because I’m not sure we’ve ever won it outright since I’ve been the head coach. We’ve shared it a couple times and finished second, but for me, it’s a feather in the cap to get a conference championship.”

Thomas Jefferson (8-2, 4-2) struck on its opening drive of the contest, going 80 yards in eight plays to take a 7-0 lead on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Brody Evans to Sean Sullivan.

Evans completed three passes to Sullivan for 69 yards on the drive, but struggles followed for the Thomas Jefferson passing game.

Dom Cochran intercepted a pair of passes, one from Evans and another from Luke Kosko. Anthony Cromerdie added another pick off of Evans in the fourth quarter.

The Jaguars finished with 172 yards through the air and 82 yards on the ground.

“I just told our kids, ‘When you play good teams, you have to make plays,’ ” TJ coach Bill Cherpak said. “We had opportunities to make plays, and we didn’t make them. That’s all it comes down to.”

Shortly after TJ’s quick touchdown, McKeesport (9-1, 6-0) responded on its opening possession by going 80 yards on 12 plays. Anthony Boyd capped the drive with a 1-yard touchdown, but the big play came via a 31-yard completion from Garrett Tarker to Ricky Beermann on third down.

After a Jaguars punt, the Tigers extended their lead when Keith Spell continued his stellar three-week stretch with a 3-yard touchdown plunge to make it 14-7 after a Nathan Kendrick PAT.

Spell finished with 13 carries for 51 yards in the win.

Boyd was a pillar on the drive, rushing for 55 yards to help McKeesport get downfield. He finished with 121 first-half yards and totaled 232 yards on 23 carries to amass 1,000 rushing yards on the season.

Boyd added a 90-yard touchdown run to help seal the win late in the fourth quarter.

“It felt great hearing the crowd screaming and looking at the scoreboard knowing that touchdown helped us seal the deal,” Boyd said.

Thomas Jefferson turned the ball over on downs on its next possession, giving McKeesport the ball at its own 42-yard line.

One play later, Boyd rushed for a 43-yard gain that was aided by a Thomas Jefferson penalty.

McKeesport had the ball at the 7-yard line and eventually got down to the TJ 1 on three plays. Facing a fourth down, the Tigers elected to go for it with Spell running it up the middle. The Thomas Jefferson defense stood tall, stuffing the 6-foot-2, 255-pound back at the line of scrimmage to force a turnover on downs.

“The defense played very well,” Cherpak said. “I was pleased with that.”

While the Jaguars looked to build on the newfound momentum, the Tigers’ defensive unit shifted it in a hurry.

Two plays into TJ’s next drive, Cochran intercepted a Kosko pass and returned it 38 yards for a pick-6 to extend McKeesport’s lead to 21-7 with just less than four minutes left in the opening half. The Tigers took that same 14-point edge into the halftime break.

“You can’t do that against good teams,” Cherpak said. “They’re just too athletic and too good to do that against. If it’s 14-14 instead of 21-7, it’s a whole new ball game.”

Thomas Jefferson had plenty of opportunities in the second half, but its first three drives were stalled by a pair of punts and another Cochran interception of an Evans pass.

The Jaguars eventually found a rhythm on their first possession of the fourth quarter. Elias Lippincott rushed for 43 of his 54 yards on a 13-play drive that ended in a Cromerdie interception of Evans in the end zone.

“Our defense surprises you,” Boyd said. “That first drive, TJ went down, scored and had us looking sluggish, but we kept fighting. Our defense was out there a lot, and for them to have only seven points, that means a lot because that’s a great offense.”

One play into McKeesport’s next drive, Boyd raced down the TJ sideline for the final touchdown that put the game further out of reach.

The Tigers finished with just less than 300 yards on the ground.

“This means a lot to us because now we get a bye week and some time to see who we play and figure stuff out,” Boyd said. “We’re just going to take it one game at a time from here.”

Tags: McKeesport, Thomas Jefferson