McKeesport star Kemon Spell on the mend heading into showdown with Thomas Jefferson

By: Chris Harlan
Thursday, September 4, 2025 | 1:17 AM

Kemon Spell’s coach describes him as a finely tuned Ferrari, a fitting analogy since the McKeesport running back goes faster than most.

But when there’s an issue with your Ferrari, you don’t dare drive it until it’s fixed.

“You’re not dealing with a Jeep Wrangler,” McKeesport coach Matt Miller said. “That Ferrari engine and everything else is a little more finicky. … When you have something that special, you’ve got to go ‘high grade’ with everything.”

In other words, the Penn State-bound junior won’t be playing in any games until his ankle feels better. But that could come as soon as 7 p.m. Friday when No. 1 Thomas Jefferson (2-0) visits No. 2 McKeesport (1-1) for a nonconference rematch of last year’s WPIAL Class 4A title game.

Miller on Wednesday said he considered Spell as “probable” to play this week.

“It seems to be progressing in the right direction,” Miller said. “Hopefully, he’ll be good to go”

There’s no way to overstate Spell’s impact on McKeesport’s offense.

He scored five touchdowns in Week Zero when the Tigers won, 51-24, over Delaware Valley. After sustaining a minor injury at practice, he missed their Week 1 game and the Tigers lost to Peters Township, 35-0.

McKeesport was missing a handful of other starters too, but Spell’s absence was obvious.

“It’s night and day,” said Thomas Jefferson coach Bill Cherpak, who called Spell one of the best high school running backs he’d seen. “He is just a difference-maker. At any time, he can go the distance. … He has power, but he has speed. He can run inside or outside, and he’s big. He has the whole package.”

Recruiting outlets Rivals, ESPN and 247Sports rank the 5-foot-11, 211-pounder as the No. 1 running back nationally in the 2027 class. Since committing last summer to Penn State, Spell added offers from Notre Dame and Ohio State to his scholarship options.

In Week Zero, Spell rushed for 295 yards and four touchdowns on 13 carries. He also returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown.

Taking a week off after that opening performance isn’t easy.

“He was OK with it until Friday,” Miller said. “And then on Friday he was saying, ‘I want to play. I want to play. I want to play.’ Our trainer said no, and that was the best thing for him.”

Whichever team runs the ball successfully Friday likely wins this week.

That’s because Thomas Jefferson running back Tyler Eber was the WPIAL’s leading rusher last season with 2,276 yards on 420 carries. The junior already has 348 yards and eight touchdowns on 49 carries this year.

In comparison, Thomas Jefferson has completed just 15 passes in two games. McKeesport has completed eight. Both are breaking in new starting quarterbacks.

“You’ve got to make them do what they don’t want to do,” said Miller, in his 10th season as McKeesport coach. “When teams have had success against us, they forced us to throw the ball. That’s kind of what we’re hoping to do to them. Make them be multi-faceted and not just run the ball right down your throat.”

That mirrors the strategy from the other sideline, too: Run the ball and stop the run.

“If we can get them to pass the ball, that’s obviously good for us,” Cherpak said. “And if we can run, that’s great for us. That’s the plan. We’ll see.”

In an era of spread offenses and 300-yard passing nights, this game promises to be somewhat of a throwback.

“It’s going to turn into a 1990s football game with a lot of I-formations,” Miller said.

Thomas Jefferson won twice against McKeesport last season, including 28-7 in the WPIAL Class 4A finals. In the regular season, TJ won 34-31 in overtime.

So, for a McKeesport team with title hopes, this nonconference matchup has meaning.

“I think this is always a big game,” Miller said of facing Thomas Jefferson. “They’re a great measuring stick. … They’ve been the cream of the crop in 4A for the last 10 years or so. It’s our chance to see where we stand early in the year.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: McKeesport, Thomas Jefferson