Thomas Jefferson pulls away in 2nd half to rout Belle Vernon

By: Jeremy Sellew
Friday, September 6, 2019 | 11:20 PM

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In front of a capacity crowd at Jaguars Stadium, Thomas Jefferson and Belle Vernon showed why they are two of the top teams in Class 4A, at least for a half.

The No. 1 Jaguars scored 27 unanswered points in the second half to break open a tie and roll to a 34-7 win against their Big 8 rival Leopards.

Jaguars quarterback Shane Stump had an off night throwing the ball but ran for two scores, and DeRon VanBibber added a pair of touchdown runs in the fourth quarter.

“Shane wasn’t throwing the ball well, but we were talking about it and I knew he was going to make a play,” TJ coach Bill Cherpak said. “Whether it was with his arms or legs, we knew he was going to make a play. He’s our leader. That’s what he does.”

Stump finished only 5 of 17 through the air for 113 yards. He ran seven times for 55 yards.

“Those backs Dylan (Mallozzi) and DeRon were rotating, but it seemed like DeRon had a little more success. He was able to squeeze through some cracks there in the second half,” Cherpak said.

Despite the TJ second-half success, Belle Vernon coach Matt Humbert was displeased with his team’s performance in the final two quarters.

“I think that was one of the sloppiest, selfish halves of football we’ve ever orchestrated,” Humbert said. “We couldn’t get a rhythm like we did in the first half, and we had too many stupid, selfish plays and penalties.”

Despite struggling to get their offense going early in the first quarter, the Leopards’ defense held its own and took advantage of the Jaguars’ inability to score.

TJ had the ball deep in Leopards’ territory, starting consecutive drives on the 30- and 14-yard lines, but failed to put any points on the board.

“Let’s be honest, if we play in that first half, this may be a mercy-rule game,” Cherpak said. “That’s something we’ll deal with going forward. We couldn’t find a way to get things done, and they took advantage.”

Thomas Jefferson broke through on the first play of the second quarter, when Stump found Daniel Deabner for a 36-yard touchdown.

BVA got on the board with 4 minutes, 20 seconds left in the first half, capping an 11-play, 75-yard drive when Jared Hartman found Hunter Ruokonen in the back of the end zone for a 23-yard touchdown.

“That’s a win. Our defense played really well in the first half, and you take a 7-7 game all day against these guys,” Humbert said. “We prevented the splash plays in the first half. But in the second half, we allowed them to continue drives with stupid penalties.”

Stump scored on a 1-yard run with 3:28 left in the third quarter as TJ took a 14-7 lead into the final quarter.

After forcing the Leopards to go three and out, Stump found Deabner on a 32-yard hookup on first down, which led to Stump’s 4-yard run on a naked bootleg. The PAT failed, making it 20-7.

VanBibber, who ran for 131 yards on 20 carries, scored from 9 yards to make it 27-7.

The junior running back added an 8-yard touchdown with 1:20 to go to cap the scoring.

Tags: Belle Vernon, Thomas Jefferson