TRIB TOTAL MEDIA • 31
THE FAVORITE
1. Thomas Jefferson (16-0)
The Jaguars returned to the top
of the mountain in 2019 with
their fourth WPIAL title in five
years and eighth since 2004.
Despite losing several all-conference
performers to graduation,
TJ has talent returning, including
Youngstown State verbal commit
Preston Zandier and others ready
to make their mark.
Preseason rankings
2. McKeesport (9-4)
3. Montour (5-6)
4. Mars (6-5)
5. Aliquippa (11-2)
* RECORDS FROM 2019
THE STARS
RODNEY GALLAGHER
Laurel Highlands, soph., WR/DB
The speedy 6-foot receiver made
his mark as a freshman and
already owns football offers from
Michigan, Penn State, Pitt and
others.
NAHKI JOHNSON
West Mifflin, sr., TE/DE
The 6-foot-3, 220-pounder still
is garnering major Division I
interest despite giving a verbal
commitment to Pitt more than
a year ago. Johnson earned
an offer from BCS national
champion LSU in July.
MAX MATOLCSY
Plum, sr., TE/WR/OLB
A multitalented force on both
sides of the ball, the University
of Pennsylvania commit recorded
138 tackles last year, including 19
for a loss, and added five sacks.
WAHKEEM ROMAN
Highlands, sr., OL/DT
Roman earned first-team
All-Northern Conference honors
last year at defensive tackle. The
6-4, 275-pounder hopes to increase
his stock in 2020 and have
more Division I programs calling.
TEDDY RUFFNER
Mars, sr., RB/DB
Getting college attention for
baseball and football, he led the
Planets in 2019 with 1,919 yards
on 263 carries.
DON’T MISS
9.25 Belle Vernon
at Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson has won
16 conference games in a row.
The last team to beat the
Jaguars in conference was the
rival Leopards in 2017.
10.16 Aliquippa at Montour
The Spartans hope for a measure
of revenge from nonconference
losses the past two years
in a game that could decide the
Parkway Conference title.
10.23 McKeesport
at Thomas Jefferson
The matchup between the
WPIAL heavyweights could be
for the Big Eight Conference title.
CLASS 4A BREAKDOWN
Quarterback Jake Pugh and his Thomas Jefferson teammates are defending the Jaguars’ PIAA Class 4A championship.
CHAMPIONSHIP TALK
STARTS WITH JAGUARS
McKeesport, Aliquippa
among teams that could
knock TJ off perch
Thomas Jefferson began its
2019 season with a dominant
victory over Canon-McMillan
and ended it in Hershey with a
46-7 rout of Dallas for the PIAA
Class 4A title.
In between, the Jaguars rolled
in and out of conference play and
added their eighth WPIAL title
since 2004. They outscored their
opponents 739-69.
Coach Bill Cherpak said the
Jaguars hope to have the pieces
to reload for another run after
considerable graduation losses
on both sides of the ball.
At the same time, the rest of
WPIAL Class 4A hopes to put
together a formula for WPIAL
gold and unseat the defending
champs.
“There is some really good
competition throughout 4A, no
doubt,” said Cherpak, whose
team has won three of the four
WPIAL Class 4A titles and is 50-4
overall since the PIAA expanded
to six classifications for the 2016
season.
“With every kid on the team,
they don’t know anything other
than going to the WPIAL championship
game. They know they
are the hunted again, and they
relish it. They want the expectation
that they are the favorite,
but they know it won’t be easy.
There are a lot of teams, obviously,
who want to be where we are.”
The landscape of Class 4A
changed considerably with an
expansion to three conferences
as teams moved
up, down and sideways.
South Fayette,
which beat Thomas
Jefferson for the
WPIAL 4A title in
2018, moved up to
Class 5A, and Ambridge
moved down
to Class 3A.
New teams
in the Class 4A expansion are
Aliquippa, Chartiers Valley,
Armstrong, Hampton, Mars,
Plum and McKeesport.
“It’s pretty exciting to come
in and face new teams, ones we
haven’t played before or haven’t
played in half a century
or so,” said McKeesport coach
Matt Miller, whose team went
9-4 overall in 2019. “Hopefully,
we can build up some good rivalries.
We’re only a river away
from some of our opponents.
The proximity of most of the
matchups makes it exciting for
the community. A lot of our kids
know the kids who play at West
Mifflin, Thomas Jefferson or
Belle Vernon.”
McKeesport made it to the
WPIAL Class 5A semifinals last
year before falling to eventual
WPIAL champion and PIAA
semifinalist Gateway.
“McKeesport is a tough matchup
for anybody because of how
talented they are overall and
what they can do with the (flex
bone) offense,”
Cherpak said. “It
adds such a whole
different dynamic
to our conference
and to 4A overall.”
Mars also was a
WPIAL 5A playoff
qualifier a year
ago.
Aliquippa, with
a Class A-sized enrollment,
has “played up” for numerous
seasons, whether it was
Class AA under the old formula
or Class 3A most recently.
The Quips were bumped up
to Class 4A by the PIAA last
December as they fell under the
PIAA’s competitive balance rule,
which takes postseason success
and transfers into account for all
such placement decisions.
Several weeks after the initial
ruling, Aliquippa administrators
dropped an appeal to the
PIAA.
Quips coach Mike Warfield admitted
he still is a little frustrated
over the decision, citing the differences
in roster sizes from his
team to others in Class 4A and the
possible safety issues that could
arise over the course of a season.
But, he says, his team will be
ready to play.
“The kids work hard to be prepared,
no matter what class we’re
in,” Warfield said. “That’s not going
to change. They are anxious
to get out there and perform the
best they can.”
Aliquippa will face New Castle,
Beaver, Chartiers Valley, Montour
and Blackhawk in the newlook
Parkway Conference.
Aliquippa, which lost to Central
Valley in last year’s WPIAL
Class 3A title game, was 6-1
against current Class 4A teams
the past four seasons. It swept
Montour in a nonconference series
the past two seasons.
The Quips won the WPIAL and
PIAA Class 3A titles in 2018 and
also were WPIAL runners-up in
’16 and ’17.
As the season draws closer,
West Mifflin hopes to have a
question answered soon.
The WPIAL last November
banned the Titans from the 2020
playoffs for use of an ineligible
player during the ’19 season.
West Mifflin plans to appeal
the decision, but no date for a
hearing with the PIAA has been
set. The Titans went 5-5 last year
and lost to South Fayette in the
WPIAL quarterfinals.
Pitt commit Nahki Johnson
returns to the lead West Mifflin,
which has five starters back on
both sides of the ball.
by MICHAEL LOVE
“They want the
expectation that they
are the favorite, but
they know it won’t be
easy.”
BILL CHERPAK
THOMAS JEFFERSON COACH