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Thomas Jefferson quarterback Jake Pugh, shown here in July, threw four touchdowns against Mars on Friday.
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WPIAL football playoffs: Thomas Jefferson bounces back, dominates Mars

Steph Chambers/Post-Gazette

WPIAL football playoffs: Thomas Jefferson bounces back, dominates Mars

As they headed to the locker room at halftime, Thomas Jefferson players said to each other, “Make a statement.”

Did they ever.

The Jaguars throttled Mars and bottled up the WPIAL’s leading rusher, Teddy Ruffner, in a dominant 41-6 performance Friday night in the WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinals.

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Next up for Thomas Jefferson is a semifinal matchup against Plum.

North Allegheny head coach Art Walker high-fives his players before playing Central Catholic in September. The two teams will meet next weekend in the WPIAL 6A final.
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A 20-14 loss to McKeesport in the final game of the regular season cost the Jaguars (6-1) a shot at the top seed in 4A. They bounced back with a vengeance, racing to a 34-0 halftime lead, then tacking on another score in the third quarter to invoke the mercy rule and a running clock. Mars (6-2) did not find the end zone until the fourth quarter when it was essentially backups against backups.

The Jaguars let their play do the talking. Thomas Jefferson coach Bill Cherpak had no statement to make about the statement game.

“I’m not into that,” he said. “You win, you get to move on. That’s it. We knew we had to come out and play well.”

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For his part, Mars coach Scott Heinauer said he figured the Jaguars would come out looking to make a point.

“It’s hard to believe they lost last week,” Heinauer said. “It’s tough when you play a team that had a lot to prove from the loss last week.”

Thomas Jefferson quarterback Jake Pugh put on a masterful performance. He completed 14 of 15 passes for 218 yards and four touchdowns.

“I expect that out of him,” Cherpak said. “He’s a good player and he’s got some good receivers. He made some good calls, he made some good reads tonight.”

Plum's Reed Martin carries past McKeesport's Kenneth Thompson on Friday.
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Preston Zandier was Pugh’s main target, as he hauled in six catches for 113 yards and three scores.

As good as Pugh and the offense looked, the defense might have been even better. Mars running back Teddy Ruffner finished the regular season as the WPIAL rushing leader with 1,560 yards and an average of 223 yards per game. He was held to 9 yards on 13 carries.

“He’s such a dynamic back,” Cherpak said. “He’s strong, but he can break a big run. We knew that was their main weapon, so we were keying on him pretty heavily.”

Ruffner, a UNC-Wilmington baseball recruit, was held out for most of the second half when the Jaguars had the game in hand.

The Jaguars outgained the Planets in total yards, 408-100.

The Planets got off to a good start. They recovered a fumble at the Thomas Jefferson 18 and drove to the 9 before Ruffner was stuffed for no gain on a fourth-and-1. That was as close as the Mars starters would get to the end zone.

“We had an opportunity, but we didn’t make a lot of it,” Heinauer said. “They have a good football team, without a doubt. They do a lot of great things. They dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.”

The Jaguars rolled from there. Pugh launched a beautiful long pass into Zandier’s hands on a post route for a 62-yard gain. A few plays later, Pugh found Ian Hansen for a 9-yard score.

On the ensuing Mars possession, Thomas Jefferson’s Conner Murga forced a fumble, then picked it up and scampered 35 yards for another score that put Thomas Jefferson up, 13-0, midway through the first quarter.

From there, Pugh and Zandier took over. They connected on touchdowns that covered 16, 9 and 10 yards.

Mars did not score until a 15-yard pass in the fourth quarter with most of the starters out.

First Published: October 31, 2020, 2:15 a.m.

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Thomas Jefferson quarterback Jake Pugh, shown here in July, threw four touchdowns against Mars on Friday.  (Steph Chambers/Post-Gazette)
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