Thomas Jefferson running back Tyler Eber had run roughshod on teams throughout the WPIAL playoffs.
But when the Jaguars took the field for their state tournament opener against District 9 champion Clearfield, the Bison loaded up the box and were ready to do whatever they could to stop the sophomore ball carrier.
Thomas Jefferson was more than OK with that.
“They tried to put 10 guys in the box and play us one on one on the outside, and that ain’t gonna work,” Thomas Jefferson coach Bill Cherpak said. “You wanna do that? We’re fine with it. You want to take away the running game? We’ll throw it at you.”
And throw they did.
Senior quarterback Luke Kosko completed 5 of 8 passes for 143 yards and three touchdowns to help Thomas Jefferson (13-0) to a 35-0 mercy-rule victory against Clearfield (12-1) in the PIAA Class 4A quarterfinals Saturday at Mansion Park Stadium in Altoona. This is the 10th time the Jaguars have qualified for the state playoffs, and they improved to 7-3 all time in their first state playoff game following the WPIAL finals.
“I think that we were controlling the line of scrimmage,” Cherpak said. “I think we felt confident that we could stop their run, and that’s what they relied on — big plays and moving the ball consistently. We did a good job of stopping that, and they got frustrated a little bit.”
With Clearfield keying almost exclusively on Eber, the outside opened up for senior wide receiver Brayden White, who caught two passes for 108 yards and two touchdowns.
“He couldn’t believe it,” Cherpak said. “He was like, ‘Oh my god, they’re playing zero coverage on me,’ and I was like, ‘Well, we’re gonna take advantage of that.’ ”
Thomas Jefferson wasted no time heading to the outside, as Kosko opened the scoring with a 57-yard strike to White just 3:28 into the game for a quick 7-0 lead. Following a defensive touchdown on a fumble recovery in the end zone to close out the first quarter, Kosko hit White again, this time for 57 yards, 2:21 into the second quarter to extend the Jaguars advantage to 21-0.
Thomas Jefferson closed out the half when Kosko hit Eber out of the backfield for an 18-yard score and a 28-0 lead at the intermission.
In the meantime, Clearfield was going nowhere fast. The Bison running game, led by Brown University wrestling recruit Brady Collins, only gained 129 yards in the game, lost three fumbles and never really put anything together.
“They were hard runners and they were tough to bring down,” Cherpak said. “A couple of times, they almost got out of there, but I thought our defense played really, really well.”
Eber may have taken a backseat in the first half, but he was there to drain the clock in the second. He ground it out 33 times for 146 yards and a 2-yard touchdown in the first minute of the fourth quarter to start the running clock.
Class 1A
Bishop Guilfoyle 56, Westinghouse 15: The Bulldogs were the first City League school ever to play in back-to-back state championship games.
But their hopes of making a third consecutive trip to Cumberland Valley for the finals were quickly dashed by the Marauders, who lived up to their nickname in a big way.
Taurean Consiglio ran for a pair of first-quarter scores and Chase Kissell did the rest, as the quarterback accounted for five total touchdowns and the District 6 champion (13-1) mercy-ruled Westinghouse (9-2) at Farrell. The game was originally slated for Friday at Highlands but was changed at the 11th hour.
“They were able to capitalize on all our mistakes and they made very little mistakes. They have a lot of good players that played hard,” Westinghouse coach Donta Green said. “At the end of the day, it’s football. I don’t think [the delay] had anything to do with it. We just didn’t come out and execute the way we needed to.”
Khalil Green threw for a pair of long first-half touchdowns, one of 56 yards to Lloyd Penn and the other a 61-yarder to John Bailey, as the Bulldogs trailed 28-15 at the intermission.
Keith Barnes: kbarnes.pg@gmail.com and @KBarnes_PG on X
First Published: November 23, 2024, 11:03 p.m.
