Thomas Jefferson football’s dominance by the numbers

By: Ray Fisher
Friday, November 1, 2019 | 6:38 PM

The beat goes on.

Thomas Jefferson has won 21 conference championships since coach Bill Cherpak’s first season in 1995.

The Jaguars rolled past West Mifflin, 53-0, on Oct. 25 to end the regular season with a 7-0 record in the Big 8 Conference, 10-0 overall and 5-0 at home.

“I am very pleased with how the season’s gone. We are really where we expected to be,” Cherpak said. “Other than a couple injuries, the season has gone as well as we had hoped. I believe we are still getting better each game and are ready for the playoffs.”

TJ received the No. 1 seed in the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs and met No. 8 Montour in the first round. Montour ended the regular season at 5-5.

The Jaguars have six undefeated regular seasons in eight years and have won or shared 12 conference titles since 2006.

They also won 125 of 130 in league play since ’01.

The TJ players captured three conference titles in the past four years, going 29-1.

This season, Thomas Jefferson allowed only 13 points in the Big 8, and none in its final five league games, winning those by an average score of 51-0. The Jaguars ended up with a 339-13 edge in scoring in the conference and a 482-33 advantage through 10 games.

The Jaguars gave up just three points in the month of October, socking Central Valley, 28-3, in nonconference action.

The Jaguars have been relentless in imposing their will on opponents over the years, particularly at TJ Stadium.

TJ ended the regular season with an 84-1 record on their home turf since 2004, with 34 shutouts. And the Jaguars strung together 57 consecutive wins at home from Oct. 22, 2004 to Oct. 31, 2014.

The Jaguars took a 27-game winning streak at home into their playoff matchup with Montour.

Cherpak, 52, is in his 25th season at the helm. He is TJ’s all-time winningest football coach with a 268-46 career record.

The legendary coach won four WPIAL titles (2004, 2006-08) in five years, along with three state crowns (2004, 2007-08), then added three more WPIAL championships from 2015-17.

TJ has qualified for the WPIAL playoffs 25 consecutive seasons, or every year Cherpak has coached. The Jaguars have advanced to the WPIAL semifinals 20 times in the past 21 years.

Over the past five seasons, the Jaguars were 11-3, 12-1, 11-2, 11-1 and 10-0 (through 10 games), an impressive 55-7 mark.

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