Thomas Jefferson starts title defense with win vs. West Mifflin

By: Dylan Cleland
Friday, September 11, 2020 | 10:15 PM

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Defending WPIAL and PIAA Class 4A champion Thomas Jefferson didn’t miss a beat kicking off 2020 at West Mifflin, scoring 45 points in the first half before completing a 52-0 shutout Friday night.

Senior quarterback Jake Pugh threw five touchdown passes to four receivers to start the scoring for No. 1 Thomas Jefferson (1-0, 1-0 Big Eight).

Pugh filled the void at quarterback after the departure of Shane Stump.

He became comfortable early, connecting with Preston Zandier at the 10-minute, 40-second mark of the first quarter.

Bill Cherpak, Thomas Jefferson’s 25th-year coach, said Pugh prepared for this day for some time.

“He’s been ready for this moment,” Cherpak said. “I knew he’d take advantage of it and do a nice job, and he’s got great receivers.”

West Mifflin (0-1, 0-1) tried to settle in offensively with a balanced attack but couldn’t overcome the defensive efforts of Thomas Jefferson.

“They’re pretty explosive. All we had was a scrimmage, and they played 20 plays, so we didn’t have a lot to go on,” Cherpak said. “We saw some explosive plays, and we wanted to contain that.”

Pugh credits his receivers and offensive line for making his job easier.

“Our receivers are really good playmakers,” Pugh said. “I’ll give them the credit, and our line did a good job protecting. I have weapons around me, and that’s huge.”

Senior Ian Hansen had the two longest touchdown catches, a 40-yard catch in the first quarter and a 38-yard score in the second.

Jack Konick and Shultz Reinhart added one touchdown each. Cherpak said the group of receivers shares a tight bond.

“They all can run and all can catch,” Cherpak said. “They complement each other and all work well together.”

Thomas Jefferson fended off Titans defensive back and Pitt commit Nahki Johnson. Pugh said he wasn’t pressured much at all because of the job his line did.

“Our O-line did a great job,” Pugh said. “They blitzed a lot of people, but they picked them up. I only think I got hit twice, which is a great thing as a quarterback.”

Second-year West Mifflin coach Rod Steele praised Thomas Jefferson’s efforts on the offensive and defensive line.

“Give them credit. They handled us up there,” Steele said. “We tried to do some things to compensate for their size and tried to take some things away, which we thought we did early on, but then they hit us with the big plays over the top. They were the more dominant team.”

Cherpak believes getting back onto the field brought some normality back for his players but believes the shortened schedule leaves less room for mistakes.

“I told the kids we need to start out strong because we only have seven games,” Cherpak said. “We had to start out strong, and we did. Just (have to) keep going from here.”

Thomas Jefferson will head to Trinity (1-0, 1-0) at 7 p.m. next Friday. The Hillers defeated Ringgold, 49-26, on Friday night.

Watch an archived broadcast of this game at Trib HSSN.

Dylan Cleland is a contributing writer for the Tribune-Review.

Tags: Thomas Jefferson, West Mifflin