Thomas Jefferson rolls into title game with victory over Blackhawk

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, November 9, 2018 | 11:45 PM

Over the past 20 years, Thomas Jefferson has made it to the WPIAL football semifinals 19 times.

In those 19 trips, the Jaguars have seen more than a handful of stellar rushing performances, but the one put on by senior running back Max Shaw on Friday night will finish with the best of them.

Shaw sliced the Blackhawk defense for 314 yards on 33 carries and tallied five touchdowns in a 47-7 victory Friday night.

Next for Thomas Jefferson is a date with South Fayette in the Class 4A Championship at 5 p.m. Nov. 17 at Heinz Field.

It’s a much-anticipated matchup of the Jaguars and Lions, who won Friday against No. 3 Belle Vernon, 28-10, to advance.

It’s also a chance for history to be written by the Jaguars, who have a shot at a fourth straight title, something that only has been done twice in WPIAL history: once by Braddock, which won five in a row from 1955-59, and once by Clairton, which did the same from 2008-12.

Thomas Jefferson coach Bill Cherpak can tie Bob Palko of West Allegheny for the most WPIAL titles. He has at seven, tied with Phil Bridenbaugh of New Castle, for second most.

“I know South Fayette throws it quite a bit, but we have to keep being physical. The kids are excited to go back and get another chance at it,” Cherpak said.

Shaw said he and his teammates are excited to have another chance, saying each one gets better than the last.

“We say every year that the past ones don’t matter,” Shaw said. “It gets more special each time. It’s always a different experience, and it’s a different team every time. There’s been a lot of talk about (South Fayette). We’re going to have to be ready. It’s going to be a good, physical game, and we’re ready to go.”

The Jaguars offensive line showed Friday playing physical is expected of them.

“The story is the same every week. Our line steamrolled,” Shaw said. “They’re big, mean and physical, and it’s easy to run behind them. We’re a running football team, and with the weather what it was tonight, we knew we had to run it, and we have a lot of faith in those big guys up front.”

“Our line is physical. We felt we could dominate the line of scrimmage,” Cherpak said. “Max is a tough kid. He has great balance and runs hard. He’s perfect for this offense. If you control the line of scrimmage and can control the ball the way we did, you’ll win a lot of games.”

The Jaguars got the scoring started quickly as Thomas Jefferson (11-0, 7-0), scored the game’s first 28 points. Shaw scored on runs of 18, 11 and 49 yards before junior quarterback Shane Stump scored the first of his two rushing touchdowns from 1 yard.

With the score 28-0, Blackhawk finally cracked through, scoring on a 2-yard rush by junior running back Josh Butcher.

Thomas Jefferson then scored the final 19 points of the game, scoring just before the half on a two-yard scamper by Shaw, and with runs from Stump and Shaw, whose fifth score came from 39 yards away, late in the third quarter.

Senior quarterback Chance Liptak finished 10-34 for 149 yards but had two interceptions for Blackhawk.

Cougars’ first-year coach Zack Hayward was familiar with the Jaguars, having played the program twice at Heinz Field as a player at Blackhawk, in 2006 and ‘08. He said his Blackhawk team received exactly what it was expecting from the three-time defending champions.

“Whenever you play TJ, you get the same thing: a high-powered offense and a very good defense,” Hayward said. “They jumped on us quick and made us one-dimensional, and when a team makes you one-dimensional, it’s easy for them from there.”

Thomas Jefferson outgained Blackhawk 418-170 on offense and 336-21 on the ground.

The season is over for the Cougars, who quickly became one of the best stories in the WPIAL this season, as they appeared in the playoffs for the first time since 2012 and won their first postseason game since 2008 last week.

Hayward said he is proud of the team he coached, saying that this season was a good stepping stone for what he is trying to build and the culture he is trying to bring back to Blackhawk (10-2).

“This season was a huge success. I know my seniors aren’t happy with the way it ended, but this was a solid foundation,” Hayward said. “I preached all year that if we wanted to build an empire, we had to start with a sturdy foundation.

“Credit the seniors with helping to lead that building. Now we turn to the underclassmen to build on that.”

Kyle Dawson is a freelance writer.

Tags: Blackhawk, Thomas Jefferson