On what had otherwise been a dry night, the sky opened up and rain began falling with about a minute left in Friday’s clash between McKeesport and visiting Thomas Jefferson.
Moments later, Thomas Jefferson quarterback Harrison Kolling plunged into the end zone for the Jaguars’ first touchdown of the game, one that proved to be the game-winner.
The winning coach suggested afterward that his team got some help from above.
“We had some help from Boo up top. That’s all I know,” Bill Cherpak said.
Thomas Jefferson, ranked No. 1 in WPIAL Class 4A, capped what was an emotional week with an emotional win, scoring two touchdowns in the final minute to knock off No. 3 McKeesport, 16-7, in what was a rematch of last year’s WPIAL championship also won by the Jaguars.
The Jaguars were playing with heavy hearts after former Thomas Jefferson star Brad “Boo” Dawson died tragically Monday. Dawson, who was just 38, quarterbacked the Jaguars to WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A titles his senior season in 2004. Cherpak said that Dawson, who cut his old coach’s hair every three or four weeks, was very well liked throughout the community and that you would be hard pressed to find someone who had a bad word to say about him. Dawson will be buried Saturday.
“The whole week, everyone was just consumed with everything that was going on. It wasn’t a focused week,” Cherpak said. “The kids kind of rallied around it. At halftime we said, ‘Look, we were losing [28-7] at halftime last year [against McKeesport]. Just come back, make some plays.’ And not that we made a lot, but we made enough to win.”
So, on a night in which Thomas Jefferson collected only 149 yards of offense and committed three turnovers, the Jaguars (3-0) found a way to remain unbeaten and pick up their 16th consecutive win against a WPIAL opponent.
McKeesport (1-2) dropped its second game in a row and also might have lost star Kemon Spell for the foreseeable future. Spell, a Penn State recruit regarded as the No. 1 junior running back in the country, sat out last week’s loss against Peters Township as he dealt with an ankle injury. Spell gave it a go Friday and collected 21 yards on three carries on McKeesport’s opening possession. But Spell then limped off the field following that last tote and never returned. After the game, Spell was on crutches and said he would likely miss the next few games, adding that he would be fitted for a boot Saturday.
“That hurt them a lot, obviously. We hope he’s OK,” Cherpak said.
McKeesport might not have had Spell, but the Tigers did have a defense that was absolutely lights out for the majority of the game. Thomas Jefferson had just over 100 yards of offense heading into its final possession. Trailing, 7-3, the Jaguars, with the help of a 23-yard pass from Kolling and a McKeesport unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, drove from midfield to the McKeesport 1-yard line. And with 52 seconds left, Kolling called his own number and put the Jagaurs ahead with the touchdown plunge.
“They weren’t lining up in the A-gap, so we just took advantage of that and scored,” said Kolling, a sophomore who shared snaps with senior Jeff Raible and finished 6 of 12 for 85 yards passing.
Now trailing, 10-7, McKeesport hoped to respond with a score of its own, but Thomas Jefferson’s Emmett Forte picked off a Matt Miller Jr. pass and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown with just seven seconds left to seal the Jaguars’ win.
“Huge,” Thomas Jefferson’s Tyler Eber said of the win. “I didn’t play my best, and the run game kind of got shut down, but everyone does their job here. It’s a disciplined football team. We made it happen at the end of the day, and that’s all I’m worried about.”
Eber ran for 186 and 158 yards in two games against McKeesport last season, but on Friday he was limited to just 37 yards on 19 carries.
Thomas Jefferson took a 3-0 lead on Sam Wessel’s 22-yard field goal with 8:33 left in the second quarter, but one of Spell’s replacements, senior Avont Hudson, scored on a 6-yard touchdown run with 1:08 remaining in the half to give McKeesport a 7-3 lead. The Tigers nearly scored again just moments later. Thomas Jefferson lost a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, but McKeesport gave it right back when Hudson fumbled at the 1-yard line following a big hit by Jarrett Becoate.
Hudson filled in admirably for Spell, finishing with 92 yards on 20 carries. But, like Thomas Jefferson, McKeesport got little going in the passing game as Miller finished 8 of 24 for 58 yards and an interception. The Tigers turned it over four times in the game.
Among those celebrating the Thomas Jefferson win was Dawson’s brother, Brian, the team’s quarterbacks coach who decided to coach Friday despite dealing with the death of his younger brother.
“He told me yesterday, ‘I have to come to practice because I need something to do. I need to focus my energy on something,’” Cherpak said. “I can’t even imagine what he’s going through right now. I just can’t. For us, it’s been devastating. I can’t imagine being in that realm of that happening. Boo was definitely looking down on us tonight, that’s for sure.”
Brian Dawson being with the team Friday seemed to mean a lot to the players and staff, Kolling among them. The Jaguars also honored Brad Dawson by wearing bracelets that read “In Our Hearts – Dawson #1” and “Jaguar Forever.”
“It shows that he loves us,” Kolling said as he struggled to fight off tears. “It shows that he cares about us. It shows a lot.”
And while “Boo” was Brian Dawson’s only official brother, the Jaguars rallied around Dawson and each other to show that the program is truly a brotherhood.
“It was hard for us, but we played for Boo tonight,” Eber said.
Eber then looked up at the sky as the rain streamed down.
Said Eber as he glanced high above, “That’s him.”
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.