By Justin Criado
Published: Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, 9:00 p.m.
Quarterback is the most impactful position on the field. For the undefeated Thomas Jefferson football team, it's been the play of quarterbacks that has left opponents dizzy.
Seniors Chase Winovich and Christian Breisinger rotate every other series at the signal-caller position, making TJ's offense a true dual threat.
“Christian does a great job of doing his role, and I try to do a good job in doing my role,” Winovich said. “If you look at the teams that have won WPIAL and state championships, they've had great role players.”
For the most part, Breisinger is the drop-back, pocket passer, and Winovich a wildcat-running specialist.
But TJ head coach Bill Cherpak says it's not that simple.
“I think people think it's as basic as Chase is the running quarterback and Christian is the throwing quarterback,” Cherpak said. “It's not really like that. Both can do different things, and they're both leaders in their own way.”
“They both play defense as well, so that enables us to give them a break. It's really just the way it worked out.”
Through training camp, Winovich and Breisiner split reps, and as the season grew near it was thought that one would pull away with the position.
But it was clear that sitting one over the other would only limit the offense.
“It's not that one kid doesn't do something the other kid does,” Cherpak said. “It's both deserve to be starters, so that's why they both play.”
In a fashion that has become typical since Cherpak took over as the Jaguars' field boss nearly two decades ago, Thomas Jefferson is mauling opponents, averaging just under 45 points a game.
Winovich and Breisinger have clicked for nearly 1,200 yards of total offense, and have accounted for 21 touchdowns between them.
Breisinger has hit on 31 of 55 passes for 618 yards and nine touchdowns. Winovich has run for 335 yards and seven touchdowns on 24 carries.
But there isn't a specific game plan at TJ in regard to amount of reps or certain situations.
“Our game plan is just to execute and be the best we can,” Breisinger said. “We can't play down to our opposition. We're expected to come out and dominate teams right from the start, like we did to Uniontown last Friday.”
The only time both players are on the field together is on defense, with Winovich, a Michigan commit, at middle linebacker and Breisinger behind him at the safety post.
Their impact is just as great.
The Jaguars (8-0, 7-0) are allowing only a touchdown per game, and just under 121 yards. Just like on offense, each player brings something a little different to the TJ scheme.
“With Chase, he's our big-play guy. He covers the whole field,” Cherpak said.
“Christian, I tell him to just think of the word ‘safety.' He's the last line of defense back there. He gets coverages called. They're both leading on defense, as well.”
The fact is no matter how, or by whom, it gets done, the system is working fine.
Thomas Jefferson travels to West Mifflin (8-0, 7-0) Friday for the Big Nine Conference showdown of the year.
The winning culture at Thomas Jefferson strongly promotes teamwork and selflessness, which is evident in Winovich and Breisinger splitting time on offense.
They both know there's more to the game than stats.
“What's important to me is winning sections, and winning WPIALs, and winning states,” Winovich said.
Breisinger echoed that sentiment.
“That we need to come out and dominate these teams from the start. We have the talent to do so,” he said.
For Cherpak, it's just different means to hopefully the same end.
“You know what you're getting from both of them,” he said. “They're always going to be there.”
Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/hssports/football/4922043-74/winovich-breisinger-cherpak#ixzz2ipdvjQbg
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TJ-WM rivalry takes center stage in Big Nine
By Tribune-Review
Published: Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, 9:00 p.m.
There are plenty of sidebar items associated with the Big Nine Conference showdown Friday between arch-rivals Thomas Jefferson and West Mifflin.
Some examples:
• The Thomas Jefferson and West Mifflin football teams both are 7-0 in conference action and 8-0 overall.
There is only one other undefeated team — West Allegheny — in the WPIAL Class AAA division. The Indians are in first place in the Parkway Conference.
• The TJ gridders are seeking their 24th conference title and ninth undefeated regular season in school history.
• TJ has won or shared seven consecutive conference crowns — and 12 in the past 13 seasons.
The Jaguars, who captured their 50th straight win at home last week, are shooting for their 80th victory in their past 82 conference matchups.
• Thomas Jefferson has won six of the last seven games in the series, by scores of 52-7, 41-7, 42-7, 42-0 and 31-12, prior to last year's riveting 28-14 victory at TJ Stadium.
• West Mifflin is led by the WPIAL's leading rusher in speedy senior running back Jimmy Wheeler, who also went into last year's contest as the No. 1 rusher in the WPIAL.
The Jaguars' defense, spurred by a stout linebacking corps, limited Wheeler to just 10 yards after halftime last year.
• TJ linebacker Chase Winovich was a terror on defense in last year's game, particularly in the second half.
Winovich was credited with 12 tackles, including 11 unassisted stops, along with one sack.
Winovich, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound senior, and 5-10, 220-pound senior Austin Boyd are back to anchor the Jaguars' linebacking corps again this season.
• And, oh yes, veteran head coach Bill Cherpak will secure his 200th career win at Thomas Jefferson with a victory Friday night.
Cherpak's career record is a remarkable 199-37. He is in his 19th year season as the Jaguars' field boss.
Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/hssports/football/4927847-74/conference-fisher-jaguars#ixzz2ipeo8vZh
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Conference title on the line in Thomas Jefferson-West Mifflin rivalry matchup
By Ray Fisher
Published: Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, 9:00 p.m.
Updated 18 hours ago
The annual season-ending clash between arch-rivals Thomas Jefferson and West Mifflin is here.
The Jaguars visit West Mifflin Stadium Friday for their Big Nine Conference finale. The opening kickoff is 7:30 p.m.
Thomas Jefferson (8-0, 7-0) cruised past Uniontown in a Big Nine Conference game last week, 49-6, while West Mifflin (8-0, 7-0)topped Trinity in conference action, 43-28.
Thomas Jefferson is the leading offensive team in Class AAA with a 44.1 ppg average. West Mifflin ranks third with a 42.1 ppg scoring average.
The Titans are led offensively by senior running back Jimmy Wheeler, the leading rusher in the WPIAL with 2,008 yards and 27 touchdowns.
“They are all about Wheeler,” Bill Cherpak, TJ's head coach, said. “We need to contain him and not allow big plays by anyone else, including the fullback, quarterback or (via) a long pass. We must tackle well on Wheeler.
“I also think special teams will be a big factor in this game. We have been pretty good on our coverages up to this point.”
West Mifflin's sophomore QB, Karlyn Garner, accounted for 350 yards in total offense versus the Hillers. Garner hit on 7 of 9 passes for 142 yards and one touchdown, and tacked on 208 yards on the ground.
Although both squads are explosive offensively, the game most likely will be won or lost on defense.
The Jaguars are allowing only 7 ppg on defense. West Mifflin is giving up 13 ppg.
Thomas Jefferson owns three shutouts this year, and limited three other teams to one touchdown. WM has two shutouts.
In a similar situation last year, Thomas Jefferson, sparked by then-junior linebacker Chase Winovich, held Wheeler to 131 yards and two scores en route to a stirring 28-14 triumph. The Jaguars limited Wheeler to 10 yards after halftime.
TJ advanced to the WPIAL semifinal round last season, where it fell to West Allegheny, 24-7, to finish 11-1 overall.
West Mifflin was the WPIAL runner-up a year ago. The Titans lost to West Allegheny in the finals, 34-8, to end up 11-2.
Thomas Jefferson has posted six undefeated regular seasons and won 15 conference titles since Cherpak took over as field boss in 1995.
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No. 2 Thomas Jefferson routs No. 3 Titans behind Winovich
By Mark Kaboly
Published: Friday, Oct. 25, 2013, 11:12 p.m.
Updated 7 hours ago
West Mifflin coach Ray Braszo is notorious for having a skinny playbook. And if one play is working, look out, he will run it time and time again.
Being part of the Braszo coaching tree during his days at Steel Valley, Thomas Jefferson coach Bill Cherpak must have had the philosophy rub off on him.
With the Big Nine championship on the line along with one of the top seeds in the upcoming WPIAL Class AAA playoffs, Cherpak took a page out of Braszo's book.
Forget that, he stole the entire thing.
Cherpak called senior quarterback Chase Winovich's number to the tune of 246 yards and four touchdowns as the Jaguars won their 14th consecutive conference title and gave Cherpak his 200th career win in a 35-0 whitewash of West Mifflin (8-1, 7-1) in front of a standing-room-only crowd of more than 6,000 at Titans Stadium.
No. 2 Thomas Jefferson (9-0, 8-0) has won 12 of the past 14 meetings against West Mifflin. Cherpak is 16-5 all-time against the No. 3 Titans.
“We figured that he's back there so let's just make him the tailback,” said Cherpak on using Winovich as wildcat-like quarterback. “He just makes plays. We just wanted to get him in space because we knew he breaks so many tackles.”
Winovich, a Michigan linebacker recruit, came into the game with only 335 yards rushing this season.
“It was nothing fancy,” Winovich said. “It is just good old-fashioned Western Pennsylvania football. It's smash-mouth football, and we basically said that our 11 is better than your 11.”
Braszo agreed.
“They weren't doing anything fancy,” Braszo said. “They did what they do. We knew it. And we couldn't stop it.”
Typically, that is what Braszo does with tailback Jimmy Wheeler — feed him the ball non-stop.
Wheeler came into the game needing 142 yards to pass Steel Valley's Delrece Williams' WPIAL regular-season rushing record of record of 2,149 yards but was limited to 13 yards on 11 carries. Wheeler had minus-6 yards rushing until the final play of the first half.
“Their line beat us up front,” Braszo said. “They were just too big for us.”
TJ's line on both sides of the ball was dominant.
While Wheeler was finding holes hard to come by, Winovich wasn't.
Nothing was more indicative of that than on the opening drive of the second half.
With TJ already leading 14-0 on a pair of Winovich touchdown runs, Cherpak went to his Braszo-like play calling in the third.
TJ went on a 16-play, 75-yard drive that ate up 9:24 of the clock. On the drive, Winovich rushed 13 times for all 75 yards, including converting a pair of fourth downs.
TJ followed that up with another long drive that resulted in a 7-yard touchdown run by Winovich and a 28-0 lead.
Out of the first 23 plays TJ called in the second half, 16 were quarterback keeps that resulted in 120 yards.
“We found a weakness in their defense,” Winovich said, “and took advantage of it.”
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By Mike White / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
This battle of unbeatens featured the leading rusher in the WPIAL, a running back who practically had been unstoppable, averaging 251 yards a game on the ground.
So, naturally, when it was over the storyline again was a 200-yard rushing performance. Only it came from a quarterback from the other team who is headed to the University of Michigan to play linebacker.
The West Mifflin defense spent the night chasing Chase Winovich as he had the game of his life on offense, leading visiting Thomas Jefferson to a 35-0 drubbing of West Mifflin. Winovich, a quarterback, ran for 246 yards on 27 attempts and scored four touchdowns in the Class AAA Big Nine Conference showdown.
Winovich is a proven athlete, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound senior who will be in the Big House playing linebacker next year. But he was an unlikely offensive hero. He splits time at quarterback and came into the game with only 335 yards rushing this season.
When Winovich was told his rushing yardage, he was a little surprised. "Two-hundred forty-six yards?" he asked. "Wow, that's a lot of yards."
West Mifflin's Jimmy Wheeler came into the game with about six times as many yards rushing as Winovich. Wheeler also needed only 142 more to break the WPIAL regular-season rushing record. He came up 129 yards short.
Thomas Jefferson's defense was superb.
The Jaguars held Wheeler to 13 yards on 11 carries and held the Titans to three first downs and 62 total yards as coach Bill Cherpak won his 200th career game in only 16 seasons. He is 200-37.
Winovich played well on defense, too, combining on a few sacks.
But the story was his offensive output. Cherpak said his standout player is all about the first three letters of his last name.
"We've had a lot of injuries at tailback," said Cherpak. "We were working on some things this week and we talked about moving Chase to tailback.
"But I said why don't we make him a tailback from where he is [at quarterback]. The thing is he wants to win, no matter what it takes, and everyone stepped it up, too. Our defense did awesome."
It was the eighth year in a row Thomas Jefferson (9-0 overall, 8-0 in conference) has won or tied for the conference title. Thomas Jefferson also finished the regular season undefeated for the ninth time, which ties for sixth most in WPIAL history.
West Mifflin finished 8-1 and 7-1 in the conference. The Titans will go into the WPIAL playoffs as the No. 2 team from the conference.
"Thomas Jefferson is very strong up front. They have been dominating up front," said West Mifflin coach Ray Braszo.
"They look good, execute and move you off the ball. We've had some problems with other teams that had size."
Wheeler had nowhere to run as Thomas Jefferson's defensive line of Austin Boyd, Mathew Nagy, Jacob Guinn and Russell Siess were dominant. Seven of Wheeler's carries were for a yard or less.
"We knew we had an advantage size-wise across the board and also with our linebackers," Cherpak said.
"Our linebackers are pretty active and move well."
Winovich said: "We thought we could maybe hold [Wheeler] and their team without a first down. Seriously. That was our mentality."
And Thomas Jefferson's offensive line of Nagy, Garrett Pahanish, Guinn, Cole Costy and Jason Inks opened holes all night for Winovich, who gained most of his yards on quarterback keepers around the ends.
"That's crazy, 246 yards. But it could've been 300," Winovich said, with a laugh. "It was all my line. That's all I can say. The line did a fabulous job."
Thomas Jefferson held a 14-0 halftime lead on touchdown runs of 13 and 39 yards by Winovich.
The Jaguars started the second half with a 16-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off by Winovich's 1-yard touchdown run. He carried 13 times on the drive.
Winovich added a 7-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, and Austin Kemp closed out the scoring with an 11-yard scoring run. After the game on the field, Thomas Jefferson presented Cherpak with a watch for his 200th win.
"Two-hundred wins," Cherpak said to his team. "That just means I'm getting old."