TJ 19 vs. Moon 6

At North Hills High School on a perfect fall evening, the Thomas Jefferson Jaguars took on the Moon Tigers. Leading the Moon Tigers into the stadium that day was A.Q. Shipley. A Penn State Alumni and now Indianapolis Colt, Shipley was one of the most highly regarded Offensive/Defensive tackles in the WPIAL that year. But the Jaguars took to the game with a game plan that they thought would get them to the title game. Assistant, and former head coach, Jack Garrity spoke to the team before that game, something a little different that a usual pre-game. TJ took to the field and up by 9-6 late in the 2nd quarter when the crowd fell silent. The Jaguars starting offensive guard and inside linebacker, Jason Kolodziej stayed down after the play. He was taken off the field and immediately to a near by hospital with a torn meniscus. TJ went into the locker room at the half up by a few. In the locker room hung #54 that each player touched before returning to the field. Kolodziej's jersey was brought out to the sidelines starting the second half. TJ had a great charge from their offense in the second half. Winovich connected with McCafferty on a score to put the game out of reach for the Tigers and the famous picture printed the next day in the Post-Gazette. McCafferty down on one knee, Heinz Ketchup bottle aimed and squeeze went a stream of outdated ketchup into the seniors mouth. Little did anyone know was that the ketchup was secretly hidden in  Cisco Langlois'  pocket the entire game. Thomas Jefferson beat the Moon Tigers 19-6 and advanced to the WPIAL title game at Heinz Field.

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Thomas Jefferson wills itself to win

March 19, 2012 11:37 am

By Chris Adamski / Tri-State Sports and News Service

It's not that Thomas Jefferson needed any more motivation in the WPIAL Class AAA semifinal game played last night at North Hills.

The top-seeded Jaguars boasted a defense that had given up only 70 points all season and an offense that had scored less than 30 in a game only once all year.

But after linebacker Jason Kolodziej went down with an apparent season-ending knee injury on the first defensive series of the game, Thomas Jefferson had plenty of desire and will to defeat Moon, 19-6.

"He was laying on the ground yelling that we better win, that we had to win," Jaguars coach Bill Cherpak said. "That's all he cared about. Not that he was going to the hospital, just that we win. We hung up his jersey and went out and played hard for him."

The first half was befitting of two teams that had given up 147 points combined this season. Moon (10-2) had 85 yards of offense to the Jaguars' 77 and only nine points were scored. After Moon linebacker Chad Trenney intercepted Peter Winovich's second pass of the game at midfield on third-and-8, Moon was moving on offense and appeared to have to punt. But the Tigers called a fake punt and Nicky Peterson ran 24 yards to the Jaguars' 20. Moon couldn't cash in as Jon Oberdick missed a 39-yard field goal.

"Our defense gets overshadowed," Winovich said. "But they definitely did a great job shutting [Moon] down. They have a big line over there that our defense handled."

Thomas Jefferson (12-0) faced a fourth-and-1 on its next possession at the Tigers' 34, but Ryan Hicks ran 19 yards to the 15. Two plays later, Winovich capped off the 11-play, 80-yard drive with a sneak up for the game's first score. Evan Browne booted the extra point, but the Jaguars were penalized for grabbing a facemask and Browne missed from 35 yards away.

"It was a great effort all-around from everyone," Cherpak said. "Offense, defense, special teams, down to the coaching staff."

On fourth-and-4 at the Jaguars' 34 Moon quarterback Matt Dowdell found tight end Ryan Helfrich for an 11 yard gain to the 23. That set up Oberdick's 34-yard field goal and a 6-3 game.

Moon came out in the second half and established a passing game on its first possession, primarily throwing to Helfrich. Dowdell went to Helfrich on all five pass attempts on the drive, completing four for 48 yards, including a 14-yarder to the Thomas Jefferson 5 threaded between three Jaguar defenders.

But the Tigers could not punch it in and settled for a 23-yard field goal to tie the score.

"Stopping them on first-and-goal at the 5 was huge," Cherpak said.

Thomas Jefferson responded by going 65 yards in 10 plays and 5:01. Winovich -- who had completed only two passes in the first half -- found junior receiver Brad Dawson twice on the drive. Winovich then ran 15 yards to the 1, and two plays later, Matt Magdic scored for a 12-6 lead.

Thomas Jefferson got its third touchdown as Hicks scored on a 13-yard run with 3:25 left, and he sealed the victory with an interception with less than two minutes to play. Hicks rushed for 98 yards on 14 carries.

"I was so happy," Winovich said. "I just wanted to run and jump into the stands with joy."

The Jaguars will play Pine-Richland at Heinz Field Saturday for the WPIAL championship.