TJ 44 vs. Peters 20

Class AAA: TJ overpowers Peters, 44-20

Saturday, September 27, 2003

By Colin Dunlap, Tri-State Sports & News Service

So much for Thomas Jefferson being a passing team.

Tailback Ryan Hicks scored three second-half touchdowns on the ground and Thomas Jefferson was able to pull away and defeat Peters Township, 44-20, in a WPIAL Class AAA Big Seven Conference clash at Thomas Jefferson last night.

Hicks, in his fifth game as a starter, ran for 134 yards on 25 carries to help the Jaguars gain 212 yards rushing.

“Hicks was able to wear them down,” Thomas Jefferson coach Bill Cherpak said. “The way he runs, he will eventually wear people down and that is what he did tonight. He runs hard and I think it got to the point where he was really tough for them to tackle.”

“My fullback Matt Magdic deserves all the credit,” Hicks said. “He opened some huge holes and I just ran through them. Everyone was calling us the air team, but now I think we proved that we can win games however we need to.”

The Jaguars (5-0, 3-0) have won 21 of their past 23 games and 13 in a row in the conference.

Thomas Jefferson, ranked No. 1 in WPIAL Class AAA, came into the game outscoring its opponents by average of 35 points per game. Early in the game, it appeared as if the Jaguars would make Peters Township their next blowout victim.

On the third Jaguars’ offensive snap, just 2:28 into the game, senior quarterback Peter Winovich found Tom McCafferty alone behind the Peters Township secondary for a 54-yard touchdown.

“I just saw him get behind the defense and knew McCafferty was gone when he caught it.,” said Winovich, who came into the game as the WPIAL’s second-leading passer, but went 5 of 15 and didn’t complete a pass in the second half.

Over the next five minutes, junior Evan Browne kicked field goals from 40 and 27 yards, to stretch the lead to 13-0. Trailing by double-digits with under a minute remaining in the first quarter, Peters Township coach Keith Hartbauer turned to a little trickery.

On a third-and-7 from the Thomas Jefferson 15, quarterback Jim Gallagher took the snap from center, wheeled to his right and hit tight end Doug Fife with a lateral. Fife then threw to a wide-open Joe Kurnal for the score, cutting the deficit to 13-7.

“We had some chances, especially early on,” Hartbauer said. “We scored on that trick play and I thought we were going to get things going, but then they hit another long one. Thomas Jefferson stepped up when they needed to in the first half.”

Midway through the second quarter, the Winovich-to-McCafferty connection accounted for a 41-yard score to increase the Jaguars’ lead to 19-7. On the play, Winovich eclipsed the 1,000-yard passing mark for the season.

The Indians refused to go away, as Gallagher intercepted a Winovich pass on the Thomas Jefferson 48, and seven plays later Gallagher raced in from the 5 to cut the lead to 19-14.

Neither team scored in the third quarter, but in the final 12 minutes, behind Hicks, the Thomas Jefferson offense got rolling and put the game out of reach.

In a two minute span, Hicks scored on runs of 17 and 5 yards to stretch the Thomas Jefferson lead to 31-14 with 8:05 left.

Just 17 seconds after the second Hicks touchdown, Winovich intercepted a pass and returned it 35 yards for a score to make the score 37-14.

“You have to play mistake-free football if you are going to beat Thomas Jefferson,” Hartbauer said. “We just didn’t execute. We had chances, but didn’t execute. You have to capitalize on those opportunities if you are going to beat a time like Thomas Jefferson.”

Gallagher, who finished 9 of 27 for 199 yards, threw a 64-yard touchdown pass to Fife to cut the lead to 17, but Hicks ended any doubt with an 8-yard score with just over three minutes left.