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South/East Xtra: Thomas Jefferson wary of quarterfinal foe Franklin
By Ken Wunderley / Tri-State Sports & News Service
Tomorrow's WPIAL Class AAA quarterfinal football playoff game between Thomas Jefferson and Franklin Regional at Elizabeth Forward High School, features a pair of top-ranked teams.
"Franklin Regional opened the season as the No. 1 team in the rankings," reminded Jaguars coach Bill Cherpak, when asked about his team's opponent. "And if it wasn't for injuries, they might still be there."
Thomas Jefferson (10-0), the Big Nine Conference champions, finished the regular season as the only unbeaten team in the 16-team Class AAA bracket, thus were seeded No. 1.
Franklin Regional (8-2) was seeded No. 8 after tying with Hampton and Knoch for second place in the Greater Allegheny Conference behind Mars Area. The Panthers advanced to the quarterfinals after pounding Elizabeth Forward, 44-7, in the first round.
"I'm a little disappointed that the game is at Elizabeth Forward again," Franklin Regional coach Greg Botta said, referring to the fact the Jaguars have only 7.43 miles to travel. "In 2009, we faced Thomas Jefferson in the playoffs and that game was at the same site. That's a home site for them."
Botta also pointed out that Thomas Jefferson played at Elizabeth Forward in week two of the regular season.
"[Thomas Jefferson] played there at the start of the season," Botta said. "That's an advantage for them."
Thomas Jefferson earned its quarterfinal berth with a 63-19 domination of Hollidaysburg. It was the 17th consecutive first-round victory for the Jaguars.
"This is the third time I've faced 'Cherp' in the playoffs and all three games were barnburners," Botta said. "I'm expecting the same in this game."
In the 2009 game, Thomas Jefferson came in as the top seed and posted a 27-14 victory against the No. 8-seeded Panthers in the quarterfinals.
Thomas Jefferson was also seeded No. 1 in 2006 when the two teams faced off in the semifinals at North Hills High School, and the Jaguars came away with a 30-9 victory.
The two teams also met in 2005, the year Franklin Regional claimed WPIAL and PIAA titles. The No. 5-seeded Panthers recorded a 31-14 upset of the No. 2-seeded Jaguars in the WPIAL title game at Heinz Field.
"The thing that impresses me the most about Thomas Jefferson is how well they are coached," said Botta. "They are always technically flawless and very physical. That's why they are 10-0."
Thomas Jefferson has the most potent offense in Class AAA, while Franklin Regional has the stingiest defense. The Jaguars are averaging 44.9 points per game, 6.5 per game more than any other team in Class AAA.
"They have a strong passing attack, but can also run the ball," Botta said. "[Jaguars quarterback Joe] Carroll has done a great job running their offense. He has a quick release and all the tools of an excellent quarterback. And I've never seen so many receivers run patterns so well."
Carroll has completed 99 of 168 passes for 1,850 yards and 34 touchdowns. His favorite targets are Zach Schademan (44 catches, 926 yards, 20 touchdowns) and Jake Mascaro (27 catches, 514 yards, 9 touchdowns).
Jake Farrell (108 carries, 748 yards, 11 touchdowns) is the Jaguars top rusher.
"We rested a few players on Friday," said Cherpak, referring to the fact that Schademan and Farrell did not play against Hollidaysburg. "We had some people banged up a little bit, so we decided to have them rest up for the quarterfinals."
Franklin Regional has had injury problems all season, as 22 of the 62 players on Botta's roster have been injured at one point in the season or are still injured. But the Panthers come into the quarterfinals with a lineup fortified by the return of tailback Dane Brown.
"We used Dane sparingly in our last regular-season game against Derry," Botta said. "He made a full return on Friday and looked great. He was making the lateral cuts that make him so good. It was so good to see Dane back to his old form."
Brown rushed for 151 yards and four touchdowns on 22 carries against Elizabeth Forward to eclipse the 4,000-plateau. For the season, Brown has rushed for 795 yards on 109 carries.
"Just having Dane walk on the field in full pads for practice was a big confidence boost for the kids," Botta said. "They mobbed him in the end zone when he scored his first touchdown of the day."
Franklin Regional also has a strong passing attack, with Nico Lodovico leading the way. Lodovico has completed 67 of 128 passes for 1,189 yards and 14 touchdowns. His favorite target is Charan Singh (25 catches, 451 yards).
"[Brown] looked pretty darn good to me [on tape]," Cherpak said. "It didn't look as if he was injured. And you just can't concentrate on Brown. They have a very good quarterback, too."
The winner of the Thomas Jefferson/Franklin Regional game will face the winner of the West Allegheny/Montour winner in the semifinals.
CAT FIGHT
• Game: Thomas Jefferson (10-0) vs. Franklin Regional (8-2).
• When: 7:30 p.m. Friday.
• Where: Elizabeth Forward's Warrior Stadium.
• Skinny: The unbeaten Jaguars face a stiff challenge against the Panthers, who are finally getting healthy after a laundry list of injuries this year
WPIAL Football Quarterfinals Preview
WPIAL Football Quarterfinals Preview
CLASS AAA
Tonight's games: Thomas Jefferson (10-0) vs. Franklin Regional (8-2), 7:30 p.m. at Elizabeth Forward; West Allegheny (9-1) vs. Montour (9-1), 7:30 p.m. at Chartiers Valley; Mars (9-1) vs. West Mifflin (9-1), 7:30 p.m. at Fox Chapel; Central Valley (8-2) vs. Hopewell (5-5), 7:30 p.m. at Ambridge.
Franklin Regional vs. Thomas Jefferson: Franklin Regional's Dane Brown missed a few games this season with an injured ankle, but seems to be getting back to his old form. Brown has back-to-back 100-yard games and surpassed 4,000 yards for his career last week. Franklin Regional needs to have success on the ground. Look for Thomas Jefferson to also try to establish a running game, but the Jaguars have an edge in the passing game with Joe Carroll and receiver Zach Schademan.
TJ, Franklin Regional to showcase high-scoring offenses
TJ, Franklin Regional to showcase high-scoring offenses
The longtime king of Class AAA football, Thomas Jefferson, is the No. 1 seed in the WPIAL playoffs but was done no favors by the seeding committee.
Finally somewhat healthy, the Franklin Regional team that was a preseason favorite to win Class AAA will be waiting for the Jaguars at Elizabeth Forward on Friday night.
It seems this showdown would be better fit for Heinz Field in two weeks than for the quarterfinals.
“No kidding,” TJ coach Bill Cherpak said. “I don’t know. It’s kind of strange the way everything is working out. I mean, you’ve got us and the team that was everyone’s favorite before the season playing in the quarterfinals. Then you’ve got Montour and West Allegheny also playing on our side of the draw. Pretty tough.”
Cherpak isn’t making excuses. His team has won four WPIAL and three PIAA championships during the past decade and thrives when facing these kinds of challenges.
“We’re confident just like we always are,” Cherpak said.
Both coaches in this showdown are impressed with the opposition.
Franklin Regional coach Greg Botta marvels at Cherpak’s offense.
“It’s probably the most elaborate and sophisticated high school offense that you’ll ever see,” Botta said. “They have a great quarterback and four great receivers. They aren’t good. They’re great. And it’s not like they can’t run the ball. Just a great team.”
This game could develop into a shootout. These are two of the WPIAL’s finest offenses, and both units frequently deploy a no-huddle approach that can produce points in bushels.
Look for TJ to work through the air while Franklin Regional will rely heavily on star tailback Dane Brown. The Cornell recruit has produced more than 4,000 yards in his high school career.
“He’s just an awesome football player,” Cherpak said. “He was banged up earlier this year, and that’s exactly why they’re on the No. 8 seed. They’d be much higher if they had him healthy all season. We know how good he is.”
The Jaguars have stars of their own, but Cherpak also has serious health concerns. TJ’s top wideout, Zach Schademan, did not play last week and is iffy for Friday’s game. Schademan is quarterback Joe Carroll’s favorite target and produced two five-touchdown games this season.
Starting safety Zach Talley and starting defensive end Corey Payne, both of whom were injured in last week’s 63-19 victory over Hollidaysburg in the first round of the playoffs, also are out this week.
Botta, though, remains plenty wary of TJ, regardless of its injury issues.
“They’re just so great every year,” he said. “I have such respect for that program and for Cherp.”
Respect, yes.
Fear, no.
Many teams are intimidated by TJ before opening kickoff, but Franklin Regional has never fallen into that category. The Panthers defeated TJ in the 2005 WPIAL championship game at Heinz Field and have played a number of competitive games with Cherpak’s squad in recent years.
“We’re not in awe of anybody,” Botta said. “We’re not in awe of TJ. We have incredible respect for them. But we’ve always coached this team to believe it’s about us, not the opponent.”
Botta wants Brown to have a terrific game, but instead of hitting home runs, he wouldn’t mind if his star running back engineered time-consuming drives to keep TJ’s offense off the field.
“Of course I do laugh about that,” Botta said. “We’re usually in a hurry to score ourselves. But some long drives this game would be nice.”
Even if Schademan can’t play, TJ will attack Franklin Regional through the air. Carroll has thrown for 1,850 yards, 34 touchdowns and only three interceptions.
“There is only so much you can do to stop that team,” Botta said. “We have our hands full, and we know it. But it’s going to be a fun football game.”
Josh Yohe is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at jyohe@tribweb.com.
Thomas Jefferson 24 Franklin Regional 21
Joe Carroll threw for three touchdowns and Evan Danscak added a 24-yard field goal, as the top-seeded Jaguars (11-0) advanced to the semifinals for the 14th time in 15 years with a narrow win against the No. 8-seeded Panthers (8-3).
Carroll completed 16 of 29 passes for 396 yards but threw three interceptions. He connected with Dalton Dietrich on scoring passes of 34 and 7 yards, and with Jake Mascaro on an 85-yard pass. Mascaro caught nine passes for 204 yards. Carroll has 37 touchdown passes for the season.
Franklin Regional tailback Dane Brown scored on runs of 8 and 20 yards. The Panthers also scored on a 50-yard touchdown pass from Nico Lodovico to Colin Jonov.
TJ passes test with win over Franklin Regional
Bill Cherpak preached all week that if his team wasn’t able to run the ball effectively against Franklin Regional, they weren’t going to win.
Well, so much for that thought.
Joe Carroll threw for 396 yards and three touchdowns, Jake Mascaro caught nine passes for 203 yards and Zach Schademan added 116 yards through the air as Thomas Jefferson fought its way back into the WPIAL Class AAA semifinals with a 24-21 win over Franklin Regional at Elizabeth Forward.
The Jaguars snapped a streak of 13 straight semifinal appearances last year with a loss to Knoch.
Thomas Jefferson (11-0) will take on West Allegheny, a 14-2 winner Montour, next week with a trip to the championship game in the balance.
“These kids don’t even know it is the semis,” Cherpak said. “They just know that we are playing next week and that’s the big thing.”
The Jaguars are more interested in getting another WPIAL title. It’s something that has eluded them since 2008.
“We have talked about where we were four or five years ago and that’s where want to get back to,” Carroll said. “This was a team win. Everybody stepped up tonight.”
Thomas Jefferson came into the game as one of the best passing offenses in the WPIAL. Franklin Regional made them earn everything they got.
“They didn’t want us to throw the ball,” Cherpak said. “They were playing off and two-deep and we still made some plays.”
None were bigger than moments following Dane Brown’s 8-yard touchdown run with nine minutes left that pulled the game within a field goal at 17-14.
On the ensuing play, Carroll hit Mascaro on a slant that he took 85 yards for a back-breaking touchdown and a 24-14 Thomas Jefferson lead.
“He got past the backers and the safety and made a big play,” Carroll said.
“It’s about making plays, and they made a couple more than we did,” Franklin Regional coach Greg Botta said. “We knew they were skilled. We knew they could bust one at any time and that one at the end, the skinny post, was a backbreaker.”
While Franklin Regional was determined to stop TJ’s passing game, the Jaguars didn’t want anything to do with Brown, a 4,000 yard running back.
The Panthers came into the game averaging more than 200 yards per game on the ground. TJ limited Brown to 64 yards on 16 carries and Franklin Regional to 61 total yards on the ground.
“We bottled him up for the most part,” Cherpak said. “That touchdown run at the end of the game was amazing.”
Despite wanting to run the ball, Thomas Jefferson came out throwing.
A 35-yard completion to Schademan followed by a 31-yarder to Mascaro set TJ up at the 7-yard line.
Franklin Regional’s defense stiffened and forced the a 24-yard field goal by Evan Danscak to make it 3-0.
The Jaguars defense held down the Panthers for the better part of the first half forcing three three-and-outs before a pair of costly mistakes led to a Franklin Regional touchdown.
Russell Siess’ roughing the quarterback call on a third-down Nico Lodovico incompletion kept the drive alive.
Franklin Regional made TJ pay three plays later when Colin Jonov turned a short pass into a 50-yard touchdown when he broke Dalton Dietrich’s tackle and rambled down the far sideline for a touchdown and a Panthers 7-3 lead.
“We really left a lot out there in the second half,” Cherpak said. “But we came out at half and got some back.”
Thomas Jefferson came out throwing in the second half, too. Carroll connected with Dietrich for 27 yards on the first play of the third, converted a third down pass to Dietrich a few plays later then tossed a 34-yard touchdown to give the Jaguars a 10-7 lead.
Following a Colton Booher interception two plays later, Carroll went deep to Zach Schademan for 68 yards that set up another Deitrich touchdown reception – this time from 7 yards away to give TJ a 17-7 lead.
“Somebody made a play every time we needed it,” Cherpak said. “That team we beat was good. That team right there could’ve easily won Triple-A.”
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