Thomas Jefferson maintains its dominance in WPIAL Class AAA

Saturday, September 20, 2008

By Colin Dunlap, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

They remain the bullies of the Big Seven.

It seems every time a team rises up, gets a little nerve and says, "Hey, let's go challenge Thomas Jefferson," the same thing happens -- the Jaguars button it on a little tighter, vigorously yank up their sleeves and commence to pummeling the swagger out of them.

It happened last night to Ringgold (3-1, 0-1), which came in with a perfect record and went home having been beaten, flattened and then trampled, as host Thomas Jefferson (3-1, 2-0) broke open a close game at halftime and cruised to a 41-7 WPIAL Class AAA conference victory.

"I think our kids take pride in the fact that we are everyone's biggest game," said Thomas Jefferson coach Bill Cherpak, whose team is the Post-Gazette's No. 1-ranked squad. "People try to come in here, to our house, and play their game.

"We are not going to let that happen. Not trying to sound cocky or anything, but we just are not going to let that happen."

For the better part of a decade, the reality is that few have been able to so much as put a scare into these Jaguars -- particularly in the regular season.

With this game the Jaguars further tightened their industrial-strength vice grip on WPIAL Class AAA competition, making it 29 consecutive wins against such District 7 schools. Cherpak's team has not lost to a WPIAL Class AAA opponent since the 2005 title game at Heinz Field, when Thomas Jefferson stumbled, 31-14, against eventual PIAA champion Franklin Regional.

Last night, Thomas Jefferson sputtered a bit on offense in the first half, never really getting it going.

To their credit, though, they held a 13-7 lead at halftime as Dan Virgin pulled in a 66-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tyler Wehner in the first quarter, and Brian Baldrige lumbered in from a yard out with 1:42 left before halftime.

Those touchdowns were wrapped around the lone Ringgold score of the night, a 27-yard run by Rams quarterback Shane Mountain.

"We didn't do what we needed to do in that first half," Baldrige said. "But then I thought we made some adjustments and did some things to start to take control of the game a little."

A little?

Try a whole lot.

Baldrige started to find running room in the second half en route to his 151 yards rushing, and Wehner hit some open receivers that he missed in the first half, stringing together a night in which he finished 9 of 18 for 237 yards and three touchdowns.

Ringgold coach Jeff Petrucci said, "We played as hard as we could play [in the first half], and it was just a physical mismatch in the second half."

The numbers verify Petrucci's claim. The Rams were stonewalled up front time and again, gaining minus-36 yards rushing in the second half.

And while Thomas Jefferson's defense was busy battering the Rams, the Jaguars' offense was piling on points.

Baldrige scored on runs on 20 and 6 yards in the second half, while Virgin caught another touchdown from Wehner -- a 27-yard completion -- and tight end Brock DeCicco hauled in a 35-yard touchdown.

"We know that everyone circles us on their calendar," Baldrige said. "We have to come out and play every game like it is the biggest one of our lives, so we don't get upset. They were coming in with a lot of confidence, but we knew they hadn't played anyone quite like us yet."

Truth is, there might not be another Class AAA team in the WPIAL quite like Thomas Jefferson.