JEFFERSON HILLS, Pa. — The top-seeded Thomas Jefferson Jaguars rolled through the regular season with an undefeated record as its focus turned towards the postseason with the upset-minded West Allegheny Indians — as the eighth seed — looking to follow up its overtime victory over Montour a week ago to place the Parkway Conference in a three-way tie.
It was an old-school playoff game with both teams pounding the ground all night long, but it was Thomas Jefferson that took care of business by riding sophomore workhorse Tyler Eber for a 28-7 win over West Allegheny to advance to the Class 4A semifinals.
Eber totted the ball 48 times for 232 yards and two touchdowns for the Jaguars. Senior quarterback Luke Kosko added two more touchdowns through the air on 7-of-13 passing with 96 yards.
Thomas Jefferson (11-0) advances to the semifinals to take on No. 4 Aliquippa, who defeated No. 5 Trinity, 34-14.
West Allegheny (6-4), a team that prides itself with its ground attack after running the ball 50 times last week, was hoping it would continue that success with Brock Cornell heading the wildcat formation.
However, Thomas Jefferson’s size and strength on the defensive line was difficult to break through and proved too tough for the Indians. The Indians finished with 21 carries for 142 yards on the ground with one home run touchdown from Cornell for 70 yards.
The Jaguars game plan was to lean on their big offensive line and their one-man wrecking ball in Eber, who finished the regular season with 1,342 yards and 22 touchdowns.
The 5-foot-10, 170-pound Eber put his body on the line to pick up chunk after chunk for the Jaguars, including runs of 13 and 10 midway through the second quarter in a scoreless game. Along with a Brayden White 10-yard catch, the Jaguars became the first team to move into the red zone for the first time.
On the 15th play of the drive, Eber took the handoff and ran up the gut for a 7-yard touchdown to break the stalemate with 4:37 in the second quarter.
Thomas Jefferson finds the end zone first behind the sophomore Tyler Eber on a 7-yd TD run.
TJ’s defense continued its stout play and forced a quick three-and-out in a matter of a minute. Despite West Allegheny’s punt game pinning the Jaguars deep at their own 3, they marched methodically down the field to strike for its second score in less four minutes.
Once again, Eber ripped off several punishing runs before Kosko linked up with White down the sideline for the biggest play of the game on a 36-yard reception.
A few plays later, Thomas Jefferson rolled out a beautiful play call as Kosko moved right with his eyes looking down field before throwing the ball back across the middle to a wide open Kane Eggerton, who caught it and ran for the 21-yard score to make it 14-0 heading into half.
Touchdown Thomas Jefferson:
A beautiful design as Kosko rolls right before going back across the field to a wide open Kane Eggerton for a 21-yd TD.
West Allegheny’s inability to stop Eber was on display all night long and it was highlighted on a 10-play scoring drive to open the third quarter. Eber received the ball nine-straight times as he capped off the drive with a 1-yard plunge to extend TJ’s lead to 21-0.
Down by three scores, the Indians needed someone to break off a big play and Cornell did that and them some. On the first play of the ensuing drive, Cornell took the snap, faked the handoff and burst through a hole as he took off for a 70-yard touchdown run to get the Indians on the board, making it 21-7.
That would be the lone touchdown from the Indians as TJ would score a late touchdown in the fourth quarter as Kosko connected with White near the sideline of the end zone for the 11-yard touchdown play.
Week in and week out. Year in and year out this program has been one of the top programs in the state and country. Don’t know where cherpack gets his players but I do know they have and exceptionally great feeder program in TJ Younth Football programs. They just teach the same hard nose football year over year. CONGRATS JAGUAR NATION. 🖤💛🖤💛🖤💛💯🐆🥇🏆
Week in and week out. Year in and year out this program has been one of the top programs in the state and country. Don’t know where cherpack gets his players but I do know they have and exceptionally great feeder program in TJ Younth Football programs. They just teach the same hard nose football year over year. CONGRATS JAGUAR NATION. 🖤💛🖤💛🖤💛💯🐆🥇🏆