Jacob Zerbini loves to dance, especially to songs by the King of Pop.
“He has Michael Jackson videos memorized,” Hempfield coach Nick Keefer said. “So he can do the Thriller dance. He can do Billie Jean. In the morning before homeroom, he’s a kid who loves to dance in the hallways. He’s just always dancing.”
Zerbini himself is a king. A senior at Hempfield, Zerbini was selected as Homecoming King earlier this month. But Zerbini might have truly felt like he was a king after scoring the first varsity points of his career in Hempfield’s game against visiting Mt. Lebanon last week, a night in which Hempfield honored its seniors. Surprisingly, Zerbini didn’t dance afterward, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t quite a celebration.
Zerbini is in his second season playing football at Hempfield. He’s also autistic. A 5-foot-8, 127-pound wide receiver-defensive back, Zebrini ran for a 2-point conversion in the fourth quarter of Hempfield’s 42-20 loss to Mt. Lebanon. The score came just a few plays after Zerbini saw his first-ever varsity action, lining up as wide receiver and running a go route.
“He’s just a great kid who everyone loves in school,” Keefer said of Zerbini, who he has known since the latter was in kindergarten. “He’s having a really nice senior year. It just shows how great of a district and how great the kids at Hempfield are for taking a kid like Jacob under their wing. He comes to practice every day with a smile on his face.”
A player like Zerbini experiencing such a moment, whether it be on the field, court or diamond, is not uncommon, but it never gets old. And what makes Zerbini’s story unique is that it wasn’t something that had been planned before the game. It came totally on the fly in what was a must-win game for two teams hunting Class 6A playoff berths.
The moment came about following Dom Detruf’s 23-yard scoring pass to Jack Kopas that cut the Mt. Lebanon lead to 35-12. After the score, Keefer ran across the field all the way over to the Mt. Lebanon sideline to speak with Blue Devils coach Greg Perry, who was understandably caught off guard.
“I’m standing in the back talking to one of my starters and am 6 yards behind the bench, and someone says, ‘Coach Perry, the other coach wants you.’ And I said, ‘What?,’” Perry recalled. “I turn around, and Nick is across my hash. I’m like, holy [crap], what the [heck] just happened? He said he needed to ask me for a favor. And I was like, ‘Sure, I’ll tell my kids.’”
“They probably thought I was yelling at them,” Keefer said, laughing. “I ran over and asked Coach Perry that if one of our seniors came in for a 2-point conversion, would that be OK? And he said that was no problem at all.”
So, Zerbini took the direct snap, followed his blockers and got two points for his team. He then held the ball up high for everyone to see before flipping it to an official. Zerbini then did a lot of jumping up and down on the sidelines as he celebrated with his teammates.
“A couple of the Mt. Lebanon players even tried to celebrate with him,” Keefer said, “which I think showed the sportsmanship that Mt. Lebanon has.”
It may have been Zerbini’s first varsity points, but not the first points of his high school career overall. He also scored on a touchdown run in a junior varsity game against Greensburg Salem last season.
“It was tremendous,” Jacob’s father, Al, said of his son’s 2-point play. “Just with the struggles that he had through elementary school and middle school and high school, being able to have that moment was the pinnacle for him.”
Keefer said he wasn’t sure if an opportunity would come up for Zerbini to see action and score for the varsity team this season. The fact that Zerbini not only did it, but it came on senior night, made it all the more special.
“He was so pumped up about it,” Keefer said. “He was nervous going out there, but the student section and the cheerleaders were all screaming at him and pumping him up. Unfortunately, we didn’t come away with a win on senior night, but a lot of the community was talking about Jacob afterwards, so that’s definitely something positive.”
Mt. Lebanon stays alive
The WPIAL playoffs don’t officially start until next Friday, but for Mt. Lebanon, they essentially began last week.
After starting the season 1-7 overall and 1-3 in conference play, Mt. Lebanon knew it would have a good shot of earning one of the four playoff spots in Class 6A if it were to win its final two regular-season games. Last week, the Blue Devils (2-7, 2-3) came out on top in their first must-win game by beating Hempfield. And should it beat visiting Norwin (2-7, 0-5) in another must-win game Friday, the Blue Devils will be postseason bound.
“[Our playoffs] started last week,” Perry said. “We started last week 0-0. Winner’s in, loser’s out. Last week we won one, but you have to win two to get to three.”
The results might not show it, but Mt. Lebanon has been very competitive for most of the season. The Blue Devils have had to navigate a difficult schedule that included games against Upper St. Clair, Penn-Trafford, Peters Township and Central Catholic to begin the season. Those teams are a combined 31-5. Mt. Lebanon started 0-5, but is 2-2 since, the wins coming against Seneca Valley and Hempfield. In between, the Blue Devils fell to North Allegheny by seven points and Penn Hills by eight.
“We knew going in that we had that gauntlet, and by the time we got through those first four games, we didn’t know what was going to happen,” Perry said. “Luckily, the kids were resilient, are buying into what we’re selling, and have gotten better.”
Steelers coaches of the week
Two days after guiding their teams to wins, North Allegheny coach Art Walker and Upper St. Clair coach Mike Junko stood on the field at Acrisure Stadium during the Steelers-Jets game this past Sunday night. No, neither was auditioning to take Mike Tomlin’s job, but the two were being honored as the Steelers High School Coach of the Week.
In what is a neat honor, the Steelers select a high school coach of the week each week of the season. Per the Steelers website, “this coach is selected by the Steelers as someone who has a big victory, a turnaround season, does extraordinary work in their community, and/or gives great effort to make a lasting positive impact in his student athletes.” The winners are then honored at a Steelers home game and receive a $1,000 donation to their football program.
In addition to Walker and Junko, this season’s winners include Riverview’s Trevor George, South Allegheny’s Brian Hanson, New Castle’s Fred Mozzocio, Jefferson-Morgan’s Shane Ziats, Ellwood City’s Dan Bradley and Clairton’s Wayne Wade.
This marks the 23rd season that the Steelers have been recognizing coaches with the award. It began in 2002, with Charleroi’s Jim Dumm being the first winner. Among the winners that season were North Hills’ Jack McCurry and Woodland Hills’ George Novak.
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.