A sea of Thomas Jefferson fans, many dressed in black, filled the bleachers on one side of the field at Norwin High School on Saturday.
And while it looked like a black out outside the lines, it was the “White out” inside of them that fueled the Jaguars to another WPIAL title.
Brayden White scored on two long touchdowns in the final 1:16 of the first half, one on a catch and run and the other on a walk-off pick-6, to help No. 1 Thomas Jefferson roll to a 28-7 win against No. 3 McKeesport in the Class 4A championship game.
Thomas Jefferson (13-0) became only the fourth team with 11 WPIAL titles by claiming its first since winning consecutive titles in 2019 and 2020. Only Aliquippa (20) and Clairton (14) have won more titles than the Jaguars, while New Castle has also won 11. Meanwhile, McKeesport (8-5) came up short in the final for the second year in a row. The Tigers, who saw their seven-game win streak snapped, were looking to win their first title since 2005.
“It’s awesome,” said Thomas Jefferson senior lineman Shep Turk, a Pitt recruit. “This is where it belongs. TJ is one of those teams that is here every year and we do what we do. So being able to finally get back here is awesome.”
It was a historic win for Thomas Jefferson coach Bill Cherpak, who captured his 10th title (all since 2004), most of any coach. Cherpak had been tied atop the list with Bob Palko, who won eight titles at West Allegheny and one at Mt. Lebanon.
“He’s the GOAT,” White said of his coach.
Tyler Eber, Thomas Jefferson’s workhorse sophomore running back, continued his terrific play by running for 158 yards on 33 carries. Eber had 48 and 42 carries in the Jaguars’ earlier two playoff wins. Eber opened the scoring Saturday with a 2-yard touchdown run with 4:21 left in the second quarter. The scoring drive came after McKeesport’s Kemon Spell lost a fumble at the Thomas Jefferson 29.
While it took Thomas Jefferson nearly 20 minutes to register its first score, the wait for its second and third scores wasn’t nearly as long. White was the primary reason for that. McKeesport turned the ball over on downs at the Thomas Jefferson 37 with 2:15 remaining in the first half. Three plays later, Thomas Jefferson quarterback Luke Kosko threw a pretty ball to White, who hauled it in at the McKeesport 30 before shedding two defenders on his way to a 53-yard touchdown that extended the Jaguars’ lead to 14-0 with 1:16 to go.
“They have great chemistry,” Cherpak said. “They work together a lot. Luke relies on Brayden to make a play. Brayden relies on Luke to get him the ball. They were bracketing him. It was tough to get him the ball, but we found a couple of different ways, and we knew he’d make a play.”
White wasn’t done. McKeesport marched to the Thomas Jefferson 32 in the final seconds of the second quarter, but on what turned out to be the final play of the half, White intercepted a Brady Eastman pass and returned it 85 yards for a touchdown to increase the lead to 21-0.
“I saw the inside receiver do a crosser and it was too high for him. I picked it. I got some blockers in front of me and I took it to the crib,” said White, whose interception was his team-leading third of the season.
McKeesport suddenly found itself in the same position as Thomas Jefferson when the teams met in a non-conference game on Sept. 6. In that game, Thomas Jefferson rallied from 21 points down at the half to beat McKeesport, 31-28, in overtime.
McKeesport managed only one first down in the third quarter, though, and the fourth quarter began with Eastman being picked off by Nate Farison. Thomas Jefferson once again took advantage of the miscue, this time extending the lead to 28-0 when Eber scored on a 1-yard run with 9:04 left. It was his 29th touchdown of the season.
“We struggled getting stops when we needed them,” said McKeesport coach Matt Miller, whose team started the season 1-4. “We put our defense in a lot of bad positions today. But they capitalized on them. Hats off to them. They were better today.”
At long last, McKeesport put any shutout talk to rest when Anthony Boyd scored on an 8-yard touchdown run with 5:08 remaining.
McKeesport, which relies heavily on the run, was limited to 133 yards on 34 carries. Spell, the Tigers’ electric sophomore running back and a Penn State recruit, finished with 64 yards on 15 carries. Spell came into the game averaging 11.4 yards per carry and had rushed for 555 yards and five touchdowns in McKeesport’s previous two playoff games. Eastman was 16 of 27 for 139 yards. He entered the game with 105 pass attempts the entire season.
Kosko completed 6-of-9 passes for 93 yards and the touchdown to White, who finished with four catches for 68 yards.
Thomas Jefferson’s next goal is to win a sixth PIAA title, which would give the Jaguars more than any other school. They will begin their run next Friday or Saturday when they take on District 9 champion Clearfield in the quarterfinals.
“After you win you kind of take a deep breath, step back, enjoy it, and then kind of get recharged for the next drive to get to the state,” Cherpak said. “We’ll enjoy this tonight. Trust me. But we’ll be back to work tomorrow.”
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.