Jayhawks claim conference crown
Undefeated Eastern champions capitalize on long runs on a soggy field
JEANNETTE 21, CLAIRTON 6
When Jeannette won the WPIAL and PIAA Class 1A titles a year ago it did so without winning the Eastern Conference.
Clairton is hoping that lightning strikes on the opposite side of the line of scrimmage in 2018.
Jeannette quarterback Seth Howard ran for two touchdowns, including a back-breaking 57-yard scamper late in the fourth quarter as Class 1A No. 1 Jeannette (9-0, 6-0) won its first conference championship in seven years with a 21-6 victory against No. 2 Clairton (8-1, 5-1) in the Eastern Conference finale.
“It’s really big because we haven’t won it since 2011 and it really means a lot of us, for our coaches and the whole town,” Howard said. “It’s really big because [Clairton’s] our rival now and it’s really big playing against them and winning.”
Clairton had come into the campaign riding a 12-season conference-championship tear that included its state-record 66game winning streak. The previous time the Bears failed to win a conference title was 2005 when now-defunct Duquesne rolled to its last WPIAL title and lost to Southern Columbia in the PIAA championship.
And the ending of that streak is all Clairton really took from this loss.
“That’s about it. Last year we beat them, 40-6, at our place and they came back and beat us in the playoffs and ended up winning the state championship,” Clairton coach Wayne Wade said. “It was a rainy night, a soggy field, we made a ton of mistakes out there and dropped a lot of balls and missed a lot of blocks and, I don’t want to take anything away from them because they’re a good football team, and they beat us.”
Neither team could find much traction on the natural grass at McKee Stadium as a steady downpour turned the middle of the field from goal line to goal line into a quagmire.
Clairton had the most trouble on the ground as its two-headed monster of dualthreat quarterback Brendan Parsons and running back Taevon Thompson was stuck in the mud and trapped by a staunch Jeannette defense that allowed 33 yards on the ground on 33 carries.
“Defense played fantastic and I don’t think they had a first down until late in the first quarter [actually, midway through the second quarter] and I just liked the way we played,” Jeannette coach Roy Hall said. “We had some miscues offensively and I’m just really proud of the kids because they rose to the occasions and really played our game.”
Clairton only ran two plays in Jeannette territory in the first three quarters, but one was a 47-yard touchdown pass from Parsons to Leonard Robinson that cut the Jeannette advantage to 7-6. In past years the Bears would have automatically gone for 2, but this time the kick was blocked and the Jayhawks maintained a one-point lead with 6:30 remaining in the first half.
“We’ve been successful kicking for the last two years and, at that point in the game, that point didn’t mean much to me,” Wade said. “But on that play, our kicker got smacked in the face and there was no penalty. After he kicks the ball he cannot get hit and he was hit, so we should have had another opportunity and maybe go for 2 and then take the lead.”
Both defenses made huge plays in the second half and Clairton drew first blood when it forced an Imani Sanders fumble at the goal line and recovered on its 5 to turn Jeannette away with 7:37 left in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, though, the Jayhawks made the play the changed the game as Parsons could not handle a snap and, while he was fumbling around for the ball, he was hit, the ball popped loose and Melik Gordan ran it in for a Jeannette touchdown and a 13-6 lead with 9:46 left.
Howard then capped it off with a run down the left sideline for a 57-yard touchdown to close it out with 4:20 left.
“It was a playbook play and I didn’t read it at all,” Howard said. “We weren’t able to pass the ball that well, so we just had to run it down their throat.”