Friday in VarsityXtra
The PG announces its high school teams of the year — Thomas Jefferson football and Chartiers Valley girls basketball.
Thomas Jefferson football coach Bill Cherpak never did dye his hair golden blonde, like he told a few players he would if the Jaguars won a PIAA championship last season.
No matter. There was plenty of gold to go around for the Jaguars.
Thomas Jefferson’s players won gold medals for winning the WPIAL Class 4A championship in November. They won more gold for capturing the PIAA title in December.
Now comes one more honor to make 2019-20 a golden age for the Jaguars. Thomas Jefferson is the Post-Gazette boys Team of the Year.
The award takes into consideration all boys teams in the WPIAL and City League during the 2019-20 school year. While Thomas Jefferson’s march to titles made the Jaguars a good candidate for the award, it was the way that Thomas Jefferson won that put the team over the top in voting among the Post-Gazette scholastic sports staff.
Thomas Jefferson had one of the most dominating seasons of any WPIAL team in the past few decades. Consider how these Jaguars rolled:
• They were 16-0, averaged 46.2 points a game and outscored teams by an average of 41.9 points. Their closest game was 15 points and they won 13 by 30 or more.
• They allowed only 69 points, the third fewest ever given up by a state champion from the WPIAL.
*They outscored three WPIAL playoff opponents, 139-14, and three PIAA opponents, 118-22.
• The 49-7 victory against Dallas in the PIAA title game was one of the 10 most lopsided games in PIAA championship history. The state football championships have been around since 1988.
• In the WPIAL and PIAA championship games, Thomas Jefferson out-gained teams in yardage, 736-179.
“Our school yearbooks came out this week,” Cherpak said. “They had our schedule in there with all the game scores. It was just crazy to look at it on paper.”
Cherpak has had a number of strong teams in his 25 years as Thomas Jefferson’s coach. He won his eighth WPIAL title last season, which ties Bob Palko for the most in league history. Cherpak also won his fourth PIAA title.
“Trust me, these (Thomas Jefferson) guys always debate who is the best,” Cherpak said with a laugh. “About three weeks ago, I got a text message from (former player) Devin Danielson. There were all of these other people on the text. A bunch of guys must have been at someone’s house and they wanted to know, ‘Was this team better than ours?’
“This was definitely a special year, in terms of everything about it. When you look back and see the sheer numbers, it’s pretty impressive.”
It will be hard to replicate what this team did. While winning the WPIAL title against Belle Vernon was big, defeating Erie Cathedral Prep in the quarterfinals might have been the team’s signature win. Cathedral Prep was a three-time defending PIAA champ and had defeated Thomas Jefferson three of the past four seasons.
Cherpak will tell you attitude and team chemistry were two of the biggest reasons for the Jaguars’ success.
“A lot of teams say they want to be good, but they’re not willing to put in what it takes. These kids put in the work,” Cherpak said. “We had no knuckleheads on the team. Even some of our best teams, it was just a nightmare at times, but I’ve told people that this was such an easy year to coach. Not in terms of being good, but just trusting kids. … Usually, you always have a couple kids and you wonder, ‘Oh no, what’s that idiot going to do now?’ We didn’t have that.”
Seniors Shane Stump (QB-DB) and Dan Deabner (WR-DB) were the team leaders and ended up being selected the Post-Gazette co-Players of the Year for the entire WPIAL. Stump threw for 2,664 yards and 36 touchdowns, rushed for 546 yards and was an exceptional safety. Deabner had 49 receptions and intercepted seven passes.
But there were plenty of other standouts. Dylan Mallozzi became the No. 1 running back
when DeRon VanBibber was injured early in the season, and Mallozzi finished with 1,921 rushing yards, including 215 in the PIAA title game.
Ian Hansen turned into an effective No. 2 receiver and caught 36 passes. The offensive line of James Martinis, Mike Huber, Jake Krawczyk, Nick Trainor, Logan Danielson and Mac Duda opened holes for Mallozzi and protected Stump. Fullback Nate Werderber was a bruising fullback. Dylan Sullivan was the team’s kicker.
Thomas Jefferson’s defense was superb in just about every area. Jack Konick, Martinis, Huber and Danielson were dominant on the line while linebackers Werderber, Preston Zandier, Bowen Dame and Isaac Eckley helped shut down running games. The secondary of Deabner, Hansen and Stump was terrific. Hansen had two interceptions in the PIAA semifinals and championship.
Overall, the team was filled simply with excellent high school players. Not one Jaguar will play FBS college football. The only seniors who will play in college are Stump (Duquesne), Deabner (IUP), Danielson (IUP) and Duda (Princeton).
And Cherpak made the Jaguar machine thing click. Cherpak is one of the most successful coaches in WPIAL history in any sport (274-46 record), but he is quick to lavish praise on his assistants. Two of them — Jack Giran and Frank Brettschneider — were assistants at Steel Valley when Cherpak played there in the 1980s.
Put the players, the coaches
and the wins together, and this team will be remembered for a while — even if Cherpak never got the blonde hair.
“I dyed it when everybody was quarantined for the coronavirus,” Cherpak said, tongue firmly in his cheek. “Too bad the kids couldn’t see it.”