Road to 4A title runs through TJ
By michael love
Trib Total Media
Thomas Jefferson began its 2019 season with a dominant victory over Canon-McMillan and ended it in Hershey with a 46-7 rout of Dallas for the PIAA Class 4A title.
In between, the Jaguars rolled in and out of conference play and added their eighth WPIAL title since 2004. They outscored their opponents 739-69.
Coach Bill Cherpak said the Jaguars hope to have the pieces to reload for another run after considerable graduation losses on both sides of the ball.
At the same time, the rest of WPIAL Class 4A hopes to put together a formula for WPIAL gold and unseat the defending champs.
“There is some really good competition throughout 4A, no doubt,” said Cherpak, whose team has won three of the four WPIAL Class 4A titles and is 50-4 overall since the PIAA expanded to six classifications for the 2016 season.
“With every kid on the team, they don’t know anything other than going to the WPIAL championship game. They know they are the hunted again, and they relish it. They want the expectation that they are the favorite, but they know it won’t be easy. There are a lot of teams, obviously, who want to be where we are.”
The landscape of Class 4A changed considerably with an expansion to three conferences as teams moved up, down and sideways.
South Fayette, which beat Thomas Jefferson for the WPIAL 4A title in 2018, moved up to Class 5A, and Ambridge moved down to Class 3A.
New teams in the Class 4A expansion are Aliquippa, Chartiers Valley, Armstrong, Hampton, Mars, Plum and McKeesport.
“It’s pretty exciting to come in and face new teams, ones we haven’t played before or haven’t played in half a century or so,” said McKeesport coach Matt Miller, whose team went 9-4 overall in 2019. “Hopefully, we can build up some good rivalries. We’re only a river away from some of our opponents. The proximity of most of the matchups makes it exciting for the community. A lot of our kids know the kids who play at West Mifflin, Thomas Jefferson or Belle Vernon.”
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