McKeesport gets convincing win over Thomas Jefferson

Tagged under: District 7, Gameday Hub, News

Andrew Schaffer | October 28, 2023

It was expected to be a good game Friday night but McKeesport used their run game to come away with a convincing 28-7 win over Thomas Jefferson. “We did a great job, we were able to control the ball, put points on the board after they scored that was big” said Coach Miller.

Thomas Jefferson got the ball to start the game and they marched right down the field it only took a couple plays for Thomas Jefferson to get into McKeesport territory. Eventually Brody Evans found Sean Sullivan for a 9 yard touchdown pass. That made the score 7-o Thomas Jefferson with 9:31 in the first quarter. Sullivan was one of the main players for Thomas Jefferson he had 6 catches for 111 yards.

McKeesport got the ball for the first time in the game and it was a very long drive. It was actually a big pass play on third down that got McKeesport into Thomas Jefferson territory. Eventually Anthony Boyd found the end zone on a 1 yard run which tied the score at 7 with 4:01 in the first quarter.

Anthony Boyd was the main player in the win for McKeesport. He had 235 yards on 24 carries. “He’s a workhorse, it is just something in his blood, Bobbie was that way the last 2 years, Anthony came out today and had a huge game for us tonight” said Coach Miller.

Thomas Jefferson got the ball for a second time in the game but didn’t go very far and ended up punting it away. McKeesport started their next drive at their own 41 yard line. The drive had a lot of penalties but McKeesport didn’t let that slow them down. Eventually Keith Spell scored on a 3 yard run. That gave McKeesport a 14-7 lead with 10:02 in the second quarter. Spell also played a key role in the win he had 50 yards rushing.

Thomas Jefferson started their third drive with decent field position and on the second play a pass was completed to midfield. Later in the drive Thomas Jefferson decided to go for it on fourth down and a pass was completed but fell inches short of the line to gain.

McKeesport got the ball at their own 42 and was yet another good looking drive they got inside the Thomas Jefferson 5 yard line but struggled to find the end zone and they decided to go for it on fourth down and Thomas Jefferson came up with a huge stop.

Thomas Jefferson got the ball at their own 1 yard line. On second down the ball was intercepted and returned 38 yards for a touchdown by Dom Cochran. That made the score 21-7 McKeesport with 3:57 remaining in the first half that play was definitely a game changer for the Tigers. “It definitely did, that was a big big play, great athlete rips the ball from the guy, and it just opened wide up and he put it in the barn” said Coach Miller.

Thomas Jefferson got the ball one last time before the half and it was a good looking drive but time was not on their side after a screen pass they were at the McKeesport 29 yard line and on second down a pass fell incomplete which ended the half. The score remained 21-7 McKeesport at the half.

McKeesport got the ball to start the second half they got fairly close to midfield but after that the drive stalled. Thomas Jefferson went three and out on their first drive of the second half.

McKeesport also went three and out on their second drive of the second half and went to punt it away and it was a bad punt and Thomas Jefferson had a golden opportunity to score and started at the McKeesport 45 yard line. They were inside the McKeesport 30 yard line but on one play the ball was intercepted.

The big story of the second half was neither team was able to score. Thomas Jefferson had their fair share of chances to get back into the game and one drive in particular to start the fourth quarter featured a lot of runs and was inside the McKeesport 10 yard line but the drive ended on an interception.

McKeesport’s defense had to come up big in the second half with their offense struggling for the majority of the second half. “You have to have all facets to do well in the playoffs, so right now we were able to do good things in the first half offensively, and then the defense carried us in the second half” said Coach Miller.

Right after that interception McKeesport put the game away on a spectacular 90 yard touchdown run by Anthony Boyd which made the score 28-7 McKeesport with 4:27 left in the game. “In my head all I’m saying is don’t let them catch me, I just had to seal the game” said Boyd. 28-7 would be the score to end the game.

McKeesport and Thomas Jefferson both are in the playoffs and both will find out what they’re doing when brackets are announced on Saturday afternoon. “I’m hoping for a high seed and hopefully I can watch the playoffs next week from home and rest up, but we’ll see what the WPIAL has in store for us” said Coach Miller.

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