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Thomas Jefferson holds off Gateway’s late rally attempt @TJHSJaguars @wjhsd @GatewayGatorsFB

Tagged under: District 7, Gameday Hub, News

| September 4, 2021


Thomas Jefferson #33 Jordan Mayer TD reception

The story of the night was Thomas Jefferson’s defense containing Gateway’s high octane offense. Gateway tried to rally in the fourth quarter but it was not enough in the 21-16 loss to Thomas Jefferson. “We knew we had to be physical” said Coach Cherpak.

Gateway started the game with the ball and from the start Thomas Jefferson’s defense dominated. Brad Birch was sacked twice on the opening drive. When Gateway went to punt the kicker stepped on the end line for a safety which gave Thomas Jefferson a 2-0 lead.

On Thomas Jefferson’s first drive they as well struggled to move the ball. They went three and out and they went punt and the kick was blocked. Gateway had great starting field position at Thomas Jefferson’s 34 yard line. After a first down they were at the 17 yard line. After that the drive stalled but Gateway did take a 3-2 lead on a 37 yard field goal by Cole Plaskon.

Thomas Jefferson’s next drive was a long drive that featured a lot of run plays and they slowly marched down the field. The drive was 13 plays and started with about 6 minutes in the first quarter. It ended with a touchdown when Joseph Lekse connected with Jordan Mayer for a 24 yard touchdown with 9:13 left in the second quarter. Lekse played a big role in the win he was 4 of 6 for 71 yards passing and had 92 yards rushing, and had 3 total touchdowns. “He was going to do whatever he needed to do to win, he’s a gamer” said Coach Cherpak.

The story for the rest of the half was the dominance of Thomas Jefferson’s defense. They even started a drive in Gateway territory but it didn’t result in any points. The score at halftime was 8-3 Thomas Jefferson.

To say Thomas Jefferson’s defense was dominant might have been an understatement. They held Gateway to minus 25 yards total offense and sacked Brad Birch several times. “We just couldn’t matchup with their skill players, we just couldn’t, their speed, their athleticism, so instead of dropping back and covering, our coverage was our rush, so we had to put him under pressure and either get a sack or make him get rid of the ball early and for the most part we did that in the first half” said Coach Cherpak.

Thomas Jefferson got the ball to start the second half. They started at their own 20. It was yet another long drive and took up nearly the first 4 minutes of the third quarter. The drive ended when Joseph Lekse threw his second touchdown pass this one to McClain Flinn for 35 yards. That made the score 15-3.

Once again Gateway struggled to get anything going on offense even late in the third quarter they were still in the negative for total yards offense.

Thomas Jefferson expanded their lead just 3 minutes after their first score in the second half. This time Joseph Lekse busted a big run that was 48 yards and that made it 21-3 Thomas Jefferson. That was the score at the end of 3 quarters.

Thomas Jefferson dominated the first three quarters of the game but in the fourth quarter the game got interesting. In the first minute of the quarter Brad Birch connected with Dallas Harper for a 30 yard touchdown. That made the score 21-10. The score was setup by a second blocked punt.

Later in the quarter Gateway scored again this time Brad Birch threw a short pass to Anez Jordan and he turned it into a 46 yard touchdown. After the failed 2 point conversion it was 21-16 with 8:23 remaining in the game. “They just made some plays, I wasn’t surprised, we knew that they were going to” said Coach Cherpak.

Thomas Jefferson had lost any momentum they had and desperately needed to get it back. On a fourth down in their own territory. Thomas Jefferson decided to go for it and they barely converted. “It wasn’t a hard descision” said Coach Cherpak. The decision was easy just because of 2 previous blocked punts. Later in the drive they once again went for it on fourth down but this time they didn’t get lucky and they turned the ball over on downs.

Gateway now had a chance to win. They started with great field position at the Thomas Jefferson 49 yard line, 4 minutes remained in the game.  A penalty on the first play set them back and ended up being costly. After that Thomas Jefferson’s defense took over and that’s what won them the game. The final score was 21-16.

Next week Thomas Jefferson has another big test at home when they play South Fayette. Gateway has a game on the road against a former Big East foe Penn Hills.

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