McKeesport rolls against Thomas Jefferson to advance to class 4A title game

Tagged under: District 7, pfn

Stone Manges | November 8, 2025

The McKeesport Tigers advanced to the 4A WPIAL Championship on Friday, November 11th with a 28-3 win over the Thomas Jefferson Jaguars. 

Misty conditions throughout the first quarter held both teams to a punt on their opening drive, but after a drive that featured a heavy dose of star junior Kemon Spell the Tigers were pounding on the door of the endzone. Smell found a hole and punched it in from six yards out to give McKeesport the lead halfway through the first quarter. 

The teams traded punts again on their following drives. Both defenses were flying to the football early. Tyler Eber lead the Jaguars down the field to end the first frame and had Thomas Jefferson eyeing the endzone. Javien Robinson had other plans. Robinson picked off quarterback Harrison Kolling inside the five and put an end to the TJ drive. 

Just two plays later, Spell found a hole, turned on the jets and left everyone in the dust with an electric ninety-seven yard touchdown that sent the Tiger faithful into a frenzy. Down 14-0, the Jags needed some sort of offense to get back into the game. With under a minute to play, again TJ found themselves deep inside of McKeesport territory. 

For the second straight drive the Tigers intercepted Kolling, this time courtesy of Spell. The Jaguars dodged a bullet to end the half as Spell was tripped up around the twenty yard line after a seventy two yard run. 

Thomas Jefferson had the ball to start the second half and the time was now to get points on the board. A pass interference penalty on Taier Swindle set up a twenty six yard field goal from Sam Wessel to get TJ on the board, trailing then 14-3. After McKeesport punted on their ensuing drive, it felt like the Jaguars were starting to gain some momentum. Whatever sort of momentum they had didn’t last long though, as Robinson came away with his second pick of the evening to give the Tigers the ball back. 

The remainder of the game was filled mostly with punts from both sides as the score stayed idle at 14-3. Spell found the endzone for the third time on the night two minutes into the fourth to pad the Tiger cushion even more. 

Akeem Cochran delivered the dagger score with five minutes to play with a fifty-nine yard touchdown reception from quarterback Miller Miller. 

McKeesport looks to finish the job next Saturday as they will compete for the WPIAL 4A Championship against Aliquippa in Pine-Richland. 

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