Down to the wire: J-M holds off California in 28-27 thriller to claim TCS title
CALIFORNIA – It had been 34 years since Jefferson-Morgan last completed an undefeated regular season in football and the Rockets were on the brink of doing so again Friday night.
But here was California lining up for the two-point conversion after Logan Hartley threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Landon Abercrombie with one minute left in the fourth quarter.
The football gods smiled on the Rockets, though, as Lee Qualk, the leading rusher in the WPIAL, couldn’t handle the pitch from Hartley. Qualk fell on the football at around the 11-yard line but the damage had been done and the players on Jefferson-Morgan’s sideline began to celebrate a 28-27 win and the Tri-County South Conference championship, along with the perfect 10-0 record.
The Rockets’ last undefeated season came in 1989. The last conference championship came in 2006, when J-M shared the title with Monessen. Finally, the last time the Rockets won the conference title outright was in 1991.
“I can’t even count my heartbeats (on the two-point conversion),” said J-M head coach Shane Ziats. “It was a feeling of pure joy.”
“All we had to do was stop No. 4 (Qualk),” said J-M’s Johnny Gilbert, whose clutch interception earlier in the fourth quarter stopped a California drive.
Jefferson-Morgan (7-0, 10-0) roared out to a 28-7 halftime lead over the Trojans (6-1, 7-3) but wouldn’t score a point in the second half. California chipped away, scoring three touchdowns in the second half to bring the score to 28-27 with the two-point conversion all that remained with 1:00 on the clock.
“We weren’t going for the tie,” said California head coach Ed Woods. “We had some bad breaks the second half. Qualk just bobbled the ball but those things happen.”
Hartley threw two TD passes in the second half and had three for the game despite entering the night with just five for the season.
Both teams had already wrapped up playoff spots and found out Saturday afternoon where and who each will play in the first round this coming Friday night.
The Rockets weren’t given a large amount of respect by the WPIAL pairings committee, landing only a No. 6 seed and a home game against No. 11 South Side. The loss was costly for California which tumbled to a No. 10 seed and a road game against No. 7 Laurel.
Jefferson-Morgan showed off its offensive firepower in building a 28-7 lead over the Trojans.
Guesman threw for one touchdown and ran for another to pace the Rockets’ attack.
But before Guesman’s first-half heroics, John Woodward burst through from eight yards out to cap J-M’s first possession, which covered 78 yards. The big play came on a 38-yard Guesman completion to Deakyn Dehoet that set J-M up at California’s 24-yard line.
The Trojans roared back when Hartley hit Vinny Manzella with an 80-yard touchdown pass down the left side of the field. Christian Ross’ extra-point kick gave California a 7-6 lead late in the first quarter.
That lead lasted two plays as Dehoet and Guesman hooked up for a 70-yard touchdown pass at the start of the second quarter to put the Rockets in front to stay.
Jefferson-Morgan added two more scores in a 22-point second quarter as Guesman tossed a 23-yard touchdown pass to Dehoet then added a 1-yard scoring run for a 28-7 advantage.
The Trojans fought back with two touchdowns in the third quarter on a 24-yard pass by Hartley to Manzella and a 4-yard run by Qualk to slice the lead to 28-21 and set the stage for the frantic finish.