WPIAL Class A playoffs
Duquesne rolls over Jefferson-Morgan DUQUESNE – Jefferson-Morgan had won four of its last five games heading into its WPIAL Class A first-round playoff game against Duquesne Saturday afternoon.
The second-seeded Dukes hadn’t lost any of their eight games, though, and the 15th-seeded Rockets were victim No. 9 by a 49-0 score at Duquesne Place Athletic Field.
“We played tough, but were just out-matched by better athletes,” Jefferson-Morgan head coach Jan Haiden said. “We needed to earn everything we got, and they (Duquesne) were able to just bust off big play after big play.”
The Jefferson-Morgan defense had no answer for all-purpose player Elijah Fields. He caught a 46-yard touchdown, ran for a 65-yard touchdown, returned an interception for a 35-yard touchdown, sacked Rocket quarterback Josh Lawrence, causing a fumble, which he picked up and ran 52 yards for a touchdown.
“We’d be silly not to get the ball in his hands,” said Duquesne head coach Pat Monroe said. “He’s a great player and you need to get your great players involved in order to win.”
Fields topped off his performance by running for a 2-point conversion and had another interception in the game.
“That kid is one heck of an athlete,” Haiden said. “Every time he touched the ball and took off, we just couldn’t catch him.”
The game was a repeat performance of last year’s first-round match-up, a 28-14 Dukes win, but this game was never really in doubt. Duquesne (9-0) will advance in the playoffs to face Bentworth, who beat Mapletown 35-34 in overtime on Friday night.
“It’s hard to keep facing the No. 1 and No. 2 seeded teams in the playoffs,” Haiden said, “but until we start winning these games, we’re still going to be given low seeds in the playoffs.”
The Duquesne defense also stymied the Rockets, as Jefferson-Morgan (5-5) managed only 2 firsts down in the first half, one of which was on the first possession. The Rockets ran for less than 50 yards and threw for less than 100 overall.
Their best weapon of the day was Josh Lawrence to Cody Ketchem, which worked 6 times for 64 yards, but the Rockets never really threatened to score.
“They (Duquesne) are just as good on defense as they are on offense,” Haiden said. “We had to work hard just to get a few yards, and over the length of the game, we just got worn down, but we never stopped working hard.”
Jefferson-Morgan started out on fire as Jeremy Weaver sacked Durrell Dunn on third and 11 and forced a punt. The Rockets drove to the Duquesne 16-yard line fueled by a Lawrence 32-yard pass to Ketchem, but they failed to convert a fourth down and 4 and turned the ball back over to Duquesne at the Duke 16.
The Rockets fell behind 7-0 in the first quarter on a Dunn to Fields touchdown connection, but hung in there as Jarrod Moskola intercepted a Dunn pass in the end zone to stop the Dukes from padding their lead.
“We kept making plays and never gave up,” Haiden said. “If you watched the game, though you saw that we weren’t able to compete with Fields, Dunn and some of their other players.”
Fields scored two more touchdowns in the second quarter, but the Dukes still left points on the field by committing mistakes. Jeremy Weaver recovered a Duquesne fumble, which helped the Rockets go into halftime only down 20-0.
The Dukes kicked their running game into high gear in the second half, though, as Dunn ran for a touchdown and running back Layton Dunn scored a 24-yard touchdown run. Dunn also threw for a touchdown to Ian Moletta and Fields added the fumble recovery and touchdown run late in the fourth quarter to finish the scoring.
“Overall we had a nice run at the end of the season, and don’t forget, we lost two games by only 8 points or else we would have won our section,” Haiden said. “It was good to make the playoffs and let’s hope we can keep it going and advance further in the playoffs in the future.”