Peak powers Trojans past J-M to claim TCS crown
JEFFERSON – Malachi Peak will be in the dreams of Jefferson-Morgan’s football team this week, and not in a good way.
The senior tailback ran for 270 yards and four touchdowns, leading California to a 36-14 victory over the Rockets that wrapped up the Class A Tri-County South Conference title Friday night at Parker Field.
The Trojans, who out-scored J-M 24-0 in the second half, finished the regular season with a 7-0 conference record and 9-1 overall mark. Jefferson-Morgan (5-2, 8-2) fell into third place. Both teams are in the WPIAL playoffs as are second-place Bentworth and fourth-place Avella out of the TCS.
The Trojans will open the postseason this Friday night as the No. 6 seed with a first-round home game against No. 11 Frazier. The Rockets were seeded 13th and travel to No. 4 Laurel.
California coach Ed Woods admitted it was a satisfying win after the Trojans came within a failed two-point conversion of claiming the conference crown in a one-point loss to J-M last season.
“Of course this game has been circled on the calendar for a year so there’s been a build-up to get here,” said Woods, who felt maybe his team was a bit too amped up in the first half which ended with the Rockets ahead 14-12.
“Physically we were fine, it was the mental game. I thought we were kind of lacking on what we were supposed to do,” Woods said. “I think they got caught up in the whole J-M-Cal thing from last year, they wanted to win this one so bad.
“I basically told them at halftime that offensively we’re moving the ball, it’s just we made a few mistakes, had a couple penalties so it was just settle down, be focused and to be tough mentally, on both sides of the ball.”
The Trojans defense elevated its game and held the Rockets to minus-2 yards in the second half.
Peak, who had a 9-yard touchdown to open the scoring in the first quarter, put California ahead to stay with a 4-yard scoring run in the third quarter that was followed by Brandon Meier’s two-point conversion pass to Chase Shemansky to make it 20-14.
Peak added touchdowns of 10 and 16 yards in the fourth quarter with Meier running in the two-point conversion after both scores.
“We made a few adjustments defensively at halftime,” said Woods who lauded Peak’s performance. “Malachi was just a relentless, angry runner. He just kept wanting the ball so we just kept giving it to him and the kids did a great job blocking for him. The offensive line is key every week for us and they were against Jefferson-Morgan, too, who had a very big line on both sides of the football. But it’s not only our linemen. Our running backs block well and our receivers block.
“We were just clicking. They just came out in the second half and played really good Trojan football.”
Jefferson-Morgan welcomed quarterback Triton Farabee back into the line for the game to free up Deakyn DeHoet for his more versatile receiver/running back role. Farabee suffered a concussion during J-M’s loss at Bentworth on Oct. 10 and didn’t play in last week’s win over Avella.
DeHoet answered Peak’s early score, which was followed by a failed two-point conversion attempt, with a 54-yard touchdown run after bursting through the left side.
“That kid is special,” Woods said of DeHoet. “He’s really, really good, a solid football player.”
Logan Yeck’s first of two extra-point kicks gave Jefferson-Morgan a 7-6 lead.
California snatched the lead back later in the opening quarter when Landon Abercrombie caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Logan Hartley. The Trojans again went for two and failed, leaving them up 12-7.
The Rockets took a 14-12 halftime lead thanks to John Woodward’s 10-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
Tempers flared with about four minutes left. Officials ejected J-M wide receiver/defensive back Seth Fox after Fox took a swing at a California player. As a result, Fox will not be able to participate in J-M’s first-round playoff game.
DeHoet led the Rockets with 16 carries for 89 yards and had two receptions for seven yards. Woodward added 13 carries for 66 yards.
When the clock ran out, the Trojans celebrated, having avenged last year’s heart-breaking loss at California.
“It was nice for me to just sit back and look at all the excitement in the kids and the coaches and our fans that came over, to be a part of that,” Woods said. “It just justified for those kids that when you work hard, good things happen, because they did work really hard for this, starting back in January. It’s nice to see it pay off.
“But that’s just one goal. Now we’ve got to continue to roll. The more you win the harder you’ve got to work to keep playing.”