Nov 9, 2017 4 min read

The aftermath of the WPIAL football pairings meeting nearly two weeks ago still has people in Belle Vernon talking.

One person you won’t hear complaining about how the Leopards are the second seed in Class 4A behind undefeated South Fayette is Belle Vernon head coach Matt Humbert.

“I wasn’t thinking we were going to get it from the jump,” Humbert said. “We were undefeated in 2015 and didn’t get it then. It is what it is. The people who waste their time thinking about that stuff are missing out on everything else going on.”

The Leopards have an opportunity to make their first appearance in a WPIAL championship game since 1999, when they face No. 3-seed Thomas Jefferson in tonight’s 7:30 semifinal playoff game at Baldwin High School.

It’s the second time the two teams will meet this season, the first a 21-17 victory on Oct. 13 for Belle Vernon that ultimately determined the Big Nine Conference champion.

Winning against a team twice in one year is difficult. Winning against a team such as Thomas Jefferson two times in less than a month is even harder.

“What separates TJ from everybody else is consistency,” Humbert said. “They are always the same team with a big offensive line, a good tailback, a quarterback who can throw and one or two guys outside who can make plays.”

Belle Vernon was able to slow the postseason juggernaut Jaguars by forcing four turnovers at James Weir Stadium, the second time in three seasons the Leopards have gotten the best of TJ in the regular season.

“It was just one of those Friday night football games where the atmosphere and backdrop was great for high school football,” Humbert said as his team proudly rang the bell behind the end zone to signal a win.

“We were able to get on the board early and played pretty stout defensively. On offense, we were able to make plays when we needed. We got four big turnovers on defense and capitalized on two of them.”

The Belle Vernon defense is what Humbert likes to talk about. The ball-hawking group has forced 36 turnovers in their 10 games this season. It limited Thomas Jefferson to its lowest rushing total in a single game (167 yards) this season.

Humbert believes to win the game, the Leopards must control the line of scrimmage and avoid giving up big plays.

“No team can allow for those splash plays to happen because they can hurt,” Humbert said. “(Thomas Jefferson) has the best defensive line I’ve had to coach against at the scholastic level, but I think we are their best match up front. We need to play as physical as we did the first time.”

While Belle Vernon is one game away from a title game at Heinz Field, it’s also clinging to a perfect record (10-0). It’s the same record the Leopards had before falling to Franklin Regional in a quarterfinal game in 2015.

“It’s hard to do,” Humbert said. “Anytime in life when you are achieving that perfect status, it’s hard. The difference this year is that our kids believe. It’s a different mindset that’s been changing year after year. It’s hard to believe in things, but it’s also hard to argue when the proof is there.”

But the proof is also there for Thomas Jefferson, which has six WPIAL titles since 2004.

Since Bill Cherpak took over as head coach in 1995, the Jaguars have won 19 conference championships. In his 23 years, Cherpak has 14 10-win seasons. Cherpak’s career coaching record at Thomas Jefferson is 245-44.

“That’s what you strive for,” Humbert said of TJ’s success and the hope of winning Belle Vernon’s first WPIAL title since 1995.

“I think we’ve made strides and the kids have been so resilient. We don’t have the best facilities. We don’t have the most athletic kids, the biggest kids. But we do have resiliency in both our kids and our coaches.”