O-R Athlete of the Week: Jordan Irson, Chartiers-Houston
Name: Jordan Irson
School: Chartiers-Houston
Sport: Football
Class: Senior
Irson’s week: The 5-8, 145-pounder scored two second-half touchdowns, the final one late in the game to cap a rally and hand Chartiers-Houston a 27-24 victory over Waynesburg in a Class 2A Century Conference game.
The Bucs trailed the Raiders, 24-6, one play into the third quarter. But Irson scored on a 20-yard run to cut the lead in half. Jake Mele returned a punt 60 yards for a touchdown to make it 24-19. Irson was then asked to take the place of an injured Chartiers-Houston wide receiver.
Quarterback Terry Fetsko laid a perfect pass that went 19 yards for a game-winning touchdown. Irson had only six receptions for 50 yards and no receiving touchdowns prior to that catch.
“I just made eye contact with (Fetsko),” said Irson. “I went up for it and got it. I haven’t made a play of the game of any kind since 2016.”
Running back is Irson’s main position. He has rushed the football 114 times for 717 yards and scored 13 touchdowns this season.
“It felt great,” Irson said. “Being asked to play wide receiver on the last play sort of caught me by surprise. Running back is my thing.”
Chartiers-Houston head coach Terry Fetsko said this was a good example of a player stepping up to help the team.
“The pass was supposed to go to Jake Mele,” said Fetsko, who celebrated his 100th career coaching victory last week. “Terry got the ball away just in time. On tape, you can see the ball just went over the hand of the defenders.”
After Irson’s receiving touchdown, he went back to running and he ran in the two-point conversion.
“He has good speed and good vision,” Coach Fetsko said. “We were moving the ball the whole game. In the end, the kids responded. There was never any panic.”
Almost a Big Mac: Irson began playing football at age 7, but his family lived in the Canon-McMillan School District.
“My father got me started,” said Irson. “He just threw me in there.”
In eighth grade, the Irson family moved into the Chartiers-Houston district and he became a Buccaneer.
“Some of my friends live in Canon-McMillan,” said Irson. “I’ve been calling them and telling them about (the touchdown).”
Compiled by Joe Tuscano