Mistakes break J-M’s perfect season
JEFFERSON – Jefferson-Morgan finished strong but a slow start and an avalanche of penalties were too much for it to overcome as the Rockets undefeated season came to a crashing halt Friday night.
South Side’s Andrew Corfield rushed for 158 yards and two touchdowns and the Rams took advantage of four turnovers to defeat J-M 39-30 in their WPIAL Class 1A first-round playoff game at Parker Field.
The sixth-seeded Rockets were flagged 15 times for 145 yards but still managed to battle their way back in the game in the second half after falling behind 27-6 at halftime.
Houston Guesman completed 8 1o 18 passes for 154 yards and three touchdowns for Jefferson-Morgan which ended its season at 10-1. Deakyn Dehoet went over the 1,000-yard mark receiving for the season with four receptions for 136 yards and two touchdowns.
“South Side is a good football, a solid football team and getting down that much early we just couldn’t come back, but they tried,” J-M coach Shane Ziats said. “This team resilient though. You think you got us knocked out but them kept fighting until the end.
“But that’s the most penalties we’ve had all season.”
Jefferson-Morgan pulled within 27-14 when Guesman thew a 31-yard touchdown pass to Johnny Gilbert late in the third quarter but the Rams (7-3) answered with an eight-play, 54-yard touchdown drive capped by Corfield’s 1-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it 33-14.
Guesman fired a 38-yard TD pass to Dehoet midway through the fourth quarter and tossed two-point conversion pass to Gilbert to make it 33-22, but South Side answered again with a 52-yard drive that Amare Moman finished with a 7-yard touchdown run with just 34 seconds left to seal it.
Guesman lofted a 64-yard scoring pass to Dehoet with 17 seconds left and ran in the two-point conversion to set the final score.
The Rams advance to play No. 3 Bishop Canevin in next week’s quarterfinals
The first turnover came when Guesman had the ball knocked loose as he was scrambling with the Rams’ Cody Mehlmauer recovering at the J-M 24. Corfield scored five plays later on a 3-yard run and Mateja Pavlovich added the extra point for a 7-0 lead with 6:08 left in the first quarter.
Three plays later Will Morgan intercepted a Guesman pass and returned 32 yards for a touchdown and just 6:56 into the game Jefferson-Morgan found itself in a 14-0 hole.
The Rockets showed signs of life with two first downs on their next possession, including a 22-yard completion by Guesman to Dehoet on third and 19. The drive stalled but Guesman’s punt pinned South Side back at its own 5-yard line.
Undaunted, the Rams drove 95 yards in 11 plays with Corfield’s 10-yard touchdown run giving the visitors a 20-0 lead at the 7:27 mark of the second quarter. The extra-point kick was blocked by Gilbert and Eli Hill.
Guesman threw his second interception on J-M’s next play from scrimmage, this one to Pavlovich at the Rockets 25. That set up a short 9-yard touchdown drive capped by Moman’s 1-yard plunge with 5:56 left in the second quarter.
Rockets fans finally had something to cheer about on the ensuing kickoff. Dehoet fielded Pavlovich’s kickoff at the 1-yard line, headed to the right sideline, turned the corner and was gone for a 99-yard touchdown. Dehoet was stopped on a two-point conversion run out of a fake extra-point kick attempt, leaving Jefferson-Morgan down 27-6.
The Rockets kept South Side off the scoreboard the rest of the half by forcing a couple turnovers of their own. Jeremiah Robertson swiped the ball out of Pavlovich’s arms for a fumble recovery at the J-M 44 and Dehoet intercepted a pass by Dawson Frasier at the J-M 3.