WPIAL 4A Championship: Aliquippa/Thomas Jefferson Standouts

We had a great matchup between two great teams. This was an extremely close game and got intense midway through the fourth quarter and through overtime. Here are 6 standouts from the game. &nbsp; Thomas Jefferson – <strong>Conner Murga </strong>(JR) Linebacker Conner was all over the field and very disruptive in the backfield, He had quite a few tackles and made some QB hits early on. He also had some impressive runs on offense late in the game. &nbsp; Aliquippa – <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="66045" first="Donovan" last="Walker"]</strong> (SOPH) Safety 5’10 150: Donovan has good speed. He reads plays well, shows to read screens really well. He has good foot turnover. Donovan looked to be all over the field making plays. He had quite a bit of tackles and one INT. He will be a Power 5 safety. &nbsp; Thomas Jefferson – <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="27398" first="Preston" last="Zandier"] </strong>(SR) Linebacker 6’2 195: Preston made an impact at the receiver position which included some impressive catches. He had 4 receptions for 106 yards including a 41-yard TD catch and run with 1:24 left in the first half. He also has a few tackles on defense and had some big hits. &nbsp; Thomas Jefferson - <strong>Jake Pugh</strong> (SR) Quarterback 5’10 165: Jake made a few mistakes during the game but that didn’t phase him. He had 2 passing touchdowns. He also had 2 rushing touchdowns, 1 came with 8:42 left in the game to take back the lead, then the other came in overtime that ultimately won the game with Thomas Jefferson getting an INT on Aliquippa’s OT possession. &nbsp; Aliquippa – <strong>Vaughn Morris</strong> (SR) Quarterback 5’8 145: Vaughn scored the first touchdown of the game running it from 1-yard out with 5:59 left in the first half. He scored his second rushing TD of the game early 4^th to tie it up. Then he threw a 27-yard pass with 5:54 left in game down by 7. &nbsp; Aliquippa – <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="27259" first="Vernon" last="Redd"]</strong> (SR) Defensive Back 5’10 165: Vernon was kind of quiet throughout the game running the ball, but he came through when it mattered scoring a 14-yard game-tying TD with 1:54 left in regulation to essentially force overtime. Vernon had 24 carries for 94 yards and the lone touchdown.