Oct 14, 2016 3 min read

JEFFERSON HILLS – The Big Nine Conference showdown between Belle Vernon and Thomas Jefferson was anything but Friday night.

Thomas Jefferson scored 33 first-half points as the Jaguars rolled to a 55-0 victory in a battle of unbeatens.

“The game plan was to be stout against the run and I think we were for three quarters,” Belle Vernon coach Matt Humbert said. “We wanted to prevent them from grinding the ball against us, but they obviously had a lot of success throwing the ball tonight pretty much on splash plays.

“And their defensive line dominated us in every aspect.”

The outcome can be looked at as a measure of revenge Belle Vernon ended TJ’s 57-game home winning streak a year ago.

It took the Jaguars (6-0, 7-0) all of one play and 17 seconds to get on the scoreboard as quarterback Bobby Kelley hit Jon Muehlbauer on a 62-yard touchdown pass.

It didn’t get any better from there for Belle vernon (5-1, 6-1).

The Leopards were held to a three-and-out on its initial possession and on fourth down from its own 15-yard line, punter Tim Labuda could not cleanly catch the ball and TJ’s Quinton Hill recovered in the end zone to make it 13-0 with 9:29 to play in the first quarter.

Kelley hit Muehlbauer on a 74-yard touchdown pass late in the first quarter and the Jaguars led 20-0.

Zane Zandier, who is being recruited by several Division I schools, caught an eight-yard touchdown pass from Kelley on fourth down on the Jaguars’ next possession, and Kelley threw his fourth touchdown pass of the first half, and his third to Muehlbauer, with 1:31 to go in the second quarter. It covered 47 yards and made the score 33-0.

TJ outgained Belle Vernon 337-43 in the first half despite the Leopards running 27 plays to the Jaguars’ 25.

The Jaguars enacted the Mercy Rule with 3:45 to play in the third quarter when Hill ran 56 yards to make the score 40-0.

Hill added a 45-yard touchdown run, Shane Stump scored from one yard and Muehlbauer recorded a safety on Labuda for the remainder of TJ’s scoring.

Thomas Jefferson has scored at least 48 points in every game.

Hill rushed for 188 yards but was bottled up in the first half with only 54 on 11 carries. … Kelley was 7 of 15 for 257 yards, all in the first half. … Garret Fairman had an interception for TJ and Belle Vernon’s Ian Pallotta recovered a fumble. … Nick Hall led the Leopards with 46 rushing yards on 11 carries. Quarterback Mike Fine was sacked five times … TJ finished with 518 yards to Belle Vernon’s 61.