Sep 3, 2015 4 min read

It was easy to see what motivated Ringgold’s players in the days leading up to the season opener last August. With every break of the offensive huddle, the players clapped and shouted in unison, “Beat TJ.”

Of course, TJ stands for Thomas Jefferson, the team that has dominated the conference for the past decade. It was a rallying cry for a team starving for more playoff success and tired of finishing behind the Jaguars in the standings.

They wanted to be mentioned among the WPIAL’s elite, but Thomas Jefferson is unlike any program in Class AAA. The Jaguars rolled to a 49-6 win behind Austin Kemp’s 249 yards and four touchdowns.

Ringgold was beat in every way imaginable and it put a damper on the lofty expectations surrounding Nick Milchovich’s first year as head coach with the program. The Rams bounced back with 10 consecutive wins, reaching the WPIAL semifinals, where they lost to Central Valley.

The lopsided loss to Thomas Jefferson in that Week 1 matchup did not stop the Rams from moving forward. The plan is different now as they prepare for the Jaguars tonight in a Big Ten Conference game at Joe Montana Stadium.

Kickoff is 7:30 p.m.

This is one of 17 games featuring local teams to open the WPIAL football season.

“Everything last year was about beating TJ,” Milchovich said. “This year’s team, it hasn’t been about that. It’s been more of a business-like approach. We’re just going to go out there and treat it like a football game.”

A new approach could work. Since the 2004 season, Ringgold is 0-8 against Thomas Jefferson and has lost by an average of 37 points. The most points the Rams scored was 14 and the lowest margin of defeat was 21 points. They was outscored 353-56.

The Jaguars have done that to a lot of teams. They are 66-2 in conference play over the past decade, winning eight conference titles. The program has won four WPIAL titles and three state titles since 2004.

Thomas Jefferson head coach Bill Cherpak does not have a secret formula. The Jaguars run right at opponents, control time of possession and play stout defense. The Rams were reminded of that last season.

Thomas Jefferson rushed for 391 yards, controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football, and allowed Ringgold to call just 25 offensive plays.

“We just got beat, man on man, their 11 against our 11,” Milchovich recalled. “There were no excuses. They blocked us and we couldn’t get a stop. They were like our kryptonite last year. They kept possession of the ball and drained the clock. We made too many mistakes.”

On defense, the Jaguars stacked the box to try to stop running back Chacar Berry and had a safety shadow quarterback Nico Law. The plan was flawless. Thomas Jefferson outmuscled Ringgold’s veteran linemen and kept the duo in check.

Law is gone after an exceptional high school career and his replacement is junior George Martin, a 6-4 pocket passer who could present a challenge to the Jaguars. A quarterback who can stretch the field with his arm can open up the running game.

“TJ is always going to be tough to beat,” Berry said. “We’ve been preparing for two weeks now, learning all their run plays and all the formations. I think we have a great chance. I’m always excited for a challenge.

“On offense, they keep the guys in the box and I just have to run hard all night. On defense, all you really have to do is stop the run.”

Instead of preparing for their opponent in the final preseason scrimmage last week, the Rams were studying Thomas Jefferson. With nine all-conference players gone, the Jaguars altered their approach. Last season, they put Kemp, a bruising tailback who rushed for 1,994 yards and 37 touchdowns in 2014, at quarterback and let him run right at the Ringgold defense.

That won’t be an option this time because Kemp is gone, replaced by seniors Ryan Scanlon and Braden Dahanish, two physical runners who fit Cherpak’s system. Regardless of who lines up in the backfield, the key is the same for Ringgold: block effectively on offense and stop the Jaguars’ running game on defense.

If not, history could repeat itself.

“The kids know the task at hand and what they’re up against,” Milchovich said. “We stressed to them that our motto has been that we feel we have taken the program to another level and we want to keep moving forward. To do that, this is the team you have to beat.”