Jul 15, 2020 4 min read

Today we go back to Nov. 10, 2006, when Jefferson-Morgan defeated Duquesne in a wild WPIAL Class A football quarterfinal game. It turned out to be final game in Duquesne’s storied history as the school closed after the 2006-07 school year.

McMURRAY – After surviving its first-round playoff game against Fort Cherry, winning with only one offensive touchdown and two rushing first downs, it was a rough week of practice for the Jefferson-Morgan High School football team’s offensive line.

The Rockets knew they would have to play better offensively to extend their season, especially with defending WPIAL champion Duquesne the next opponent. Duquesne had eliminated Jefferson-Morgan from the postseason the last two years, and this season the Dukes’ defense hadn’t allowed more than 24 points in a game.

“We got after our offensive line this week in practice,” said J-M head coach Jan Haiden. “We didn’t play our best game last week.”

The Rockets, however, sure picked the right time to play their best offensive game.

Fourth-seeded Jefferson-Morgan rolled up 412 rushing yards and scored on its first four possessions of the second half to defeat Duquesne 47-37 Friday night in a wildly exciting Class A quarterfinal game at Peters Township High School.

Jefferson-Morgan (8-3) will play top-seeded Rochester (11-0) in the semifinals.

J-M had three players rush for at least 96 yards, led by Jarrod Moskola, who gained 152 yards on only 13 carries and scored two touchdowns. Justin Falcon added 137 yards on 21 carries and three touchdowns, including a 30-yard scamper that gave the Rockets a commanding 47-30 lead with 11:16 remaining.

“That was awesome,” Haiden said. “That’s what we do. We run the ball. Over the last six games, I don’t think we’ve thrown 20 passes. We run the ball and our kids take pride in that.”

The Rockets, who never trailed, set the tone early, scoring on the game’s fourth offensive play, a four-yard run by Falcon. The TD was set up by a 40-yard Moskola run.

The 7-0 lead lasted only 21 seconds as Duquesne (7-4) scored on its first offensive play, a 58-yard pass from quarterback Darrale Dunn to tailback Monte Ashby that made it 7-7.

The shootout was then on.

The Rockets increased their lead to 19-10 at halftime on second-quarter TD runs by Moskola and Falcon.

The third quarter was a wild one as the teams combined for 41 points and six touchdowns, including four in the first 2 1/2 minutes.

The Rockets’ Rudy Evosirch, who had a dominating game on offense from his right tackle position, recovered a fumble when Dunn was sacked to start the second half. The turnover set up tight end Cody Ketchem’s 15-yard TD pass from Mike Mox in the right front corner of the end zone that gave the Rockets a 25-10 lead.

Duquesne managed to stay within striking distance, but each time the Dukes would score the Rockets had an answer.

Fullback Scott Bogdan had a 68-yard TD run for J-M but Duquesne’s Shon Taylor returned the ensuing kickoff 85 yards to pull the Dukes to within 33-23. After Moskola had an eight-yard touchdown on a reverse around left end, Duquesne scored on a 51-yard pass by Dunn to tight end Ulysses Brown. Dunn did his best to keep the Dukes in the game, completing 11 of 19 passes for 262 yards and three scores.

“We knew they had good players up front and we would have trouble stopping them,” said Duquesne coach Pat Monore. “We just never could get over the hump. We couldn’t stop them.”

Dunn’s final touchdown pass cut J-M’s lead to 40-30 late in the third quarter, but the Rockets answered with another ground-oriented drive capped by Falcon’s 30-yard scamper.

“We could tell they were getting frustrated on defense,” Falcon said. “They started arguing with each other because they couldn’t stop us. We’re coming together at the right time of the season.”

The Dukes pulled back to within 10 points at 47-37 on a bizarre scoring play early in the fourth quarter. On 4th-and-9 from the Dukes’ 35-yard line, Taylor took a handoff on a reverse. As he was being tackled well short of a first down, Taylor pitched the ball to Ashby, who rambled 19 yards to the J-M 35 before fumbling the ball forward. It was scooped up by fullback Patrick Sanders at the 29 and he rambled into the end zone.

“I thought 20 or 25 points would win this game,” Haiden said. “I didn’t think it would take this many. But how many ways does Duquesne have to score?”

The Rockets finally got a much-needed defensive stop when Travis Watson intercepted Dunn late in the fourth quarter. Jefferson-Morgan was then able to run out the clock.