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Kevin Gorman is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review staff writer and can be reached at 412-320-7812 or via e-mail.
When the Gators visited Thomas Jefferson Friday night, they found reason to have superstar tailback Justin King carrying the ball deep into the fourth quarter.
Despite jumping out to a 20-point first-half lead, Gateway found itself in a fight. And the Gators needed to use all of their big-play ability for a 34-21 non-conference victory.
"This is why I play my kids as long as I can -- because they apart," Gateway coach Terry Smith said. "The good thing is we became a better team. We got the challenge we needed."
The surprising thing is that it came against one of the top teams in WPIAL Class AAA. Gateway (6-1) is ranked No. 2 in Class AAAA by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, while Thomas Jefferson (5-2) is ranked No. 3 in AAA.
TJ held Gateway, the WPIAL's highest scoring team, to nearly 14 points below its average. The Gators had averaged 53.2 points in their past five games. And Gateway scored more points in one game (34) than TJ -- tied for the WPIAL's second-best scoring defense -- had allowed all season (32).
"They're a good football team and good football teams answer the bell," Smith said. "They could come to Quad A and compete at the highest level."
TJ, however, couldn't contain Gateway's breakaway ability. King rushed for a game-high 189 yards on 21 carries, scoring on a 59-yarder for a 7-0 lead with 8:08 remaining in the first quarter. King needs 67 yards against Trinity next week to become only the fourth Quad-A back to eclipse the 4,000-yard mark.
"He's at another level than anybody else," TJ coach Bill Cherpak said. "There were times we had a guy with an angle on him and he'd give a burst and be gone. That's a God-given and God didn't give any around here."
Thomas Jefferson tied the game with 2:01 left in the first quarter when Jake Mihalov caught a 33-yard pass from Dawson and dragged a defender into the end zone.
Gateway got a huge game from junior quarterback Aaron Smith, whose elusiveness helped him complete 6 of 13 passes for 166 yards and three touchdowns.
The Gators took a 14-7 lead on a fantastic play by John Ditto. The sophomore receiver caught the ball at midfield, slipped one defender's grasp and stiff-armed another before weaving his way through a half-dozen others on his way to a 73-yard scoring play at 6:16 of the second quarter.
"Was that one of the best high school plays you've ever seen?" Terry Smith asked. "Unbelievable. He made guys miss, broke tackles and wouldn't stop until he got into the end zone."
A minute later, Gators linebacker Ryan Kwiatkowski picked off a Brad Dawson pass and returned it 24 yards for a touchdown and a 21-7 lead. Dawson completed 14 of 30 passes for 196 yards, but threw three interceptions.
Then Aaron Smith found open Mike Barlak on a broken play into a 55-yard touchdown and a 27-7 lead with 3:01 left in the half.
"You hold your breath every time they have the ball," Cherpak said. "They had so many breakaway plays."
TJ recovered in the third quarter. Mike Springer blocked a punt and Nate Nix recovered and returned it 16 yards for a touchdown to cut it to 27-14.
Gateway added a 27-yard pass from Smith to David Williams to make it 34-14, but TJ responded with a 12-play, 56-yard drive capped by Jared Lowe's 1-yard run. The Jaguars had another drive stopped when Brandon Livesy intercepted a Dawson pass at the Gateway 25.
The Gators then drove 62 yards to put the game away.
"They were way beyond what I thought they were going to be," King said. "That helped us a lot to get ready for the playoffs. It was a good, old-fashioned dogfight."
