JEFFERSON HILLS — Thomas Jefferson lost its chance to win the Big Seven Conference title and the No. 1 seed in the WPIAL football playoffs by losing to West Mifflin last week.

Poor Knoch.

The Jaguars, the defending WPIAL and PIAA Class AAA champions, seemed to recover nicely as they jumped to a 35-0 lead in less than 14 minutes and cruised to a 49-0 first-round victory over the Knights.

"Last week was embarrassing for the kids," said Jaguars coach Bill Cherpak. "They saw the film … and wanted to atone for themselves and show what they're all about."

Thomas Jefferson (9-1) hadn't lost a section game since 2000 and was the favorite to repeat its titles this year.

"They're the real deal," said Knoch coach Mike King. "They are a good football team."

Despite the recent loss of running back Dan Geigerich to a separated shoulder, Thomas Jefferson didn't miss a beat as Cory Lotis and Nate Nix combined for 300 yards rushing and six touchdowns.

"We saw teams ran the ball on them consistently and we wanted to try and get up early and have them fight their way out," said Cherpak.

The Jaguars scored five touchdowns on their first 18 offensive plays while Knoch (3-7) ran 18 plays in its first six possessions.

After forcing a punt, Thomas Jefferson received a 38-yard scoring run from Lotis on the second play from scrimmage.

When Knoch quarterback Jordan Shoop fumbled the snap and lost the ball on the Knights' ensuing possession, Nix scored on a 28-yard run on the first play to give the Jaguars a 14-0 lead.

With 4:12 left in the first quarter, Knoch offensive lineman-linebacker Bill Elliott suffered an ankle injury and didn't return.

"You can tell half our offensive game plan was gone when Bill Elliott went down," said King. "He's a linebacker on defense and he runs the whole offensive line.

"Him going down hurt us. That's not the reason we lost, though," King added.

Even Cherpak knew the significance of the Knights losing Elliott.

"As soon as they lost (Elliott), that hurt their defense," said Cherpak. "They had guys moving around."

Nix added a 5-yard run and Lotis an 11-yarder, the latter with 1:23 left in the quarter for a 28-0 advantage.

A bad snap on a Knoch punt attempt gave the Jaguars the ball at the Knoch 30. After Nix was held for no gain, TJ quarterback Kevin Franz connected on passes of 13 and 19 yards to Chris Drager to give the squad a first-and-goal at the Knoch 8.

Nix scored on the next play for a 35-0 lead with 10:16 before halftime.With the mercy rule in effect to start the second half, Lotis scored on a 1-yard run, then a 53-yard fumble return by Doug Bittel made it 49-0 with 5:39 left in the third quarter in what would close out the scoring.Knoch's best chance to score came early in the fourth quarter, when, starting from their own 29, the Knights drove down to the TJ 1, but were turned away by the Jaguars.A 40-yard pass play from Shoop to Joel Berger gave the Knights a first-and-goal at the 4-yard line, but Shoop had an incomplete pass, a run to the 1-foot line, then no gain and a loss of two yards to end the drive.Shoop finished with 94 yards on 7-of-16 passing, two interceptions, two fumbles and was sacked twice."(Knoch) lost a lot of close games," said Cherpak. "We saw the film against Pine-Richland and you don't know what to expect anytime you have a good quarterback. You try to contain him and not let him beat us."The defensive game plan was to not let (Shoop) get in a rhythm, get set, get outside, and that seemed to work pretty well," Cherpak added."They have a good defense," said King. "Look at the scores all year. You have to make the most of your opportunities."<B>Notes:</B> Knoch didn't pick up a first down until there was 5:16 left before halftime. … TJ did not punt until there was two minutes left before halftime. … Thomas Jefferson has outscored its opponents 373-32 this season.