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Oct 21, 2025 By Rob Burchianti 4 min read

The best way to maintain the lead in the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Touchdown Club contest is to make sure you’re the leading scorer of the week.

That’s what Jefferson-Morgan’s Deakyn DeHoet did despite having to step in as quarterback in the Rockets’ 47-6, bounce-back win over visiting Avella at Parker Field on Friday night.

The usually multi-positional senior star had to take over behind center due to an injury to quarterback Triton Farabee the previous week and not only ran for four touchdowns and a two-point conversion for 26 points but also tossed a 35-yard touchdown pass to Seth Fox.

DeHoet helped J-M respond with a strong effort against the fourth-place Eagles after suffering its first loss of the season at Bentworth the week before to remain in a tie with the Bearcats for second place, one game behind California.

DeHoet, who scored on runs of 49, 41, 10 and 15 in racking up 153 rushing yards, upped his contest-leading total to 170 points, although Albert Gallatin’s Adam Pegg stayed within striking distance by also scoring four touchdowns in a 24-point effort in the unbeaten Colonials’ 63-21 victory at Brownsville.

Pegg had TD runs of 11, 14 and 55 in rushing for 226 yards and also caught a 57-yard scoring pass from Bronx Jamison. Pegg, who has scored at least one touchdown in 18 consecutive games, is in second place with 144 points.

Waynesburg Central’s Zach Jiblits made it three area players who turned in a four-touchdown performance with scoring runs of 22, 14, 48 and 36 during a 218-yard showing in the Raiders’ 47-12 win over Charleroi. Jiblits came into the game with just two TDs on the season but is now at 36 points and in 29th place.

Following DeHoet and Pegg at the top of the standings is Tee Guesman who had one touchdown and is third with 134 points.

California’s Malachi Peak was one of four local players who scored three touchdowns in Week Eight. Peak ran for 150 yards, including scoring runs of 25, 60 and 4 yards, in the Trojans’ 38-3 win over Beth-Center to move into fifth place in the standings and became the fourth area player to reach the century mark with 102 points.

Peak and DeHoet will be on the same field Friday night when Jefferson-Morgan hosts California in a Class A Tri-County South Conference showdown.

Jumping into fifth place is Frazier’s Derek Diamond who had touchdown runs of 7 and 53 yards in the Commodores’ key 35-33 victory at Greensburg Central Catholic. Diamond, with 90 points, moved in front of sixth-place John Woodward of J-M who had one TD against Avella and is at 86 points.

Also churning out three-TD efforts in addition to Peak were Chace Petrosky of Belle Vernon (runs of 9, 21 and 3 yards in a 48-6 win over Ringgold), Jayden Mickens of Connellsville (runs of 1, 45 and 11 yards in a 56-12 win over Uniontown) and the Colonials’ Roman Smith (runs of 9, 10 and 53 yards).

Mickens joins teammates Linkon Keller and Christian Thomas, who each scored two touchdowns Friday, in a five-way tie for 18th place with 42 points.

Petrosky rushed for 156 yards against the Rams and is tied with teammate Curtis Wade for eighth place with 60 points. Wade had TD runs of 9 and 15 yards along with a two-point conversion.

Smith soared into 11th place with 50 points.

Jackson Mickens was held scoreless as Southmoreland was blanked by Elizabeth Forward in suffering its first loss of the season but still sits in seventh place with 72 points.

Tied for 10th place are the area’s two highest-scoring freshmen in California’s Brandon Meier and West Greene’s Joel Rizor with 56 points apiece. Meier scored six points thanks to a trio of two-point conversion runs. He leads local players with seven two-pointers. Rizor accounted for both of the Pioneers’ TDs in a 28-14 loss to Carmichaels with jaunts of 58 and 44 yards.

Belle Vernon’s Preston Rathway became the third area player to boot four field goals this season with kicks of 34 and 46 yards against Ringgold.

California’s Alan Dennis became only the third player to return a non-blocked punt for a touchdown this season, taking one back 42 yards against Beth-Center.