A Visit with former WPIAL champion football player Bill Cherpak
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Background Info: Cherpak was a sophomore defensive lineman at Steel Valley when the Ironmen went 13-0 and won the WPIAL Class 2A championship. His coach was George Novak. He went on to a successful career as a Pitt offensive lineman and eventually went into the coaching profession. Cherpak is now in his 24th season at Thomas Jefferson and ranks 10th on the WPIAL's all-time list for coaching victories with a 250-47 record. With Cherpak at the helm, Thomas Jefferson has placed among the top four teams in the WPIAL in its class 19 of the last 20 years. During this stretch, the Jaguars have won or shared 16 conference titles, placed second four times, and third once. And most importantly, Thomas Jefferson has won seven WPIAL titles and three PIAA crowns with Cherpak at the helm. He is one of only three WPIAL coaches who have won seven titles. The others are: West Allegheny's Bob Palko, who won eight, and New Castle's Phil Bridenbaugh, who won seven. Bill Cherpak's WPIAL championship experience as a player. "It was awesome to win a WPIAL title. Back then there was no PIAA Tournament, so winning a WPIAL title was everybody's dream. And Steel Valley had never won a title. It was a magical year. We had a great coaching staff with George Novak as our head coach. The support we had from the community was insane. It was a magical year, a once in a lifetime experience. Cherpak's WPIAL championship experience as a coach It's different to celebrate a WPIAL title as a coach. You want it more for the kids. You want the kids to experience that incredible feeling. That memory will be with you the rest of your life. Does Cherpak feel Steel Valley could have won a PIAA title in 1982. I wish they had a state tournament when I was in high school. We had the talent on that team to win a state title. Cherpak's thoughts on winning three PIAA titles at Thomas Jefferson Our first state title came the same year as our first WPIAL title. We didn't know anything about the other teams. We just went out and played and were better than the other teams. The other two state titles were back-to-back and we were expected to win both. |