H-S Athlete of the Week: Jeremiah Robertson, Jefferson-Morgan
NAME: Jeremiah Robertson
SCHOOL: Jefferson-Morgan
GRADE: Senior
SPORT: Basketball
ROBERTSON鈥橲 WEEK: Robertson helped lead the Jefferson-Morgan boys basketball team to its first state victory in 26 years with a game-high 24 points as the Rockets rolled past District 9 champion Redbank Valley, 50-26, in a PIAA Class 2A first-round playoff game on Saturday after a long road trip to New Bethlehem. Robertson then overcame a split lip suffered in the first quarter of Wednesday鈥檚 second-round game at Peters Township High School鈥檚 AHN Arena to still lead Jefferson-Morgan with 15 points although the Rockets lost to Jeannette, 68-36, to end their season at 24-4. 鈥淚 got elbowed going up for a rebound and got my lip busted and had to go out of the game,鈥� Robertson said. 鈥淚t was pretty bad at the time. I kind of knew the way things were going this was going to be our last game. When I was next to my trainer he was telling me I might need stitches. I said no, I don鈥檛 care, I want to go play, it鈥檚 my last game. So I did in the second half, I went out and played as hard as I could.鈥�
JOURNEY TO J-M: Robertson grew up near Philadelphia and attended Coatesville High School for two years. 鈥淚 probably started playing basketball when I was about 10,鈥� Robertson said. 鈥淚 was kind of a natural at it. My older brother (20-year-old Josiah Robertson) played basketball and I would watch him play and that鈥檚 what really made me want to play, but I didn鈥檛 play any sports in ninth grade or 10th grade. I played as a youth for street leagues and things like that. I moved here after my 10th grade year. The two years I played at J-M were my first on an organized team like that. I was welcomed in because my cousin, John Woodward, was a starter on the team. Getting into practices and getting along with the team was really easy because he was friends with everybody.鈥�
ADJUSTING TO TEAM CONCEPT: Robertson admitted he had to change a bit to fit in with the Rockets鈥� team. 鈥淚 was trying to work on getting my attitude to be better when I first got here, being more social and being more team-oriented,鈥� Robertson said. 鈥淚 had never really played organized ball, it was a lot of one-on-one. I worked on my defense a lot but I was already quick so I used that and put a little bit of thinking with it and it helped me get a lot better at that end.鈥�
SCORING PUNCH: J-M coach Brandon Lawless knew his team needed an offensive boost going into the 2025-26 season. 鈥淛eremiah came in as a sixth man last year and filled his role, stayed true to it and bought into it and really helped the team,鈥� Lawless said. 鈥淗e was one of our better scorers and from last year to this year he really took off. He did it every night. He was really electric and fun to watch, a very skilled kid. He averaged about 19 a game and that really gave our offense a charge.鈥� Roberson was happy to help. 鈥淚 knew they were going to be counting on me a lot offensively,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 got along good with Coach, he did a good job. I knew I had to play good defense, too, and everything worked out pretty well.鈥�
SPECIAL SEASON: The 18-year-old Robertson, who lives with his guardian Letticia Torres, was part of an all-senior starting lineup that led the Rockets to their first section championship in 25 years, their first WPIAL and PIAA wins in 26 years and a program-record in wins. 鈥淚t was fun helping John and his friends win the section championship, get a playoff win and then a state playoff win, too,鈥� Robertson said. 鈥淚t honestly felt great being part of that and then also helping them get the most wins in school history.鈥� Lawless pointed out two milestones that were hit during the season. 鈥淛eremiah surpassed 500 points and Dayten Marion surpassed 100 blocked shots for the second year in a row,鈥� Lawless said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very special to have those two unique skill sets of a scorer and defender on each end of the court. That combination made us very formidable.鈥�
MOST MEMORABLE: Two games stood out most to Robertson this past season. 鈥淭he best game we played all season was against Redbank Valley in the state playoffs,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e played as a team so well that game. The other was the second Chartiers-Houston game. We needed that to get the section title and it came right down to the end (teammate Jaymison Robinson hit the game-winning shot in the final seconds). That was a great moment for us.鈥�
ODDS AND ENDS: Robertson would like to extend his basketball career. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have a school in mind because I only played two years of high school basketball but I鈥檇 like to play in college,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 going to wait and see if the year that we just had might help me get somewhere but that鈥檚 my plan, to play college basketball.鈥� 鈥� Robertson is an enthusiastic gamer. 鈥淥ther than real sports, I love gaming,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y favorite is NBA2K. I鈥檓 pretty decent.鈥�
鈥� Compiled by Rob Burchianti