Catching up on the South Hills sports scene:
Thomas Jefferson junior Tyler Eber, a terrific 5-foot-10, 185-pound running back/defensive back, was cited as a TribLive High School Sports Network’s Terrific 25 football all-star for the 2025 season.
“Tyler had another amazing year,” said TJ coach Bill Cherpak, “especially given the fact that he had to carry the offensive workload for most of the season as we broke in a new starting quarterback. He is selfless and works as hard as anyone.
“He has been a great leader, and we will need more of the same next season. The coaching staff appreciates the toughness and team-first mentality that he brings to the team. Couldn’t ask for any more from him.”
A durable workhorse in the offensive backfield, Eber scored 30 or more touchdowns for the second year in a row. He also carried the ball more than 700 times in those two seasons combined.
This fall, he rushed for 1,885 yards on 340 carries and scored 31 touchdowns. He was the top source of yards for a TJ offense that reached the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals. He topped 100 rushing yards in 10 of the team’s 12 games.
Eber said the Jaguars will have the same team goals as always despite moving up to Class 5A next season.
“Obviously, moving up to 5A will be different,” Eber said, “but I’m more excited than anything else. There’s a lot of great teams and environments that I haven’t played in yet. Just because we move up a 5A does not change the TJ football expectation. The goal remains the same — we are after the state championship just like every year.
“There’s no doubt that me and my guys can make it happen. I’m especially excited to introduce our ground-and-pound style of play to a lot of opponents who haven’t seen a hard-nosed team like us. We have a very young team all-around, as well. The team and the coaching staff are ready to get our first 5A title.”
Player of the week
Thomas Jefferson senior Nick Trklja was honored Jan. 19 as the Trib HSSN boys basketball player of the week
A year ago, the TJ boys basketball team finished 10-13 overall and qualified for the postseason as the fourth playoff team out of Section 3-5A.
This season, the Jaguars have dominated the section and are one of the top teams in the classification heading into the final three weeks of the regular season.
Trklja scored often and in many ways in helping the Jaguars to a 7-0 section record and a two-game lead with five section contests remaining.
The 6-6 guard/forward can hurt opponents outside on the perimeter or he can use his size to do damage in the paint and on the blocks.
Both were on display as TJ earned two key section wins and improved its overall record to 15-1.
On Jan. 13 at home against Baldwin, Trklja scored 25 points as the Jaguars clawed their way past the Highlanders, 57-54.
Then Jan. 16 in a rematch against second-place Peters Township, Trklja once again led the way with 24 points as the Jaguars pounded the visiting Indians, 77-54.
The program has never won a WPIAL boys basketball title, and it was nearly 40 years ago when it last reached the WPIAL finals. TJ lost to Aliquippa in the 1988 Class 3A title game, 79-59.
Personal history was made for Trklja on Jan. 9 when he went over the 1,000-point mark for his career in a nonsection victory at home against Montour.
Trklja, whose grandfather was from Serbia, plans to continue his career in college next year but he unsure of the school.
Nick’s older brother Mike also played for the Jaguars in the early part of this decade, and he has a younger sister Marissa who is a sophomore at TJ.
Guarded optimism
The Baldwin boys basketball has taken a guarded approach to the 2025-26 high school basketball season.
The players in starting lineup — Max Marzina, Gavin Sakely, Evan Golvash, Jaxon Otto and Sadiq Anderson — are all guards. Marzina, at 6-foot, and Savely, who stands 5-10, are seniors. The 5-11 Golvash and 6-2 Otto are juniors. Anderson is a 5-11 sophomore.
Two of the team’s leading reserves — 5-8 senior Taye O’Toole and 5-8 sophomore Christopher Kozar — also are backcourt players.
When the Highlanders look to incorporate more board strength to the lineup, coach Jeff Ackermann calls on either Trey Alario, a 6-1 senior, Nico Macurak, a 5-11 senior, or Bryson Smolko, a 6-4 sophomore.
Baldwin tipped off the 2025-26 season with an 86-32 rout of Northgate in the Baldwin/Peters Township tournament.
The Flames were doused quickly as the Highlanders secured an 11-0 lead behind the scoring antics of Marzina, Golvash and Anderson, who netted the first hoop of the year for the Highlanders on a short jumper.
Baldwin ended the first quarter with a 34-6 lead and increased it to 51-17 by halftime as the Highlanders’ full-court pressure stymied the visitors.
Roster depth
Baldwin’s girls team has 11 players and coach Jamal Woodson uses each judicially.
Junior guard Lynsey Bernotas, who is the team’s leading scorer, junior forward Kelsey Meyer, sophomore forward Hannah Prilla and senior guards Julianne Ott, Isabella Niles, Laci Bernotas and Jacey Klingensmith are the most prominent players.
Leading subs include a trio of backcourt players in sophomore Mia Schwarzmiller, freshman Alia Bernotas and junior Jacey Howard, along with sophomore forward Natalya Brisco.
The Highlanders won 11 consecutive games after losing their season opener to Shady Side Academy. The winning streak ran from Dec. 5 to Jan. 9.
Baldwin defeated Pine-Richland, Upper St. Clair, South Park, Penn-Trafford, McKeesport and Elizabeth Forward in nonsection action; and Peters Township, Trinity, Albert Gallatin, Uniontown and Bethel Park in Section 4-5A matchups.
The Highlanders captured the Betsy Invitational held Dec. 26-27 at Elizabeth Forward with the wins over McKeesport and EF.
Laci Bernotas was named tournament MVP and Ott was selected to the all-tournament team.
Award winner
Thomas Jefferson senior Emmett Forte is this year’s recipient of the Breisinger Award in the Jaguars football program.
The 5-10, 190-pound Forte was a senior running back/linebacker on the Jaguars’ playoff team last season. He was a team leader, particularly as a starting linebacker.
Forte led the team in tackles with 49 unassisted and 24 assisted (83 total). He also had three interceptions that he returned 85 yards with two touchdowns, recovered two fumbles and had one sack.
He also contributed 236 yards and four TDs in the rushing department, caught one pass for two yards, returned eight kickoffs for 75 yards and was a punt returner.
The Breisinger Award was established in 1979 and named after former Pleasant Hills police officer Albert Breisinger. It is presented annually to a senior football player at TJ for his hard work, community involvement and academics.
The Breisinger Award is not the team MVP. It goes to the player who best exemplifies the “character, courage, leadership and sacrifice demonstrated in the life and eternal spirit” of Breisinger, whose high school football uniform number — 62 — is the only one retired at TJ.
Each member of the team receives one vote.
Forte joins a select group of Breisinger Award winners at TJ. Matt Martinis was last year’s recipient.
In the win column
Persistence paid off for the Brentwood girls basketball team, which won its first game of the season Dec. 29 against Mohawk.
The Spartans snapped a nine-game losing streak their with a 22-12 win over Mohawk in the South Side Beaver tournament.
Tafssira Garba Gambari, a senior guard, led Brentwood in the scoring column with eight points. The Spartans held a 12-4 lead after the first quarter.
Winning streak
Brentwood’s boys team was victorious on the same day, defeating South Side Beaver, 68-56, behind 6-8 senior forward Deng Mu’s game-high 34 points.
Michael Satler and Orlando Johnson, a pair of 6-2 junior guards/forwards, added 10 apiece for Brentwood in the South Side Beaver tournament matchup.
The Spartans won their final five games in December, beating Carlynton, 70-58, Propel Braddock Hills, 61-31, Northgate, 63-27, and in the South Side Beaver Tournament, South Side Beaver and Western Beaver. Brentwood then followed up with a 68-36 victory over Leechburg.
As of Jan. 16, the Spartans were 3-4 in Section 2-2A and 8-8 overall.
Shooting star
Trklja kicked off the new year for Thomas Jefferson with a 33-point performance Jan. 3 in his team’s 71-69 win in overtime against Erie at The Rumble at North Allegheny.
Junior swingmen Kane Eggerton added 13 and Justin Fry had 10 for the Jaguars.
Did you know?
Did you know that there are five assistants on the Baldwin boys basketball team’s coaching staff?
Head coach Jeff Ackermann is assisted by John Stone, Jake Samosky, James Wesling, John Marzina and Sebastian Kosanovich.