Josh Rizzo stories, Page 2

Mike Diano is happy to be back coaching at his alma mater. The 2000 Penn Hills graduate hopes a few more athletes will choose to join the cross country team. Right now, the Indians have only four athletes to open the season. Penn Hills has four boys and one girl...

Charles Morris recognizes the early-season struggles the Penn Hills football team has been forced to battle through. The Indians coach knows the program has new faces, and everyone is still figuring out how to work together. Penn Hills was too generous to its opponents during its first two games of...

Washington Wild Things catcher Ricardo Sanchez chose to come to Southwestern Pennsylvania because liked what the team had to offer. Following two seasons with the Trois-Rivieres Aigles, Sanchez believed he had a purpose with the Wild Things. During Washington’s 10-0 win over the Lake Erie Crushers on Saturday night in...

Tom Moul likes setting up the Fox Chapel boys and girls cross country teams with a confidence builder to start the season. Competing at the Gateway Invitational before the Red, White & Blue Invitational the following weekend has been a staple of the Foxes schedule for years. Fox Chapel opened...

Suffering through consecutive 0-10 seasons left Victor Nernberg with plenty to think about in the offseason. The Fox Chapel senior running back/linebacker focused all of his energy on becoming the fittest he has ever been. Nernberg was focused on working back from a torn MCL and partially torn PCL he...

Mt. Pleasant quarterback Cole Chatfield feels like 42 seconds is an eternity. Even if his team had less time, the Vikings quarterback believes it could operate efficiently. Mt. Pleasant needed that confidence during its 23-13 nonconference win over Burrell on Friday night at Vikings Stadium. The Buccaneers bullied the Vikings...

Myron Cook knows the Penn Hills girls soccer team was tantalized by the movement and pace of the Fox Chapel soccer team. On Aug. 28 at Nate Ferraro Field, the defending WPIAL Class 4A champions defeated Penn Hills, 10-0. “Even though we try to do the keep-away game, you’re trying...

Building strong communication with teammates isn’t a major mystery to Penn Hills junior midfielder Chase Delahanty. Sometimes, figuring out how to better mesh with your teammates means asking questions. Following a 10-0 loss to North Hills on Aug. 27, Delahanty and his teammates wanted to learn about how passes should...

Emily McKee has much to live up to during her sophomore season for the Fox Chapel girls soccer team. The pressure is different after pocketing 24 goals during her freshman season. She’s grabbed people’s attention, and now McKee is faced with challenging herself to get better. “There’s pressure, but it’s...

London Bitar learned that the regional qualifiers of the Drive, Chip & Putt competition were a step up in pomp and circumstance from the circuit she fought through to get there. When Bitar reached that level a few years ago, she was battling many distractions. When the Fox Chapel freshman...

The football game between Woodland Hills and Penn Hills was stopped with 10 minutes, 50 seconds remaining following a shooting two-tenths of a mile down the street in the CVS parking lot on Lynn Avenue in Turtle Creek. The Wolvarena was cleared as a precaution, with Woodland Hills ahead of...

A shooting in Turtle Creek on Friday night forced the suspension of the Woodland Hills-Penn Hills football game. At 10:06 p.m., police were dispatched to the 1200 block of Lynn Avenue for reports of gunfire. Around the same time, a man had left the game at the Wolvarena stadium and...

There is a clear goal for Penn Hills golf coach William Berkshire. Every time the Indians play, he wants to see gradual progress from his players. While Penn Hills has yet to win a dual match early this season, the Indians believe they have shown improvement from the top to...

The defending WPIAL Class 4A girls soccer champions are dropping down a class, but Fox Chapel coach Carlo Prati knows that repeating as champions likely won’t be any easier in Class 3A. Defending PIAA champion Moon, returning WPIAL champion South Fayette and perennial state power Mars will all have something...

Raymond Ager III enjoys being part of a team. While playing for the Steel City Bobcats, an adult football league team at Friendship Park, Ager saw the Penn Hills girls volleyball team practicing. “I saw the girls working out up there, and I asked what they were doing,” Ager said....

Clairton defensive back Taris Wooding and the Bears’ crushing defense didn’t worry much about the offense. With Wooding and his teammates patrolling the secondary, Steel Valley’s offense wasn’t gaining any territory. The Ironmen didn’t score any points on offense, allowing the Bears to survive three turnovers of their own for...

Frank Fabian isn’t sure who halted Highlands quarterback Menage Lucas’ twisting effort at the goal line. But the Armstrong football coach said his kids told him it was Markayne Duncan who stopped a diving Lucas inches short during a 2-point conversion attempt in the first overtime of a 38-37 Week...

Tony Ruscitto knew that Jonah Sussan only became a quarterback due to default. When Beth-Center needed the now-senior and three-year returning starter to play under center, Sussan was happy to oblige his 84-year-old veteran coach. Ruscitto chose to create a program to help develop signal callers. For the past few...

Editor’s note: Trib HSSN will publish team-by-team previews for one conference per day until the start of the high school football season Friday. Due to production schedule conflicts, the Bentworth and California previews will be published later in the week. Sawyer Kramer is always working toward pursuing the football. Avella’s...

Steve McCormick has worked to make every member of the Keystone Oaks football team versatile. With only 30 players on the roster, the Golden Eagles can’t afford to have many specialists. McCormick wants to ensure that when injuries happen, they aren’t catastrophic. That’s why the Golden Eagles have been learning...

Blake Krushinski has a clear path forward for his baseball career. By committing to West Virginia to play baseball before his junior season at Fox Chapel, Krushinski can focus on self-improvement. One of his first goals is to add 15 to 20 pounds before he graduates. Krushinksi, a right-handed pitcher,...

Donnie Militzer wanted to be proactive following a nightmarish 2023 season. Toward the end of the season, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart’s football program was only dressing 17 or 18 players. Militzer went to athletic director Mike McDonald in the offseason with a request. He needed more players. The...

Shady Side Academy coach Chuck DiNardo would like to see the Bulldogs learn from the adversity they faced last season. During the last two weeks of the regular season, Shady Side Academy had a pair of six-point losses that impacted its playoff seeding. “Being in tight games like that is...

The fourth quarter isn’t going to be the time when the Fox Chapel offensive line folds up its tent. The Foxes have spent most of the offseason building their physical capability to push the pace with their opponents. Fox Chapel plans to employ its run-heavy wing-T attack for 48 minutes....

Logan Carlisle won’t fret too much about the McGuffey football program bumping up to Class 3A this season. The Highlanders have a large senior class with players accustomed to playing both ways. Carlisle, a senior quarterback, believes that McGuffey has the mentality to carry its success into the Western Hills...