Josh Rizzo stories, Page 23

Bill Spina wasn’t ready to walk away from all the sweat equity he put into the Community College of Allegheny County Boyce Campus’ baseball program. Spina, a Plum graduate, will take over the program as coach this year following the resignation of his friend, Austin Long. Long took a position...

How the Penn Hills girls soccer team closed the season didn’t put a damper on the experience for coach Ashley DeVito. Facing two-time defending state champions Mars in the opening round of the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs resulted in a 7-0 defeat on the road Oct. 25. It didn’t knock...

Strong play and good fortune have kept the Penn Hills football program in line to reach all of its goals. Despite losing their Northeast Conference opener, the Indians won three straight and were set to enter their season finale against Kiski Area last Friday with a world of possibilities ahead...

Shaler senior cross country runner Samantha Hennen was open to new ideas. When it came to Hennen’s last season of high school competition, she wanted to try any opportunity to improve her training. Hennen found some inspiration through her 9-year old sister, Emily. Emily was taking classes on training to...

Claude Vangelus didn’t have aspirations of glory when he went to his first football camp at Millersville University last summer. The plan was to put the work in and maybe take some time to figure college life out. The 2020 Penn Hills graduate found a home early on and developed...

The Penn Hills boys soccer team spent 17 years trying to climb out of the wilderness and find the route back to the WPIAL playoffs. A strong second half of the season allowed the Indians to finish fourth in Section 4-3A to accomplish that goal. In the first round, 15th-seeded...

Cory Sakolsky isn’t concerned that the Shaler Area hockey team won’t listen to his instructions. The second-year Titans coach is worried they may listen a little too well. During Shaler’s 0-2 start — with losses to Armstrong and Latrobe — there has been a major focus on learning the structure...

Penn Hills girls volleyball coach Jay Mitlo would like to see a few things fall in the Indians’ favor. When evaluating his team’s performance thus far, Mitlo believes the team has settled into a tough pattern. “I had another coach ask me how the team is, and I say we...

A couple of days before the WPIAL Class 3A girls golf championships, Penn Hills junior Lucy Brayton had a plan laid out for how to get to the state tournament. Playing a practice round at Hannastown Golf Club, Brayton shot an 9-over par 81. That score, Brayton figured, should punch...

Results haven’t changed Penn Hills boys soccer coach Ryan Hankey’s message. Not even a stretch where the Indians won four of five matches, including two victories over Section 4-3A opponents they lost to the first time around. Their recent success was spurred on by the lessons learned from the team’s...

Khalil Barley-Morrow didn’t dream of being the starting center for the Penn Hills football team. Throughout much of this preseason, the 6-foot-1, 260-pound senior thought he would be playing guard. But the Indians have a roster full of versatile players, and Barley-Morrow wanted to help his team any way he...

Francie Buckner doesn’t always know what she’s doing on the tennis court. Don’t search for any signs of apprehension from Buckner though. The Penn Hills senior has a serious poker face to throw off her opponents. They don’t need to know about her lack of experience. Buckner, who started playing...

The Penn Hills boys soccer team appears reinvigorated. The Indians lost seven of their first nine games and appeared to be heading toward another season without the playoffs, but the back half of the Section 4-3A schedule has been kinder to Penn Hills The Indians showed major progress Sept. 29...

The Penn Hills girls golf team had to wait 14 years after Mallory Ruhling qualified before sending another competitor to the WPIAL finals. Lucy Brayton, who broke the streak last season, made sure the Indians didn’t have to suffer through another long wait. By shooting an 83 at the Murrysville...

Penn Hills senior midfielder Kari Holt easily found solace after the Indians battled through the rain in a 4-0 loss last Wednesday to Section 3-3A foe Plum. The Indians were playing with a roster only featuring three substitutes. Plum, which is off to a 7-0 start and has played in...

There was no use lamenting an opportunity lost for Shaler setter Tia Bozzo. With the specter of covid-19 restrictions hanging heavy over last season, the Titans were happy to be able to play. Missing out on the PIAA Class 4A playoffs due to a truncated playoff bracket — only the...

Stopping the Shaler football team’s offense requires doing some thinking. Opponents expecting the same old thing may be caught in some of the window dressing. By revitalizing the presentation, the Titans have made themselves a difficult group to prepare for. Shaler, which got off to a 2-2 start, scored 100...

Low numbers forced Penn Hills cross country coach Lee Zelkowitz to make some audibles with the schedule. The Indians passed on competing in the Red, White & Blue Invitational at White Oak Park and instead opened by competing in the Gateway Invitational at Boyce Park. “That’s the hardest course they...

Penn Hills football coach Jon LeDonne and his coaching staff worked hard prepping to play Woodland Hills on Sept. 17 at home. The Indians coaching staff also were tasked with keeping the players focused despite recent events in the community. No fans were allowed in Yuhas-McGinley Stadium last Friday and...

The Penn Hills girls tennis team already has shown an increased acumen for having competitive matches. Indians coach Richard Parks hopes this trend will lead to more victories in individual matches as well as for the team. Penn Hills is off to a 1-3 start, including a 5-0 sweep of...

The path to the WPIAL Class 3A boys soccer playoffs is a road the Penn Hills boys team is working on paving. The Indians have found ways to avoid letting potholes sink the early part of their schedule. Playing without senior Lenny Duncan, Penn Hills found a way to score...

Taylor Slaughter has inspiration every time she heads into the Penn Hills girls volleyball team’s locker room. Before the season, Indians coach Jay Mitlo had the members of the team write their goals on sticky notes and they all put them up on the wall. For what Milto describes as...

Playing at Oakmont Country Club was more than enough to keep Penn Hills junior Lucy Brayton motivated. Brayton became the first Penn Hills girls golfer to qualify for WPIALs in 14 years last season and spent the time since fine-tuning her game. Now that Brayton set a new standard for...

Preparing to become ironwomen started early in the Penn Hills girls soccer team’s training camp. No one would be left behind. Indians coach Ashley DeVito noticed when a player was dragging behind on running laps, a few teammates went and ran extra laps to encourage each other to keep up....

Senior middle hitter Rachel Burton understands the expectations for the North Allegheny girls volleyball team. With 88 victories in their last 89 matches, including an 18-0 mark last season that culminated in the Tigers’ fourth straight PIAA Class 3A title, no one in the program wants to see the train...