Josh Rizzo stories, Page 29

Lee Zelkowitz is excited to get the track team moving through the indoor season. Practice was scheduled to start Dec. 5, and the Indians hope to utilize the season to build confidence and capitalize with some strong performances. Zelkowitz emphasized the goal is getting everyone ready for the outdoor championships...

Maddie London believed she had something to offer the athletes on the Shaler swim team. The current Pitt swimmer has had many experiences with coaching and hopes to make a positive impact for the Titans. London, a native of Collierville, Tenn., started her swimming career at Arkansas before transferring to...

The Shaler girls basketball program is excited to have an influx of sophomores ready to contribute at the varsity level. Coach Cornelious Nesbit is also excited he doesn’t have to rush their development, either. Shaler will feature 5-foot-9 senior guard Haley Kostorick, a Clarion commit, and 5-11 senior forward Mackenzie...

Dave Heavner wanted to make being a member of the Valley football team centered around expectations. Showing up and working hard at practice wasn’t going to be the be-all, end-all. To stick around, Heavner wanted the Vikings to show they were committed. “We put some rules and regulations into place,”...

Hannah Pugliese doesn’t need to dig into the history books to know what the tradition of the Penn Hills girls basketball program means. All she has to do is talk to volunteer assistant coaches Desiree Oliver and Jade Ely, who have been helping the team out in the preseason. Both...

The Penn Hills boys basketball team got a jolt from what it did beyond the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs last season. While the Indians didn’t bring home a PIAA crown, Penn Hills did leave a remarkable wave behind it during the state tournament. The Indians knocked off Lampeter-Strasburg and East...

Monessen girls basketball coach Janine Vertacnik has kept a close eye on how hard she is working with everyone. The Greyhounds don’t have a roster with a lot of room for a lot of flexibility. Avoiding injuries and ailments will be important for a team trying to repeat last season’s...

Becoming a better basketball player wasn’t going to be accomplished by doing the same old things. Jaisen Blackman, a senior at Monessen, decided he was going to find an outlet to help improve. By playing in a league in the Mon Valley, Blackman gave himself a boost. “It was my...

There was no need for Knoch boys basketball coach Alan Bauman to apply any extra pressure. What the Knights needed were honest expectations for the season ahead. Not returning many starters from last season’s team will mean a lot of fresh faces in new roles. “We’ve been talking a lot...

Making a run to the Petersen Events Center didn’t necessarily impact the passion surrounding the Knoch girls basketball program. For the Knights players who made school history by winning 22 games and reaching the WPIAL final and winning a PIAA playoff game for the first time, that passion was always...

Finding a way to adjust to a new coach can be difficult. But in the case of some players on the Highlands girls basketball team, they have a bit of a history with first-year coach Shawn Bennis. He has coached at the AAU level with the PK Flash AAU program....

Jimmy Kunst takes defense personally. The senior point guard for the Highlands basketball team knows his teammates feel the same way. Expect Kunst and his teammates to hit the floor, either to draw charges or grab loose balls. Entering a season with high expectations means the Golden Rams will need...

Burrell football coach Shawn Liotta isn’t going to try and cram any square pegs into round holes. Twenty-four years of coaching experience has shown Liotta the way to properly structure a program requires coaches and cultures evolving to their environments. For the 13 seniors on this year’s team, they’ve seen...

Getting a chance to look at the past while keeping an eye on the near future provided Penn Hills junior Hannah Pugliese with an opportunity for reflection. Pugliese was one of six Penn Hills athletes who represented the school at the WPIAL’s 13th annual Summit on Sportsmanship on Nov. 16...

Taking over as the Penn Hills varsity swimming coach is a fun challenge for Morgan Bush. Bush, a 30-year-old Oakland Catholic graduate, has spent much of her post-college life coaching swimming for clubs and in the summer. One challenge she hasn’t tackled is leading a high school program. After serving...

Brandon London was forced to sit out last basketball season when a football injury relegated him to the sidelines. As London’s shoulder healed, he and his Shaler boys basketball teammates were all focused on a common goal: getting past the WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinals. Last season, the Titans didn’t meet...

Maddy Cigna didn’t have a clear-cut path laid out in front of her when it came to planning for college. The Oakland Catholic senior and Shaler Township resident knew she liked volleyball, but did she love it? “When I was in eighth grade, I wasn’t sure I wanted to play...

Jenna Dawson was happy to find something that clicked in place. Falling in love with basketball was something the Belle Vernon senior guard picked up from her dad, Eric, who also played for the Leopards. Out of Dawson and her two siblings, she was the only one who stuck with...

Joe Salvino is fortunate to have a large amount of experience behind him to handle what in other states would be a unique issue. Due to the success of Belle Vernon’s football program, and how the PIAA does the football schedule, getting the boys basketball team on track will take...

Hard-headed wasn’t the word Amiera Smith was searching for. But there was a time the Penn Hills senior felt she could have had a better attitude about playing volleyball. As she prepares to head to Central State in Wilberforce, Ohio, next season, the Indians senior has seen herself morph into...

Lee Zelkowitz could see that Sawyer Kinney’s performance was climbing in the weeks leading up to the WPIAL Class 3A cross country championships. The Penn Hills junior had made major progress this season and seemed to be figuring things out. “He had a lot of good practices and intervals leading...

Being a sideline dad didn’t become a reality for Brad Phillips. The 34-year-old North Hills graduate originally wanted his son, Braden, to play for the Penn Hills teams in the Western Pennsylvania Youth Athletic Association. He didn’t want to be anything more than a spectator. Once Brad was convinced to...

The Penn Hills boys soccer team had the worst kind of luck during the 2022 season. For the most part, the Indians didn’t have any luck at all. Penn Hills, which entered the season seeking a second straight WPIAL Class 3A playoff berth, wasn’t able to replicate its success from...

Moon coach Earl Pannebaker added context to the history his team made Saturday. The Tigers defeating section rival Ambridge, 3-0, in the WPIAL Class 3A championship game at Highmark Stadium ended several streaks. For people scanning the history books, Moon’s victory snapped a 19-year title drought by giving the Tigers...

When it came to winning a second consecutive WPIAL championship, Moon coach Bill Pfeiffer knew dropping down a classification wouldn’t make anything automatic for the Tigers. But Moon hasn’t made things look too difficult. The Tigers haven’t allowed a goal since a September win over Butler and won their second...