Josh Rizzo stories, Page 39
Resilient Penn Hills girls volleyball team working to achieve goals
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...
Penn Hills junior motivated to return to WPIAL girls golf finals
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...
Penn Hills girls soccer works hard to build united front
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....
New wave of players ready to carry on North Allegheny girls volleyball tradition
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...
Motivated Mapletown hunting for playoff berth
Mapletown football coach George Messich believes this year’s team is the most motivated group he’s had during his time at the school. The Maples, who finished 2-5 last season, return nine starters on offense and defense leading into its season-opener against Avella at home. “Our goal every year is to...
New coach stresses preparation at Jefferson-Morgan
Brent Baker won’t necessarily have to build from the ground up as he takes over the Jefferson-Morgan football program. The first-year head coach spent the past three years as an assistant coach and worked at all levels of the program. Baker has been an assistant coach at three programs —...
Carmichaels seeks playoff return after hard-luck miss
Carmichaels won its first five games last year before dropping two in a row to end the season. Most years, the Mikes, who tied for second place in the Tri-County South Conference with a 5-2 record, would have been heading to the WPIAL Class A playoffs. But with spots limited...
Imani Christian to play ‘gladiator football’ in bid to return to playoffs
Imani Christian coach Cliff Simon knows numbers in his program are unlikely to ever be high. The Saints will have between 16 to 20 players when they play Monessen on Sept. 3 to open the season. That’s why Simon has used the term gladiator football since he took over before...
Collier Township girl, 14, learning the ropes as boxer
Annamarie Armenti piled in the car Aug. 10 with her mom Sarah and boxing coach Chris Williams to make a 62-mile trek from Pittsburgh to Youngstown, Ohio. With less than a year of experience boxing, and at an age group and weight class that doesn’t feature much female competition, traveling...
Players make new coach feel at home at Waynesburg
Making the transition to coach Waynesburg’s football team wasn’t something Aaron Giorgi was apprehensive about for long. The players Giorgi inherited took any lingering apprehension away shortly after camp started. “The kids have been working hard and made the transition easier for me personally,” said Giorgi, who was the head...
Youth flag football teams to bring Penn Hills flavor to Super Bowl week
The Pittsburgh Elite flag football program earned an opportunity for a new experience. By winning the 9U, 11U and 12U tournaments Aug. 1 at the Valley Forge Championships in Conshohocken, the program will have an opportunity to compete at the NFL Flag Bowl on Feb. 4-6 in Los Angeles. The...
Shaler out to end losing streak with new offense
Luke Cignetti and the Shaler football team are ready to show everyone their offense may have a little more zip this season. The junior running back is excited for the Titans to demonstrate their new wrinkles. “We seem to be clicking and firing on all cylinders,” Cignetti said. “As long...
Penn Hills ready to tackle front-loaded schedule
Luke Pugliese doesn’t anticipate having to wait until the Penn Hills football team opens Class 5A Northeast Conference play in early October to find out what kind of team the Indians have. The Penn Hills senior offensive lineman sees the challenges lurking from day one. Penn Hills will have scrimmages...
Woodland Hills looks to build on bounce-back season
Sustaining the momentum Woodland Hills started to build last season isn’t something senior Deontae Williams takes lightly. The Wolverines went 5-3 and returned to the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs after a one-year absence, losing to eventual finalist Peters Township in the first round. “We started lifting in January and February...
Penn Hills girls soccer eager to get to work in offseason
Seventh-year Penn Hills girls soccer coach Ashley DeVito is always up for an opportunity to keep her team engaged in the offseason. Once the mask restrictions were eased earlier this summer, DeVito was contacted by the Deer Lakes girls soccer coach and invited to participate in a tournament. The Indians...
Pittsburgh Hardball Academy provides travel ball opportunity for Penn Hills players
Playing for the Pittsburgh Hardball Academy provided Anthony Sciulli with a chance to play travel baseball he may not have otherwise had. Sciulli, a Chatham commit and 2021 Penn Hills graduate, has always played on more than one baseball team. When Penn Hills didn’t have a American Legion team, he...
Penn Hills’ Daemar Kelly joins Philly AAU team for high-end summer competition
Daemar Kelly told Penn Hills basketball coach Chris Giles his goal was to play AAU basketball for Team Final in Philadelphia. Giles had a friend whose son played on one of their younger teams. He was able to put Kelly in touch with the coaches. Then Kelly, who has offers...
Penn Hills grad staying sharp with Monroeville summer ball team
Anthony Tucci’s arm was in midseason form when Clarion University wrapped up its pandemic-shortened baseball season. The Penn Hills native, a junior pitcher for the Golden Eagles, found a spot where he could keep throwing when his coach at CCAC Boyce, Bill Spina, reached out and asked if he would...
Penn Hills Eagles track and field club pushes forward despite pandemic interruptions
Penn Hills Eagles track and field coach Chuck Carter didn’t get a typical buildup to the Three Rivers Association track championships this spring. With pandemic restrictions, the club program wasn’t able to have any meets. The first competition Penn Hills joined was the Three Rivers Association Championships last weekend at...
Penn Hills softball players earn postseason honors
Lauren Sipple didn’t anticipate having many nerves about if she would see the field for the Penn Hills softball team as a freshman. The Indians had vacancies at several positions going into the season. “I wasn’t nervous because I knew there weren’t a lot of people at Penn Hills who...
Penn Hills senior gets in on ground floor of Division II college volleyball program
Alain Tamo-Noche saw a unique opportunity available by committing to play men’s volleyball at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. The 6-foot-1 Penn Hills senior outside hitter will be on the ground floor of a brand new program. The Marauders will be part of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s first...
Penn Hills basketball standout heads to CCBC with drive to improve game
Eddie Daniels wanted to be in a place where everyone would have the same mindset as him. When the Penn Hills senior basketball standout didn’t field an offer he liked to play college at the next level, he sought an environment that would keep him competitive. Daniels decided to bet...
Penn Hills lineman caps high school career with East-West All-Star appearance
Claude Vangelus wasn’t a refined offensive lineman when he started with the Penn Hills High School football program. Relying primarily on his size, Vangelus entered high school with learning to do. All of his progression over four years led to Vangelus being selected to participate in the recent Pennsylvania Scholastic...
Redeemer Lutheran track team shows program’s growth at national meet
The National Christian School Athletic Association track and field meet May 22 at Geneva College provided good perspective for Redeemer Lutheran junior runner Christian Loewe. Competing against schools from multiple states, athletes from the Rams’ young track program got an idea of what kind of progress they’ve made. Loewe, who...
Penn Hills notebook: Young runners shine for Indians track team
Penn Hills only had one athlete qualify for the PIAA Class AAA track and field championships last week, but Indians coach Lee Zelkowitz was pleased with contributions from younger runners as well. The Indians’ young 1,600-meter relay team reached the medal stand. Freshmen Caroline McDevitt and Maliah Powell teamed up...
