Josh Rizzo stories, Page 31
Shaler girls grab hard-earned playoff spot in season to remember
Awards from youth basketball camps aren’t items that Hanna DeJidas will likely be submitting with college applications. But the junior guard on the Shaler girls basketball team likely won’t forget winning them either. The foundation for the Titans program was laid with tokens of appreciation from varsity coach Cornelious Nesbit....
Penn Hills wrestlers make strides during nontraditional season
Penn Hills wrestling coach Jeremy Packer enjoyed having a different type of schedule this season. Due to what the Indians thought were going to be low numbers, Penn Hills focused on competing in individual tournaments and building up the skills of wrestlers in a program filled with inexperienced grapplers. Entering...
Penn Hills notebook: Indoor track team looks to build speed, stamina
While Penn Hills indoor track coach Lee Zelkowitz like to use the winter season as a program builder for the fall outdoor season, the Indians would like to build some momentum by sending a few athletes to the state meet. But first, the Indians had to have athletes qualify for...
Shaler notebook: Titans make themselves at home in playoffs
This winter, making the playoffs was standard operating procedure for the Shaler athletic department. The Titans saw plenty of teams earn a chance to move on to the next level of competition. The Shaler boys basketball, girls basketball, boys bowling, girls bowling and two unified bocce teams all earned spots...
Powerful Obama Academy ready for challenge from scrappy Allderdice in City League girls title game
Obama Academy girls basketball coach Monique McCoy has stressed to her team nothing will be easy against Allderdice in the City League championship game Sunday at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. The Eagles have dominated the Dragons over the past three seasons, winning seven consecutive games, six of which were by double...
Family motivates Fox Chapel junior in quest for postseason wrestling success
Josh Alexander had one of his brothers work on lighting a fire underneath him. With the Alexander family, there is a lot of successful family history on the wrestling mat. Both of Alexander’s brothers wrestled at Maryland, and his father competed at Clarion. The 139-pound Fox Chapel junior who is...
Fox Chapel swimmers stay motivated to collect more medals
Fox Chapel swimming coach Dan Taylor wants to make sure every year that the swimming team finds different ways to challenge its athletes. Fox Chapel has a high percentage of kids who seldom leave the pool, taking part in club competition as well as high school events, so it is...
Allderdice, Obama Academy gear up for City League title game at Duquesne’s Cooper Fieldhouse
Ethan Anish always enjoyed the thought of being able to play a game at Duquesne University’s gymnasium. When Anish takes the court for Allderdice at 2 p.m Sunday UPMC’s Cooper Fieldhouse for the City League boys basketball championship game against Obama Academy, he will add more roots to his deep...
Coach, 72, helps keep Penn Hills fitness team in tiptop shape
Bob Martini’s energy is infectious. When it comes to fitness — or talking about it — it’s not hard to see why the 72-year-old Penn Hills resident has been able to keep the physical fitness team at the high school together. Usually after he works out with the team, Martini...
Fox Chapel notebook: Foxes swimmers have choices for WPIAL events
Fox Chapel’s swimmers won’t be lacking for things to do during the WPIAL Class 3A swimming championships. Sophie Shao and Sarah Pasquella will both be trying to rack up medals in multiple events. Both Shao and Pasquella are tied for a team-high six automatic qualifying times. Pasquella has qualified in...
Fox Chapel boys look to peak in playoffs
With the WPIAL Class 5A boys basketball playoffs quickly approaching, Fox Chapel coach Zach Skrinjar has a simple aim. The Foxes want to be playing their best as the postseason begins. Grabbing consecutive wins over Plum and Armstrong Jan. 31 and Feb. 3 helped Fox Chapel secure its bid. “As...
Shady Side Academy gets big lift from big men to defeat Deer Lakes, share section title
Shady Side Academy’s 6-foot-4 forward Nate Mallory wants to avoid hearing the same phrase over and over again. With a chance to earn a share of the Section 3-3A boys basketball title against Deer Lakes on Friday night at Mellon Gymnasium, Mallory and fellow 6-4 big man Ben Michaels lived...
Penn Hills girls complete steep climb back to playoffs
Egypt Coleman didn’t need to wait to hear the whistle or for the first basket to be scored. The 5-foot-11 junior forward believed the Penn Hills girls basketball team was back on the path back to the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs. “We already knew,” Coleman said. “With how much work...
Penn Hills’ Sherron Schifino helps new-look Point Park get back to winning ways
Sherron Schifino didn’t find a home at Youngstown State. The Point Park senior went to Ohio following his graduation from Penn Hills in 2017 as a preferred walk-on and did some workouts with the team, but decided to come back home. After spending time at CCAC Boyce, Schifino landed with...
Experienced duo makes difference for Penn Hills bowling team
Logan Kennedy and Nick Hepler didn’t have to wait to form a bond until they were on the Penn Hills bowling team. The duo had already met through club competitions a few years before. Now, the pair are starting to help the Indians form the foundation of a strong boys...
Shady Side Academy boys weather storm as injuries hit
The Shady Side Academy basketball team never planned on being a half-court, defensive-oriented team. But circumstances have changed how the Bulldogs have had to approach things down the stretch. Shady Side Academy lost senior guard Ethian Salvia to a torn ACL and has played several games without Eli Teslovich, who...
Boosted by versatile junior, Fox Chapel girls make playoff push
Sarah Slember’s athletic resume isn’t lacking in skills and experience to display. Playing basketball was difficult for Slember because of poor fortune. A pair of sprained ankles as a freshman limited her availability, while a torn ACL halted her sophomore season. Finally healthy, Slember has shown her versatility for a...
Penn Hills notebook: Shot putter kicks off college career with top 10 finishes
Angelo Allen has successfully started his track career at Seton Hill University. The 2022 Penn Hills graduate has recorded a pair of top-10 finishes during the early part of the indoor season. Allen finished in third place in the shot put at the Capital University Comet Open with a toss...
Fox Chapel 189-pounder coming into his own after strong showing at county meet
Trevor Katz received an unorthodox scouting report on his 189-pound quarterfinal opponent in the Allegheny County Wrestling Championships long before the match Jan. 20 at Fox Chapel. Highlands’ Tyler Bender had received high marks for his character from Katz’s mom. Colleen Katz teaches English at Highlands and told Trevor how...
With speedy senior providing spark, Fox Chapel hockey scorching PIHL opponents
Good luck trying to intimidate Fox Chapel senior forward Sam Smith off the puck. Playing varsity hockey as a sophomore hardened Smith to the challenges of life in the PIHL. Two years ago, Smith was trying to stop players that were much more physically mature than him. Smith, who is...
Penn Hills’ Cam Thomas works to ‘develop top-end speed’ during indoor track season
Cam Thomas was pleased that though imperfect, his start to the indoor track season showed tangible progress from the year before. The Penn Hills junior finished the 60-meter dash in 7.27 seconds to place third at the first TSTCA indoor meet at Edinboro University. Thomas’ time improved on his best...
‘Young, smart’ Penn Hills girls lineup looks to grow in 2nd half of season
Adding skills to the Penn Hills’ girls basketball team is a gradual progress. Indians coach Robert Cash said the Indians have been working throughout the season to become a team that is suited to match up with any team they come across. Penn Hills has limited their opponents to 47.5...
Shaler swimmers’ work shows in faster times
Noah Lang doesn’t want to rely on a good taper to be prepared for the WPIAL Class 3A swimming championships. The Shaler sophomore already has a mental checklist built up of things to work on to pursue the school record in the 500 freestyle and a good performance at the...
All-stars have Shaler hockey in thick of PIHL playoff race
Being able to see the rewards of gradual progress has Shane Ciganik relishing his opportunity to represent the PIHL Class A Blue Division in the PIHL All-Star game. Ciganik made his first start as a freshman goalie too nervous to think about the challenge ahead. Now, Ciganik has a different...
Fox Chapel track team gets off to fast start to indoor season
Fox Chapel’s Anna Troutman didn’t get the opportunity to compete in the WPIAL outdoor track championships last season due to an injury. But after her debut with the Foxes’ indoor track team last season, she left a lasting impression. During the indoor season, she set school records in the 60-meter...
