Josh Rizzo stories, Page 30

Development is a priority in the Penn Hills football program. The Indians, who were eliminated from the playoffs after a 14-9 loss to Moon in the WPIAL Class 5A semifinals Nov. 19 at Newman Stadium, will lose three offensive linemen to graduation. Two of those players — Khalil Barley Morrow...

Mt. Lebanon wide receiver/defensive back Eli Heidenreich didn’t see McDowell junior Christian Santiago’s 27-yard touchdown run as a sign of a potential WPIAL Class 6A championship hangover. But the Trojans’ quarterback scoring on a fourth-and-3 gallop on their first possession let the Blue Devils know they weren’t going to sleepwalk...

Tyler Paszkowski and his Shaler cross country teammates started the season slow by design. As the year wore on, the Titans wanted to utilize a strong taper to build toward sending as many athletes to the PIAA Class 3A championships as possible. Shaler’s strategy paid dividends for seniors Samantha Hennen,...

Paul Stadelman wasn’t sure if the message he was trying to sell might end up in the bargain bin. Five matches into his stint as the Shaler girls volleyball coach, the Titans had zero victories. The funk didn’t even last half a season. Something snapped into place. The Titans dug...

Penn Hills swimming coach Nick Page is hoping the team can avoid losing a month of practice time like it did last year. The Indians — like all local programs — were shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic for the first month of last season. But Penn Hills is...

All the time the Penn Hills football team’s coaching staff dedicated to knowing their players paid off Nov. 12 at Gateway. Indians coach Jon LeDonne knew what Julian Dugger was capable of while battling cramps during a 23-20 win over the Gators in the WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinals on the...

Weathering early adversity isn’t something Julian Dugger allows to linger in his mind during football games. The Penn Hills sophomore quarterback knows the Indians have the tools to make adjustments in-game. Three early turnovers against Franklin Regional in the Indians’ 38-6 WPIAL Class 5A first-round win Nov. 5 at Yuhas-McGinley...

AJ Palumbo and the Penn Hills wrestling team had the same unfortunate experience as many others did during the pandemic last season. Matches were canceled, schedules were changed, and nothing was normal for the Indians. Palumbo, a 220-pound senior, wrestled one match last season. Penn Hills finished with three wrestlers...

Eve Furbee bounced up and down in the stands excitedly Monday night at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. Furbee, who is 5 years old and a Canonsburg resident, was excited to be at the Mars-South Fayette hockey game. “I’m here for (the Mars goalie),” said Eve, who plays youth hockey....

Austin Stuchul’s experience gained competing at the WPIAL Class 3A cross country championships Oct. 28 at Cal (Pa.) provided a blueprint for his senior season. The Penn Hills junior wants to try to navigate through the pack at a quicker pace than last season. Doing so, Stuchul hopes, will help...

Penn Hills coach Jon LeDonne might’ve preferred a bye for the first week of the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs, but admits being scheduled to host Franklin Regional in the first round had its advantages. The Indians, who won the Northeast Conference on Gardner points after tying with North Hills and...

Penn Hills sophomore quarterback Julian Dugger has yearned to play a clean game all season. The fifth-seeded Indians won Friday night in the first round of the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs, but didn’t find the performance they were seeking. Penn Hills was often spectacular — Jaden Dugger caught touchdown passes...

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...