Phil Riccio has been a mainstay at Altoona High School.
For the last 10 years he has been guiding the Mountain Lion football team through the rigors of the Mid-Penn Conference and local rivals like State College and Hollidaysburg.
Monday night, Riccio’s reign as football coach may have come to an end. But his duties at Altoona just got a little heavier.
The school board voted 8-1 to hire Riccio has the new athletic director. He will replace Vince Nedimyer, who announced his retirement. Riccio will begin his new duties in July.
“Now, I'm just taking that to one other step. It's a new challenge,'' Riccio said to the Altoona Mirror. "I'm now coaching coaches. When the opportunity arose, I saw it as another challenge. It's good to keep yourself fresh and to be looking forward.''
Although he didn’t officially give his resignation as head football coach, it’s one that seems fairly certain.
“I don't think this is a position you hold and keep on being football coach,'' Riccio told the Altoona newspaper. "We'll meet and be talking about that in the near future.”
In his 10 years as football coach, Riccio made it to the Western final twice. He had a career record of 71-45 and had his best years in the early 2000s.
He’s a product of Altoona where he played football at the school. He also coached at Gettysburg and Juniata Colleges in addition to Hollidaysburg.
Big week for local softball in District 6
It’s hard to say the tone is going to be set in one week.
But when it comes to District 6 softball, a lot will be known after the next seven days.
Bald Eagle Area travels to Central Mountain.
Penns Valley tangles with BEA.
Bellefonte hosts upstart Lewistown.
And that’s not considering games involving always-tough Philipsburg-Osceola.
The first matchup, though, between Central Mountain and Bald Eagle Area will feature two of the district’s best pitchers in CM’s Taylor Lesser and BEA’s Megan Shaw.
Shaw is coming off a combined no-hitter Monday against Hollidaysburg. Lesser picked up the Lady Wildcats’ first win last week, holding off a surprising challenge by Lewistown.
CM returns almost its entire team that finished 16-3 last season and was Quad-A district runner-up. BEA, on the other hand, reached the state-title game but lost in extra innings to Loyalsock.
Penns Valley lost in the District 6 Double-A championship game to none other than BEA. The two schools meet in Spring Mills at the week’s end.
Defending champ stunned
Loyalsock rolled through the regular season en route to a PIAA Class AA softball state title in 2008.
The road in 2009 hit a major road block just two games in.
Although it is a team filled with underclassmen, Hughesville made a major statement when it stunned the Lady Lancers, 4-2.
Pitcher Kelsey Ritter tossed a two-hitter with 10 strikeouts. It was a freshman that caught the final out as shortstop Megan Miller had a pop-up land in her glove.
“We got ahead and I kept telling the girls that we're getting close (to winning), but I've been in games where they're not over till it's over and this was one of them," Hughesville manager Chris Glenn told the Williamsport Sun-Gazette. "They thought it was for a little bit, but they stayed composed when things got intense and that should be a big boost for us. The thing about this team is they never give up and it's huge to have good momentum to build on."
Baseball seasons start strong for Wildcats, Lancers
Loyalsock baseball won the Double-A state championship.
Central Mountain was one step away from its respective title game.
In 2009, both are looking for gold in June.
Loyalsock, out of District 4, is off and running in its title defense – starting out the season 3-0 after an impressive 12-1 victory over a talented Hughesville squad.
The Lancers have won two of their three games by mercy rule, and against the Spartans, Loyalsock jumped out to a 7-0 lead after one inning.
Colin Kelly got the victory after tossing a one-hitter, while Justin Cozza and Brian Fischer each had three RBI.
“We've been working real well together. The chemistry seems to be good and it's nice to get off to a good start like this," Cozza said to the Sun-Gazette. "It was a big game against a tough team. We gave it our best today and we came out on top.”
It’s been a similar story in Mill Hall.
Central Mountain has won two of its first three by five-inning mercy rule and has plated double digits in each game.
The Wildcats, which finished third in the state last season, pounded Philipsburg-Osceola’s Luke Curtis in the first game, chasing him in a mere 2 1-3 innings. Curtis had no-hit CM last season. The team plated 11 against Penns Valley and 12 against Lewistown on Monday.
“We wanted to win the state title last season, but it also helped to prepare us for what we are going to see this season,” CM catcher Matt McGhee said. “We have a little unfinished business coming into this season.”
The Wildcats do have to difficult games this week with local rivals Bellefonte and Bald Eagle Area.
Tom Fox is Sports Editor at The Lock Haven (Pa.) Express and also covers Central and Northeastern Pennsylvania for MaxPreps. He can be reached at tfox@lockhaven.com
