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Thursday, July 3, 2025, TRIB-LIVE
The Fox Chapel football team has stayed busy this summer. With all of the other typical summertime commitments — between vacations, other sports leagues and other activities — the Foxes have regularly had more than 50 players for workouts.
When the practices for the season begin, coach Dave Leasure anticipates having 66 players on the roster, split between varsity and junior varsity.
“I’m pretty pleased overall,” Leasure said. “The kids are working hard. We’ve got a lot of young kids in the program who are developing into football players. That’s exciting.”
Fox Chapel will enter this season coming off a 16-14 win over East Allegheny in last year’s season finale. The Foxes finished 2-8, but were able to get back into the win column after suffering through a lengthy losing streak.
Fox Chapel snapped its skid with a 38-7 win over Baldwin during Week 1 last year. The Foxes are hoping to find ways to win a game in Northeast Conference play. Fox Chapel went 0-5 in the conference last season.
The Foxes have been busy putting together a big man challenge as well as participating in 7-on-7s with other teams in the A-K Valley.
The Foxes will compete against Apollo-Ridge, Armstrong, Burrell, Freeport, Highlands, Knoch, Riverview and Shady Side Academy.
“We’ve been fortunate with the weather that we only had to wait a few minutes for the rain and then continue,” Leasure said. “We have a great group of coaches in the valley, and we have been doing 7-on-7s against each other for the past few seasons. We agreed to host this year.”
Leasure said it is possible that Fox Chapel could start four sophomores this season. Linebacker Sam Resek, cornerback Caleb Portis, offensive tackle Dom Fabrizzi and nose guard Ali Hussein are all in the mix.
“They have earned the opportunity,” Leasure said. “They wouldn’t start because we don’t have anyone else. They are developing into good players.”
Fox Chapel also has a fair number of seniors returning. Quarterback Max Melocchi missed five games with an ankle injury last season. He has drawn some interest from Carnegie Mellon.
Senior kicker Hurran Zureikat committed to Georgia in the offseason.
Thomas Billings was a second-team all-conference tight end last season. Leasure said he expects returning senior Nathan Johnson to contribute as well.
“Everything’s been great so far,” Leasure said.