West Allis Central senior finds comfort in chaotic spring

High School Hot Shot: West Allis Central’s Joey Tanzilo

Joey Tanzilo never thought his high school athletic career would end like this, but he's enjoying every minute of it. Now, the West Allis Central football and baseball player is a FOX6 High School Hot Shot.

WEST ALLIS, Wis. - Joey Tanzilo never thought his high school athletic career would end like this, but he's enjoying every minute of it. Now, the West Allis Central football and baseball player is a FOX6 High School Hot Shot.

Tanzilo was just like every other student-athlete in the spring of 2020. The shortstop never stopped believing that he would pick up his mitt again his junior season.

"They were telling us, "You're going to go home for two weeks," and we never came back," said Tanzilo. "Obviously, at the end of my junior year I didn't step off the field thinking, "This could be my last football game." With baseball, we missed out junior year."

With football being postponed from the fall to the spring, Tanzilo and other Bulldogs find themselves in quite the predicament. The football season is only about halfway done and baseball is almost ready for first pitch.

"It is crazy because there is an overlap," Tanzilo said. "It's chaos but I'm having fun with it because it is only for a short amount of time."

Just like all student-athletes who are squeezing in one last run with their high school teams before leaving for college, Tanzilo is very grateful that he gets this opportunity.

"I love playing sports," said Tanzilo. "It's definitely something that I find comfort in. It is kind of an escape from everything else, especially with COVID going on and getting ready to be an adult now. It's definitely nice to be a kid kind of one last time."