Andy Villamarzo
Andy Villamarzo covers the national high school sports landscape with an emphasis on football power programs, state championship streaks and the structures that govern prep competition. His work for Yahoo Sports and Rivals combines on-the-ground game reporting, prediction columns and features on schedule releases and showcase events across multiple states. He regularly situates individual games and athletes inside broader trends in the high school ecosystem, from public–private playoff debates to national rankings and all-star classics.
National high school football predictions and game-of-the-week coverage
Villamarzo writes recurring national high school football prediction columns built around the weekend’s most significant matchups, pairing Massey Ratings data with his own picks and brief game breakdowns. He identifies “games of the week” on the national schedule and forecasts scorelines, as in his advance call of a 42–24 win for St. Frances Academy in a highly ranked clash with Vero Beach. His predictions are linked back to live action through coverage and updates from major national showcases, including on-site reporting from top-10 meetings such as Mater Dei vs. Bishop Gorman.
The through-line in these pieces is a national lens on high school football, treating elite prep contests as events with broader implications for rankings, reputations and postseason trajectories.
State champions, dynasties and powerhouse programs
Many of Villamarzo’s stories focus on programs that define high school dominance through sustained success. He has chronicled Orange Beach softball’s record-setting sixth straight state title in Alabama, highlighting how that run rewrites the state’s history books and underscoring the team’s lopsided championship victory.
On the football side he reports on long-running title streaks, including Alcoa’s 11th consecutive Tennessee state championship, detailing scoring runs, key performers and the scale of the program’s dominance.
His coverage of Bixby football in Oklahoma similarly frames the team’s pursuit of a ninth straight title and notes head coach Loren Montgomery’s induction into his college alma mater’s Hall of Fame as part of the program’s rise. Across these pieces he focuses on how coaches, stars and sustained winning turn certain schools into national reference points in the high school game.
Schedules, spring ball and all-star events
Villamarzo often covers the calendar side of high school sports, writing on schedule releases, spring practice approaches and all-star rosters. He has contributed reporting on Bainbridge’s 2026 football schedule and authored a detailed breakdown of St. Edward’s slate, listing opponents and key dates while situating the schedule in the context of Ohio’s reputation as a talent-rich state.
His feature on Venice football’s spring ball approach examines roster size, participation and how a coach structures off-season work to prepare for the fall.
In Massachusetts, he has reported the rosters for the 48th Shriners All-Star Football Classic, introducing standout players and explaining how the charity game pulls together top performers from across the state. Taken together, these stories show an interest in how planning, spring development and showcase events shape opportunities for high school athletes before they reach the postseason.
Elite prospects, recruiting decisions and crossover sports
Villamarzo also covers individual players at high-profile programs, with stories that link on-field performance to college recruitment and national recognition.
His reporting has noted Champ Monds’ injury absence from a nationally ranked matchup and described how the quarterback’s status alters the stakes and feel of the contest. In basketball, he has written on Montverde Academy’s boys team rolling past IMG Academy, outlining game flow and spotlighting four-star prospects by name, position and scoring output.
His piece on IMG Academy running back Keith Smith’s commitment to Jackson State details the player’s versatility, his special-teams impact for IMG’s national team and his prior production at Manatee, tying those metrics to his college choice. Alongside these athlete-focused stories, Villamarzo covers governance issues such as New York’s Section One vote to split private schools from playoff competition, extending his beat into how policy decisions reshape the competitive map for high school programs.
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Adair Reid
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Adam Stern
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Albert Burneko
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Albert Samaha
Albert Samaha is a sports investigative reporter who uses games to examine how power, money and culture shape players, workers, fans and communities. He works in The Washington Post sports section, covering global tournaments, migration, fan culture, sports betting, match-fixing, ownership, NIL money, football safety, participation gaps and the changing culture of women’s basketball. His reporting connects events on the field to decisions in boardrooms, betting markets, government offices and law enforcement. He previously reported for BuzzFeed News and wrote for the Village Voice, San Francisco Weekly and the Riverfront Times. His work has also appeared in The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, The New York Times and The Paris Review. He writes long, deeply reported stories that combine narrative scenes, data analysis, public records, medical records and other documents.