Rizzo signs with Garden City Community College

By Andy Brown
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Updated: March 13, 2017

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg senior Dustyn Rizzo signed his letter of intent to play football at Garden City Community College on Mar. 1 at LHS. Sitting next to Dustyn are his parents Matthew and Denyse. Standing is Louisburg coach Robert Ebenstein and Kyle Littrell.

Following his final game as a Louisburg Wildcat, Dustyn Rizzo still felt the fire to play football.

Four months later, it is a fire that continues to burn strongly within Rizzo and he isn’t about ready to leave the sport he loves behind. The Louisburg senior is ready to take the next step.

Rizzo signed his letter of intent to play at Garden City Community College on March 1 in front of family and friends at LHS and he is excited for the opportunity to play at the next level.

“This is probably not an opportunity I am going to have as I get older,” Rizzo said. “I am going to have the chance to work the rest of my life, so I am going to take advantage of this right now and go ahead and go play and I am excited. I am not done with football yet.”

The Garden City junior college seemed like the right fit for Rizzo as he looked for an opportunity to play, get better and eventually move on to a bigger program at a four-year school.

When Rizzo took his visit to Garden City, he came away impressed with what the Broncbusters had to offer on and off the field. Garden City finished its 2016 campaign with an 11-0 record, including a 25-22 win over Arizona Western to win the NJCAA national championship.

“I really like how everything is close together in Garden City,” Rizzo said. “Most of my classes are in the same building so that is nice. It is great to see how much football means to that whole town. I went and visited and everyone is about football and the football life. The coaches are extremely serious about football and I like how they are honest about things. They aren’t going to sugar coat anything.”

Rizzo, who is currently at 235 pounds, hopes to use part of his time at Garden City to put on a bigger frame. The Broncbuster staff told Rizzo they wanted to use him on the defensive line, where he experienced success at Louisburg.

“I am more geared for defense because I am quicker, smaller and I feel like I can get through the line. I just like making plays,” Rizzo said.

“The reason I am going to Garden City is to make myself the best football player I can become. I want to get the weight level and experience level where I can get acclimated to the game of college football. Hopefully I can play Division II somewhere down the line and make a name for myself.”

Dustyn Rizzo earned all-league defensive line honors the last two seasons.

Rizzo was a big part of the Wildcat defense the last two seasons as he was a two-time all-Frontier League player. Rizzo was a first-team defensive selection in 2015 and 2016 and he finished with 39 tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble this past year.

He has also been an honorable mention all-state selection the last two years. Rizzo attributes his success to the Wildcat football staff — more specifically former coach Kyle Littrell and assistant Robert Ebenstein.

“The coaches have been wonderful,” Rizzo said. “Littrell and Ebenstein being my line coaches have just helped me tremendously. When (Littrell) resigned, I think that everyone took a hard hit from that. I think it made us more resilient and we had a great season. Both guys have had a big impact on me.

“Football has been life-changing for me. It is hard and there might not be a sport, other than wrestling, that is harder. You learn life lessons and it is a brotherhood. Playing here was amazing. Freshman year wasn’t that great, but my sophomore year when I saw my first Friday night that was crazy. Every Friday night from then on I knew it was getting closer to ending and playing with these guys. Every practice needed to be top notch.”

Rizzo won’t be the only Wildcat joining the Garden City team as teammate Mason Koechner signed with Garden City in February. He knows having Koechner there will only make the transition that much easier.

“It is going to be nice to have someone there that I know,” Rizzo said. “We are going to room together and we have been playing football together forever. So it will be great knowing that I have a buddy down there with me and it will make easier. It will also make the six hour drive a lot easier too.”