June 11, 2008

Football: Former Penguins Zetts and Tekac Playing For Pizza In Italian League

    Parma, Italy – Former Youngstown State football players Tom Zetts and Jon Tekac are playing professional football in Italy this summer. Both are teammates with the Parma Panthers in Northern Italy.

    Since Zetts joined the team, the Panthers have won all three contests including a 61-26 win over the Palermo Sharks in Sicily. In the contest Zetts threw four touchdown passes, three of which went to a wide receiver who attended Harvard.
    Zetts emailed a photo to the Sports Information Department that was taken at the stadium where the game was held on Sunday. He said the stadium also plays host to rugby and bicycle racing events.
    In his first two games, Zetts helped guide the Panthers to final-second victories. In his first game he threw a touchdown pass with 22 seconds left for the winning score and followed that the next week tossing a game-winner with just 10 seconds remaining against a team from Austria.

    With those wins, Parma is now be playing in the EFAF Championship tournament.

    Each team is allowed three Americans in the Italian League games and Tekac, who had played in the league before, joined Parma last week when a defensive player suffered an injury. Tekac practiced with the team last week and was in the lineup on Sunday against Palermo.

    "It's pretty neat to be playing with another former Penguin." Zetts said.
    Tekac is in his second year as an assistant coach at Duquesne where he works with the tight ends. He played linebacker for the Penguins from 1999-2002 earning second-team All-Gateway honors as a senior.

    The Italian League received notoriety in John Grisham's novel called "Playing For Pizza." Grisham's book is about a former NFL quarterback who plays for the Parma Panthers, Zetts' team, as he tries to revive his playing career.