NTL WRESTLING: TOWANDA HAS TWO CHAMPS AT NORTH SECTION AS THEY PULL OUT TEAM TITLE (February 15, 2026)

Northern Tier Sports Report
WELLSBORO — Towanda’s North Section title was as sweet as it was unexpected on Saturday. Coming in banged up and looking up at Wyalusing and Canton - both beat them during the dual meet season - along with a tough Williamson team that they beat on tie-breaker, the Knights saw long odds to keeping their streak going.

However, their big guns in the middle took care of business, while their wrestlers on the ends came through with big days to clinch the title in the consolation finals of the 215 pound bracket late in the day, edging out their rivals, Wyalusing, 180.5 points to 173.5.

“This has been a very challenging season,” said Towanda coach Bill Sexton. “We started the year with our three sectional finalists we weren’t even sure they’d be able to wrestle this year. Gage Evans is coming off a broken leg in football, you have Reese Sluyter with a severely damaged shoulder at the beginning of the year, and Hagen Jones with a knee injury, and they’ve all worked through it, and given us really competitive leadership. Quite frankly, we lost some people at the beginning of the year that should be here, but they couldn’t, for one reason or another, didn’t want to be here. The people that did stay, and worked, got better. We went through a rough patch after Tanner Vanderpool got hurt, I think we probably would have had fie more dual meets wins this year if Tanner had not gotten hurt, but that’s the luck of it.”

Evans (145) and Jones (139) brought home titles while Sluyter (160), and Braydon Fessenden (121) took home second place finishes.

They got three third place performances from Bryghton Yale (133), Finn Brennan (215), and Joey Montonya (152), while Dom Miller (285), Jayden Stranger (127), and Kolton McPeak (172) snuck through with three fourth place finishes.

“We had a number of kids that were in our line-up this year way before they should have been,” continued Sexton. “Guys like Dominic Miller, whose never been on a wrestling mat until the start of the season, never been to a wrestling match before the start of the season, and he ends up qualifying for districts. A guy like Finn Brennan, who hasn’t wrestled since he was very young, he ends up coming back, taking third, getting a pin for us, picking up five points, and that’s five of the seven points that we won by. So we had big wins from guys that you just didn’t expect to see. A couple guys you expect to win - guys like Evans and Jones and Sluyter, and Yale, I mean, they’ve carried us all year long, but it’s the guys around them, the guys early in the line-up, and the guys late in the line-up, who are just finding their way. They really put it together, and I’m really proud of them.”

Evans went 2-0 with a tech fall in the semifinals, then winning 2-0 in the finals against Canton’s Tommy Preston.

Jones went 3-0 opening with two falls, then scoring a 17-2 major decision over Sullivan County’s Wyatt Bagley in the finals.

Fessenden went 2-1, opening with two falls to start the day before losing 17-2 to NP-Liberty’s Bryce Pequignot in the finals.

Sluyter went 1-1, opening with a 4-1 win in the semifinal before losing 2-0 to Canton’s Carson Rockwell in the finals.

Yale went 3-1 with two falls, then took third with an 8-0 major decision over Canton’s Gavin Sharp.

Brennan went 3-1 scoring three straight falls after losing his first round match to eventual champion, Wellsboro’s Hayden Stevens. Brennan pinned Williamson’s Riley Rall in 2:36 to take bronze.

Montonya also went 3-1 with three straight wins after losing his first round match. He had a fall, a tech fall, and a thrilling 23-13 win over NEB’s Connor Eastabrook in the bronze medal match.

Miller went 1-2, getting a come from behind fall against Wyalusing’s Brenden Wells in 5:39 in the opener. He lost by fall to Troy’s Reed Palmer in 35 seconds in the consolation finals.

Stranger went 1-2 getting a fall in the blood round. He lost 6-1 to NEB’s Hunter Comstock in the third place match.

McPeak went 2-2 with a decision, and a fall in the blood round. He lost 8-3 to Wyalusing’s Conner Earle in the third place match.

Dillon Sbragia (189) took fifth, going 1-2 on the day, while Mason Harbst (107) went 1-3 on the day to take sixth.

Towanda will now prepare for the District IV Championships next weekend.

Every postseason practice we have from now on the final thing we’ll say move on,” Sexton said. “That’s what it’s all about. We get a new chance again next week, if you give yourself that chance, hopefully we can keep pushing down the road.”

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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING

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