NTL WRESTLING: TOWANDA HAS SEVERAL BRIGHT SPOTS IN 2025-2026 (March 11, 2026)
BY CHRIS MANNINGNorthern Tier Sports ReportIt was an up and down year for Towanda, but one with more ups than downs.
They competed for, but came up short, for the NTL title, yet bounced back by pulling out a narrow win in the North Section Title.
Injuries likely limited the number of wrestlers that made it to states for the Knights, but the one wrestler who did, sophomore Gage Evans, brought back a seventh place medal.
“We had one of the more rewarding seasons I’ve had,” said Towanda coach Bill Sexton. “We started the year with a lot of questions marks, a lot of injured kids.”
Evans broke his leg in football and didn’t get cleared to practice until the first day, and cleared for contact until their match with Horseheads.
Hagen Jones and Reese Sluyter also came into the season nursing injuries.
“They all entered the season with significant injuries, and, obviously, graduation did a number on us last year, but we had a lot of back,” said Sexton. “Unfortunately, some quality chose not to wrestle this year for whatever reasons they had.”
The line-up featured several wrestlers who didn’t make the line-up last year, didn’t wrestle last year, or had never wrestled at all.
The Knights opened up with a win over Horseheads (48-30), then went 3-3 at their Dandy Duals.
That was followed by a win over Wellsboro (54-8), then a loss to district power Montoursville (53-14).
They got a thrilling victory over Williamson (36-36), won on a tie-breaker, then two days before Christmas gifted Bill Sexton with the win needed to become the All-time Winningest Coach in Pennsylvania with a 48-28 win over Central Columbia.
After Christmas they fought off a tough NEB squad (39-26), then went 4-2 at the Flynn Propane Duals.
A close loss to Warrior Run (40-35) followed, followed by three league losses to end the season - Wyalusing (52-19), Canton (45-24), and Athens (43-30) - as injuries started to take their toll.
Despite those injuries they nearly upset higher seed Southern Columbia on the road in District IV Duals action.
Then came the surprising sectional title that they didn’t wrap up until the end of the third place bout at 215 pounds.
“You didn’t who you were going to count on,” Sexton said. “Kids like Fessenden, Finn Brennan, and Dominic Miller, those kids basically won the section tournament for us. For us to win the sectional tournament with the kind of year we had, that was a lot of fun.”
Individually Evans, Jones, and senior Bryghton Yale made it to regionals, with Yale and Jones coming up just short of states.
Evans would lose his first match, but then battle through the consolations to take seventh, earning his first state medal.
“I’m extremely happy for him,” said Sexton. “He is a great all-around athlete. He’s a very good football player, and or him to have lost his entire football season because of that injury, I’m sure that really messed with his head. I’m sure he had concerns coming into the wrestling season. He never got cleared until the first day of practice to even start shadow wrestling, drilling, that kind of thing. He got cleared to go all out for the Horseheads match, which is a week into the competition part of our season. He was way behind to begin with.”
The veteran coach mentioned how Evans had to use the season to work on his conditioning.
“I’m sure he would have wanted more out of our tournament over Christmas, I’m sure he would have wanted more out of the West Branch Tournament,” continued Sexton. “He broke his finger at the West Branch Tournament, and he really put it together as we went through the postseason. He wrestled his best all year long in states, which is what you want to see. Very, very proud of him.”
They lose 20 match winners in Yale, and Tanner Vanderpool, along with 107 pounder Mason Harbst.
Jones, Sluyter, and Evans all return, along with district qualifiers Braydon Fessenden, Jaydon Stranger, Joey Montonya, Kolton McPeak, Brennan, and Miller, giving them a core build off of for next season.
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