FROM THE PRESS BOX: WELCOME TO NORTHERN TIER SPORTS REPORT (2020-08-30)

I’d like to welcome everyone to Northern Tier Sports Report.

Our goal is to provide extensive and thorough coverage of high school and youth sports for all seven school districts in Bradford County.

Northern Tier Sports Report will focus on Canton, Northeast Bradford, Towanda, Troy, and Wyalusing. The coverage for Athens and Sayre will be provided with links to their pages on Valley Sports Report.

Each school will have its own page for those focused mainly on their team. There is also a Youth Sports page, an Opinion page, a page dedicated to season previews and wrap-ups (all-star stories, etc.), and a College page, where we’ll follow the exploits of the student-athletes as they take their talents to the next level.

You’re going to see a lot more photos on Northern Tier Sports Report than you’re accustom to seeing in the traditional coverage of high school sports. You will also find a weekly schedule for each school on its page, as well as a listing of the coaches for that season, and the full season schedules.

(NOTE: The season schedules have not been announced yet, but they will be posted as soon as they are made available.)

One of the most appealing aspects of our site for most fans is that the site is updated throughout the day whenever possible.

While my focus remains Valley Sports Report, I will be active in Northern Tier Sports Report, but the day-to-day operation of the site will fall on Troy grad and veteran NTL sports writer Chris Manning, who has spent the last 12 years at The Daily Review.

I have the utmost faith Chris will deliver the best coverage possible to NTL sports fans. He is a strong writer, a talented photographer, and is very organized. Northern Tier Sports Report is in good hands.

Today’s launch is a bit of a homecoming for me.

I began my newspaper career at The Daily Review in 1989, covering almost exclusively boys sports. I cut my teeth covering the great Canton football teams of the early ‘90s, led by Damon “Boo” Perry and Matt Machmer, and coached by the legendary Miller Moyer.

A few years later, I covered the outstanding Wyalusing teams, led by Ryan Johns, and coached by Hall-of-Famer Ray Raffin.

On the hardwoods, every night in the NTL was a battle, regardless of who was playing.

The Troy teams of Lou Judson, Eric Shaner, Mike Wells, and Kevin McNeal won back-to-back District 4 titles in the mid-‘90s, but always had their hands full with Jim Davis’ NEB Panthers, led by Scott Nichols, Nate Dewing, and Dave Abrams.

Towanda featured the likes of Ryan Napp and Reed Vanderlyke, while Wyalusing had Joe Bendock, Drew Amoroso, Ethan Kilmer, and Jason Cook, and Canton, especially tough when Ron Kirby was at the helm, featured Dean Malone, Brock Kitchen, and Bob Woodward.

And on the wrestling mats, Wyalusing had powerhouse teams under Walt Fiske with Kevin O’Neill and Ed Moore among many to bring home state titles, while Canton had the Routes and the Wesneskis, and NEB had the Laudermilchs.

I had a fun 12 years of NTL coverage as a sports writer at The Review and Evening / Morning Times, before finishing off my time in the newspaper business as Managing Editor at The Times for nearly five years.

In August of 2009, I took a chance and launched Valley Sports Report, renewing my love affair with NTL sports, although on a much more limited basis. Full-time coverage of Waverly and Tioga in New York, as well as Sayre and Athens left a lot less time to concentrate on the NTL as a whole.

In August of 2018, Tim Taylor and I launched Tioga County Sports Report, which provides coverage of all six school districts in Tioga County, N.Y.

Today marks the start of the newest venture for River Road Media Group. So, sit back and enjoy the ride. Hopefully, the second half of the year is much better to our student-athletes than the first half.