THE YEAR'S TOP MOMENTS/STORYLINES - PART 2 (2024-07-17)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
The next set of top moments/storylines from this past season.

20. Troy girls’ hoops edges Williamson in two overtimes: The win pretty much sealed Troy’s first league title in nearly 30 years, though the Warriors didn’t make it easy. They rallied from a 32-26 deficit going into the fourth to tie it up at 38-38. After both teams scored four points each Troy out scored Williamson 8-7 in the second OT, as lone senior Katie Lackey supplied two game winning free throws. She finished with 14 points, five boards, and three assists, as Kailyn Sterling (12 points, 16 rebounds) and Alyssa Parks (10 points, 13 rebounds) both had double-doubles.

19. Wheaton’s kick sends Towanda past Wellsboro in OT NTL football: The kicking game doesn’t always come into play during high school football, but when it does, its usually a game decider. Jack Wheaton proved that with his two clutch field goals against Wellsboro, one a 22-yarder in overtime to win the game, 20-17. Riley Vanderpool had a big game on the ground with 215 yards on 33 carries with one touchdown, while Tahshon Garner also had a score. It was back and forth with Wellsboro’ s Jonathan Carl sending the game into overtime with a made field goal of his own. His overtime kick was no good, though, setting up Wheaton’s try on fourth-and-goal to win the game.

18. Wyalusing girls’ soccer has their program’s best season: Since 2020 Wyalusing has been steadily building their program year by year, brick by brick, with 2023 ending with a program best record of 13-5. Other milestones included senior Olivia Haley scoring her 100th career goal, finishing the year with 37 to go along with 10 assists. They still couldn’t solve Troy, but swept Athens, had thrillers over rivals Towanda (6-5) and NEB (2-1), and notched a Saturday night match win over Millville (5-4). They got their first playoff win against a non-NTL team (Juniata Christian, 2-0), and finished in the top four in the district for the second year in a row. Regardless of what the future holds, as once-in-a-generation player, Haley, graduates, along with a few key seniors, but they’ve certainly left their mark.

17. Canton continues to find success on the grid-iron: 2023 was supposed to be the year Canton came back down to Earth. A historically good senior class had graduated, but those kids they’d practiced against weren’t about to let the program slide, sending them to an 8-2 regular season. The first four weeks of the season Canton didn’t look any different, posting mercy rule wins over Sayre (42-0), NP-Mansfield (42-13), Wellsboro (41-6), and Towanda (40-0). They gutted out a win over South Williamsport (27-21), but kept marching with three more victories over Wyalusing (47-14), Montgomery (45-12), and Athens (49-19). Injuries, though, had begun to pile up as they ended the season with losses to Milton and Troy, then fell in a tight game to South Williamsport (24-18) in the district semifinals. Ben Fitch took over the single-calling duties, amassing nearly 2,000 total yards with 18 touchdowns, Michael Davis pounded out 576 yards on the ground off 98 carries, while defensive stalwart Hudson Ward finished with 150 tackles. 

16. Plenty of exciting young girls’ players around the area: Across all three seasons freshmen came on strong this year. Troy’s Giana Renzi was the Co-Newcomer of the Year in soccer, and Newcomer of the Year in basketball, stepping into big roles for both teams. Wyalusing’s Emily Johns came on as a hitter in volleyball, low-post presence in hoops, and provided some hitting at the bottom of the order for softball, with fellow Ram Alysha Botts finding big roles on four teams: cross-country, soccer, girls’ hoops, and track and field. Vayda Rought and Josie Ferries also showed promise this year. Canton had three freshmen - Jaylee Ward, Cailyn VanNoy, and Stella Rockwell - find roles on every team they competed with. VanNoy was especially strong in hoops, with Ward leading the softball team. At Towanda Payton Perry, Brynsen Vargason, and Mya Maynard all made their names known, while NEB saw spurts from Katrina Russell, Mackenzie Clark, and Mallorie Maynard. All this shows that the future is bright for area teams.

Print Friendly Version