HB/TE/LB Hayes Campbell was Wellsboro’s lone senior on the roster, leaving lots of opportunities for juniors, sophomores and even freshmen to see significant playing time. The former lineman-turned-tight end led the Hornets in receiving, grabbing 32 passes for 510 yards and a touchdown and added 21 yards rushing and another score on 13 carries.

Despite losing a solid group of seniors off of 2022’s 1-9 squad, the Hornets opened the ’23 season with experience at key positions .. including junior Will Gastrock, who took over at quarterback midway through last season and finished with over 700 total yards of offense.

Gastrock’s versatility led to a position change once again for last season’s All-Tioga County ’Newcomer of the Year’ and he finished with 640 yards on 39-87 passing attempts with a TD and 10 interceptions, 175 yards and three scores on the ground and 10 catches for 39 yards. 

Wellsboro opened the season at home and lost badly to Montoursville, 49-0, but rebounded quickly and earned a hard-fought, 14-13 win over Class A runner-up Muncy in Week 2. Junior Ryder Bowen rushed for 99 yards and both Hornet scores in the upset.

Bowen, a first-team All-Tioga County linebacker last season as a sophomore, finished with 82 tackles, two fumble recoveries and an interception despite missing time with an injury. The Hornets’ tailback added 597 yards rushing and seven touchdowns and six receptions for 50 yards on offense. 

Following a lopsided 41-6 loss to two-time defending District 4 champ Canton in Week 3, Wellsboro once again answered with a win .. topping Athens 26-12. Gastrock would throw for 156 yards and a TD .. to sophomore Jonathan Carl .. and Bowen would score twice on 135 yards rushing as the Hornets improved to .500 on the season at 2-2 with what would be their final win.

A heartbreaking 20-17 overtime loss to Towanda in Week 5 started the Hornets’ streak of six straight losses to end the season.

Wellsboro took a 14-9 lead on the Black Knights late in the third quarter on a Bowen TD before Towanda would go up 17-14 with just 1:05 remaining. Sophomore Marek Mascho, now in at QB in relief of Gastrock, led the Hornets on a 10-play drive to move into field goal range, where Carl booted a 20-yard field goal with 0.5 seconds remaining to tie the game at 17-all. A missed Wellsboro field goal in overtime led to the Black Knights’ game winner.

Mascho would go on to pass for 390 yards while completing 39-of-88 passes with a TD and nine picks and also finished with six receptions for 81 yards and 38 carries for 66 yards rushing and two scores. 

A pair of mercy-rule losses to Troy and South Williamsport sandwiched a 21-6 loss to Wyalusing and left the Hornets at 2-6 with two games remaining. 

Cowanesque Valley took advantage of a sidelined Bowen to earn a 12-0 win over the Hornets in Week 9, and Wellsboro fell 21-6 to North Penn Mansfield in the Morton F. Jones Trophy Game .. despite a career-high 172 yards rushing by Bowen .. to end their 2023 season at 2-8.

The Hornets scored 102 points on the season .. 10.2/G .. and surrendered 302 .. 30.2/G while averaging 187 yards of offense per game (102 pass, 85 rush) and allowing 320 (210 rush, 110 pass).

Rounding out the Hornets’ stat sheet on offense, whose line was anchored by junior Lincoln DeCoursey and sophomore Jacob Thurstin .. were a pair of underclassmen in Carl .. 6 rec., 127 yds, 1 TD .. and freshman Max Mascho .. 10 rec., 100 yds.

Newcomer Carl also served as the Hornets’ punter and placekicker in his first season, hitting 9-of-14 extra point attempts and a 20-yard field goal with 41 punts and an average of 36.5 per.

Defensively, Campbell was second behind Bowen with 73 tackles while Gastrock had 58 stops and sophomore Dylan Copp had 48 tackles and a fumble recovery. 

Marek Mascho had 41 tackles while junior Jacob Dean had 40 tackles, two fumble recoveries and a sack and sophomore Hayden Stevens had 40 tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery.  Max Mascho made 30 tackles and had two picks and sophomores Cole Knapp and Jayden Dumm each had 22 stops on the season.

_____

Wellsboro’s JV squad finished 1-4 on the season with a win over Canton and the Junior High Hornets went 5-2, losing 8-6 to Towanda and 7-0 to Troy.

_____