“Overall its hard to pin down this season,” says Doughtie of his inaugural campaign, “We had some nights where we played really well and beat some good teams .. other nights were a struggle for us against teams that I thought we should beat.”

The Hornets started the season 3-3 with wins over Williamson (2-19), Sayre (11-11) and Athens (14-8) while falling to Montoursville (16-6), small school champ Northeast Bradford (16-6) and then to Towanda (5-17) just before Christmas.

After a week off from games, Wellsboro returned to action against South Williamsport (7-15) and started a six game winning streak with a 24-point win over the Mounties that led the Hornets into their first of two match-ups against rival North Penn-Mansfield in the Peg Berguson Memorial Trophy game. 

The Hornets put three players in double figures and outscored the 7-2 Tigers 32-24 in the second half to earn a 46-40 win and take the Peg Berguson Trophy back after Mansfield won last year’s contest.

Senior Hayes Campbell led the Hornets with 14 points against Mansfield while sophomore Mitchell Lechler had 12 and senior Ian Hoose added 10 points .. with eight of those coming in the final frame. 

“To win the Peg Berguson Memorial trophy back was important to our team,” says Doughtie, “that and our second game with Mansfield were definitely highlights on the season.”

The Hornets followed the first Mansfield win up with wins over Jersey Shore (2-19), Wyalusing, Canton and Cowanesque Valley to improve their season record to 9-3, then fell to large school juggernaut Troy (26-2) and were upset by NP-Liberty, 45-43, to sit at 9-5 as they started to make their second trip through the NTL large school schedule. 

Wellsboro got the season sweep of Athens with a 49-46 win on the road, then topped Towanda to get a split with the Knights and then visited Mansfield for a rematch with the Tigers. 

“The second game against Mansfield .. over there .. was just a great game to be a part of,” says Doughtie of the Hornets’ 56-52, overtime win over the Tigers, “For Caden (Smith) to hit those two foul shots with no time left to send it to overtime .. and then we win in OT .. That was a special night for our players. It really showed our mental toughness down the stretch against a good team.”

Doughtie points to the play and leadership of his senior starters Smith, Campbell and Hoose as keys to the Hornets’ successes this season.

“The seniors had a great year and really led us every night,” says Doughtie, “That started in the summer with Hayes starting to show how he was growing into that leadership role .. especially with Caden and Ian injured and having to sit out most of the offseason.”

Campbell averaged 16.3 points per game for the Hornets in his final season, hitting double-digits in all but three games and going over 20 points six times. He also had seven double-doubles on the year and averaged over eight rebounds per game while grabbing the 500th board of his career 

“It was easy to see the contributions that Hayes made with points and rebounds,” says Doughtie of his 6’ 3” “big”, “but he was also the quarterback to our defense .. calling out everything for his teammates and being the vocal leader in the huddle and the locker room.”

Campbell led Wellsboro with 39 steals on the season while classmate Smith had 27 thefts, led the Hornets with 11 blocked shots and 5.4 assists per game and scored 8.5 points per contest with 29 3-pointers on the year .. all while regularly drawing the other team’s best perimeter player.

“Caden was the quiet leader of the team that balanced Hayes out all season,” says Doughtie of his senior point guard, “never losing his cool and never showing panic .. even in the hardest situations. He made our offense work .. handling the ball under pressure and keeping everyone organized, while knocking down some big shots in big moments.”

Sophomores Luke Rothermel (8.3 ppg, 5.1 rpg) and Mitchel Lechler (5.2 ppg, 39 assists, 41 reb) joined Campbell and Smith most nights in the starting lineup, along with senior Hoose (6 ppg, 3 rpg, 27 assists).

“Ian Hoose stepped up in his final season and gave everything he had on a regular basis,” says Doughtie, “He was a kid I’ve coached for a long time and to see him have some success and some big nights as a senior was awesome. He gave us such a lift in the first Mansfield game attacking their press and finishing at the basket, we don’t win that night without him.”

The Hornets also got good contributions from sophomores Marek Mascho, who was good for 3 points per game and had a high of 12 in the first Troy loss, and Aaron Kirk, who scored 13 crucial points in the Hornets’ second win over Mansfield.

Wellsboro would hit a three game skid after that second Mansfield win, falling to Troy again, getting upset by Wyalusing and losing to D4 3A champ Loyalsock. They’d right the ship and finish the regular season with a pair of non-league wins over Benton and South Williamsport to take the No. 6 seed in the District playoffs at 14-8. 

A 10-point loss to No. 3 seed Southern Columbia brought the Hornets’ up-and-down season to an end.

“The thing about our team I was most proud of was that we continued to fight and play hard every game,” says Doughtie, “night in and night out and until the final buzzer. All in all, the good nights outweighed the disappointing ones and we won some big games.”