WELCOME TO NORTHERN TIER WEST SPORTS REPORT (2021-03-15)

Welcome to the launch of Northern Tier West Sports Report.

Our aim is to provide the best coverage possible for high school and youth sports in the Cowanesque Valley, Liberty, Mansfield, Wellsboro and Williamson school districts.

Our hope is that our coverage will help local student-athletes get noticed, and lead to more of them continuing their athletic careers at the next level.

This is our fourth site, joining sister sites Valley Sports Report (Sayre, Athens, Waverly, and Tioga, N.Y.), Tioga County (NY) Sports Report (Owego, Newark Valley, Spencer-VanEtten, and Candor), and Northern Tier Sports Report (Canton, NEB, Towanda, Troy, and Wyalusing).

The first three sites quickly became the go-to sites for high school and youth sports coverage in their area, and I fully expect this site to gain the same status rather quickly.

Web sites are popping up on a daily basis these days, but I can assure you we are here to stay.

I am a Syracuse grad, and have spent more than three decades covering sports in District 4, as well as Section IV — just across the border in New York.

My ties with the NTL actually go back nearly 40 years. I graduated from Waverly High School in 1984. Prior to my junior year, Waverly joined the NTL, which was then split into the East and West, except for football. At that point, Wellsboro was the only team from the West with a football program.

Our only win my junior year was a 14-6 victory over Wellsboro, which was led by a Coolidge at QB, and a Maynard at wide receiver.

Shortly after I joined The Daily Review in 1989, I covered many Wellsboro basketball games during the Phil Hickey era.

I also covered several Elkland girls basketball games during the Marlo and Brooke Eggleston era, and I saw Elkland’s Dan Cevette bring some serious gas on the diamond before being selected in the third round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Cleveland Indians in 2002.

Recently, Wellsboro has had some tremendous basketball and football teams, while North Penn-Liberty’s volleyball team has been among the best in the State.

From now on, we’ll be around to document Tioga County sports history.

The man on the front line of Northern Tier West Sports Report will be Lance Larcom. Lance was a very good athlete at Canton, spent many years coaching, has a passion for sports, and is a very good writer and photographer.

You’ll also see some of my coverage when the West teams are playing in the Valley, and I’ll even throw an occasional opinion piece on the site.

West readers will also see quite a bit of Chris Manning’s work when teams from Tioga County visit teams in Bradford County. Chris runs the Northern Tier Sports Report, and does an excellent job.

You will also see tremendous sports photography from David Alliger and Matt Patton, frequent contributors to all three of our sites. And, we are always looking for good photographers, and have had many parents donate their time and expertise over the years. If you’re interested in helping out, feel free to contact Lance.

The West site consists of a Home page, a school page for all five teams, a Youth Sports page, a College page, where we’ll follow Tioga County athletes when they play collegiately, and an Opinion page, where a variety of writers will offer up their opinions.

Not only will you find the best coverage of Tioga County sports, but you’ll be able to find season schedules and weekly schedules on each school page.

Unlike newspapers, you don’t have to wait until the morning to get the most up-to-date information. We will update the site with the latest sports news throughout the day — every day, so visit the site often.

Again, unlike newspapers, we don’t charge the reader, and we never will.

Readers are free to donate to the site, but what we need are local businesses to support us with their advertising dollar. If you own a business, or know someone who does, feel free to contact me.

Before we get rolling, I’d like to thank a few people. First and foremost, my parents — Elizabeth and the late James V. Birney — for their unequivocal support and assistance in launching Valley Sports Report, and my wife Nicole for giving me the confidence and strength to launch the next three sites.

I’d also like to thank Tim Taylor, who runs Tioga County (NY) Sports Report, Chris Manning, and Lance Larcom for putting their faith in me, and helping me make my vision of “The Sports Reports” a reality.

And, last but not least, Brad Zehr of zehr.net, who customized my sites into what you see today. Without him, what you see now would be much different, and most likely a much inferior visual product.

So, let the games (and the subsequent coverage) begin. Please, visit often, and tell all your friends, as well as potential advertisers, about us.

And perhaps most importantly, support your local businesses.