"We had a lot of questions coming into the season with eight open spots,” said 8th-year Head Coach Todd Fitch, who won his 100th career game this season and now has 105, “Before our first and until our final game we had injuries that sidelined multiple players .. regardless, we also had a resilient and unselfish group of boys that stepped up, stepped in and performed at a high level .. sometimes at new positions.”

The Hornets graduated 75% of their 78 goals scored from a season ago, as well as the bulk of their defensive unit. They scored 37 goals in ’25 and allowed 22 .. just 20 by returning starting goalie Camden Tom. 

This season, Tom collected 82 saves and recorded seven shut-outs with the help of a defense that featured seniors Jude Cuneo, Mason Nowak and Karter Campbell and juniors Coen Tennis and Zander Rachiele.

Senior Jonathan Carl returned to the program after playing football for a couple of seasons and led the Hornets in both goals (12) and assists (4), while returning starting senior David Seeling, who scored 14 goals in 2024, dealt with a season-long injury and still collected eight goals and three assists.

Senior Jacoby Strang, normally a stalwart of Wellsboro’s defense, adjusted to an offensive role and scored six goals while handing out a pair of assists. 

Senior Cameron Owlett (1G) and juniors Jacob Smith (2G, 1A), Mason Brill (2G, 3A), Peter Doan (1G, 1A), Colin Fletcher (1G), back-up goalie Kayden Rogers and Tennis (2G) all contributed for the Hornets this season, as did sophomores Michael Seeling (1G), Gabe Cuneo and Ransom Schultz. 

After opening the season with three straight wins .. over Jersey Shore, Galeton and South Williamsport .. the Hornets fell 2-0 to eventual league champ Athens. A run that included six league wins and a pair of non-league losses to Milton and Hughesville led into Wellsboro’s second meeting with Athens. 

A 0-0 draw left the door open for the Hornets’ hopes of a fourth straight title, as the Wildcats had already settled for a tie with NP-Liberty and would later lose to the Mounties. But a 2-1 Wellsboro loss to Northeast Bradford would give Athens the edge in the final NTL standings.

The Hornets finished up their regular season with a win over Williamson, a 2-0 loss to Montoursville and a 0-0 tie with Loyalsock before entering the AA playoffs as the No. 5 seed.

A 2-1, double-overtime win over No. 12 seed Loyalsock put the Hornets into the quarterfinals where they’d again face Montoursville, the No. 4 seed. Wellsboro fell 3-1, but Coach Fitch was positive about the season-ending loss, saying, “Our district quarterfinal game against a very good Montoursville team was perhaps our best performance of the year.”

Wellsboro will again graduate eight senior players, but will benefit from a strong core of returning underclassmen, a very successful junior varsity team (15-0-1) and a junior high squad that went 11-1.

All told, Fitch was very pleased with his programs’ performances this year, saying, “In a nutshell .. it was a great season!"