“We had an up and down season,” says Head Coach Ron Doughtie of his ’25-’26 Hornets, “but we finished strong and won some tough games to end the season. The biggest positive was seeing our team gut out some close games and give themselves a chance to win games that we trailed.”

Wellsboro finished 12-12 overall after an 11-11 regular season and was tested nightly as fifteen of the Hornets’ 24 games .. six of their wins and nine of their losses .. were decided by single digits. 

After a pair of losses to start the season .. to 3A District semifinalist Loyalsock and 2A champ Northeast Bradford .. Wellsboro ran off three straight wins before alternating losses and wins over their next six .. including a Peg Berguson Memorial Trophy win over NPM and culminated with their first of two wins over defending league and D4 champ Troy .. to sit at 6-5.

Three straight losses .. the Hornets’ only other losing streak on the year .. to Athens, St. John Neumann and Class A finalist North Penn-Liberty .. left Wellsboro at 6-8, but a pair of wins got them back to .500 and they again alternated wins and losses throughout the rest of the regular season to finish 11-11 and as the 9th seed in the 3A playoffs.

The Hornets earned a three-point win over Mansfield and advanced to take on No. 1 seed Warrior Run, the eventual District champs, and saw their season come to an end at 12-12. 

“We were able to meet some of our season goals,” says Doughtie, “but we came up short on others. That is all part of the process of playing sports at this level. We always set our goals high to begin the season. How hard you work to achieve those goals is the key. Our players worked hard to improve and meet those goals and showed a lot of resilience in some tough moments.”

The Hornets averaged just under 50 points per game on the season while allowing 48. 

Leading the way was junior Colin Fletcher, who put up 13.5 points per outing and hit 48 threes on the year while adding 1.5 steals and 1.5 assists per game.

“Colin really stepped up offensively as our leading scorer,” says Doughtie, “and he became more than just an outside threat as the season progressed.”

Senior Luke Rothermel scored 9.3 points and grabbed 6.7 rebounds per game while also leading the Hornets in assists at 2.5 per game from his forward position.

“Luke was tasked with a lot of responsibility,” explained Doughtie, “typically handling the ball against presses, and being asked to score and rebound.”

Senior Jonathan Carl led the Hornets in rebounding, grabbing 7.7 boards per game while adding 7 points and 1.4 steals per game while also drawing praise from Doughtie for being tasked with “covering bigger and thicker players than himself almost every night.”

Senior Marek Mascho also drew special assignments from Doughtie, guarding the opposing team’s best offensive player on a nightly basis, while averaging 4.2 points, 2.2 rebounds, 2 assists and 1.5 steals per game. 

Griffin Morral, who Doughtie says was instrumental as the season progressed by providing big points as the sophomore gained confidence in finishing at the basket, hit double figures in scoring four times and averaged 5 points, 3.1 boards and 1.8 assists per game. 

Also providing a spark for the Hornets was junior Gideon Lawton, who scored 4.1 points and handed out an assist per game off the bench.

While they’ll miss the contributions made by Rothermel, Carl and Mascho, Doughtie is confident in his returning underclassmen as the Hornets enter the offseason. 

“This was a fun group of young men to coach and be around,” Doughtie says, “We’ll miss our seniors and the leadership they brought .. we’ll look to fill the void with some returning players who got important minutes over the course of the this season. We’ll play summer league and some offseason tournaments .. as well as open gyms and weight room time .. guys will get the opportunity to fill those spots through open competition. We’re looking forward to getting better .. both individually and as a team.”