NTWSR TOP 20 TIOGA COUNTY STORYLINES OF THE 2025-26 SPORTS' SEASONS (August 13, 2026)

Northern Tier West Sport Report
TIOGA COUNTY — NTWSR begins the countdown of the Top 20 storylines of the 2025-26 school sports year in the West.

#20 .. North Penn-Mansfield Girls Soccer

The North Penn-Mansfield girls’ soccer team used senior leadership and a strong group of underclassmen to surpass many of their preseason goals and have one of the best seasons in the program’s history.
The Lady Tigers finished the regular season 9-8-1 .. matching their total victories over the past six years combined (1-16-1, 1-17, 1-16, 0-17, 1-10-1, 5-12-1) .. to earn their first District IV berth since the 2012 season. 
Their 6-5-1 record in the NTL marks a vast improvement, as the Tigers hadn’t won a league game since 2020 when they beat Sayre, who no longer has a soccer program. 
“I thought our season was very successful,” says NPM Head Coach Maryann Wilcox, “Our goal this year was to be more competitive within the NTL and to create more scoring opportunities.”
North Penn-Mansfield scored 48 goals on the year .. more than the past four seasons combined .. and were led by senior Brooke Wilcox, who captured the season scoring record with 39 goals and the all-time scoring record for the Lady Tigers with 65.

#19 .. Wellsboro Football

The Hornets took a huge step in their rebuilding process in 2025, earning six wins .. one more than the previous three years combined .. for their best season since 2019.
Wellsboro fell on hard times after their 9-2 2019 season, going 1-5 in 2020, 5-4 in ’21, 1-9 in ’22 and 2-8 in both 2023 and last season. This year, the Hornets finished 6-5, including going 4-2 in the large school. Since 2022, Wellsboro went 1-5, 1-5 and 0-6 in their division. 
“I was very pleased with our year,” says Head Coach Matt Hildebrand, “I feel that we got better each week throughout the season, and making a playoff appearance this season was huge for our program after several years of missing out.”
Hildebrand points to his seniors as a major contributing factor to the team’s successes in 2025, and second-year starting QB Griffin Morral accounted for over 2,000 yards of offense and 24 total TDs in leading Wellsboro to averaging 26.6 points per game this season.
The All-Tioga County Football Player of the Year, Morral went 81-172 passing for 1,335 yards and 15 touchdowns and ran for 717 yards and nine more TDs on 114 carries this season. 

#18 .. North Penn-Liberty Boys Soccer

The North Penn-Liberty Mounties overcame big graduation losses and a roller coaster of a season to finish 2025 with 10 wins, their third straight District 4 playoff appearance and a couple of great outings against the NTL champion Athens Wildcats.
The Mounties hovered around .500 for most of their ’25 season .. without a winning or losing streak that lasted more than two games until a three game skid (Jersey Shore, Wellsboro, Williamson) in late October that left them at 6-7-1 with four games left. 
The stretch leading into the losing streak included wins over Galeton (twice), Towanda, Troy and Muncy, losses to Williamson (twice), Wellsboro and Montoursville and a tie against then-undefeated and eventual league champ Athens. 
NP-Liberty finished strong, winning their final four games, over Troy, Northern Potter, Towanda and in their regular season finale, handed Athens their lone league loss.
“We were up and down throughout the year,” says Head Coach Matt Grinnell of his 2025 squad, “We would have liked to stay on a strong level all season instead of fluctuating back-and-forth, but the team played very well together after we figured some things out.”

#17 .. North Penn-Liberty’s Haley Litzelman’s Historic Basketball Season

The now two-time Player of the Year, Litzelman scored in double figures in all but one game for the Lady Mounties in the 2025-26 season, had 30+ four times and averaged 22.4 points per game, finishing her career with a school record 1,400 points. 
With 18 scoring/rebounding double-doubles, a rebounding/assist double-double and a triple-double, Litzelman averaged 13.2 rebounds per game .. finishing her career with 979 .. and added 4.5 assists, 3.7 steals and 2.6 blocks per outing. 
The senior culminated her outstanding career with the Mounties by being named the MVP of the District IV All-Star game and garnering All-State honors.

#16 .. Wellsboro’s Todd Fitch Collects 100th Win As Hornets Narrowly Miss NTL Boys Soccer Championship Four-Peat

The Hornets overcame significant graduation losses and injuries to key players to produce a successful season, finishing 12-6-2 overall and coming within a goal of repeating as league champs for the 4th straight year.
"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 steps down from leading the program with 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.”
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.
In District play, 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.”


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