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TAKING A LOOK BACK AT THE TOP 'BAKERS DOZEN' STORIES OF 2021 IN THE WEST (2021-12-31)

By Lance Larcom
Northern Tier West Sports Report
As the New Year looms, it’s time to take a look back and reflect on some of the more memorable moments that our local athletes and teams have provided us in 2021. 

These are in no particular order .. heck, since we didn’t officially launch Northern Tier West Sports Report until mid-March, some of them happened before we were even around! 

1. North Penn-Liberty’s Kohen Lehman Wrestles at States
Due to Covid cancellations and an altered schedule, Lehman entered the post-season having wrestled just 10 matches (8-2). Wrestling at 172 pounds, the then-sophomore won the North Sectional title, placed 4th at Districts, 3rd at Regionals and qualified for the PIAA Eastern Super Regional .. which replaced the first several rounds of what should have been the State tournament. Lehman finished the season 17-8 and one win away from advancing to the medal round of the PIAA Tournament.

2. Wellsboro Duo Wins District IV Doubles Championship
Will Poirier and Zach Singer played as NTL Champion Wellsboro’s No. 1 and No. 2 singles players all season, compiling a 27-5 record. At the District IV competition, the pair combined to win a doubles championship, the first for the Hornets since 2011, and a berth at the State tournament.

3. NP-Mansfield’s Andrew Green Places 4th At District Golf, 15th At States
The junior had a tremendous season, compiling an 83 average through league play while carding a low-round score of 76. He medaled with a fourth-place finish at Districts and just missed medaling at States as he finished three strokes out the top-ten with a 79, tying for 15th.

4. Cowanesque Valley Football Enjoys Historic Season
The Indians won six games .. more than the previous three seasons combined, the most since 1975 and qualified for Districts for the first time in 32 seasons. Players finished at-or-near the top of most statistical categories, including QB Jacob Schmitt, freshman RB Tim Freeman, wideouts Tucker St. Peter and Tanyon Brown, lineman Kade Sottolano and the All-Tioga County Player of the Year, Mike Sipps.

5. Wellsboro Baseball Wins NTL Title
Wellsboro finished 12-8 overall, 11-4 in league play and 8-2 in the NTL large school division to win the title. The Hornets accomplished much with a well-rounded team, as they had a trio of pitchers that each went 4-1 during the season in Zach Rowland, Brock Hamblin and Isaac Keane, while sophomore Cameron Brought produced at a seasoned-veterans rate and junior Darryn Callahan was such a threat to do THIS in every at-bat that the Slippery Rock commit finished with 24 free passes, a .568 on-base-percentage and a gaudy .889 slugging percentage with six home runs.

6. Williamson’s Charli Slusser Places Second At States In High Jump
Slusser had only one competitor who stood in her way of both a District IV and a PIAA Championship in high jump .. fellow NTL jumper Porsche Bennett of Towanda. Slusser cleared 5-02 to win the NTL title, 5-04 to place second at the District IV meet and 5-06 for her PIAA silver medal. 

7. North Penn-Liberty Boys Basketball Wins Second Straight Small School Title
The Mounties swept the small-school division, going 9-0, and played for a District IV Championship. Coach Brian Litzelman led his squad to a 14-3 overall record and saw senior guard Noah Spencer named to the Class A All-State team.

8. NP-Mansfield’s Noah Shedden Medals At State Cross Country Meet
Shedden, a senior, won the NTL Coaches Invitational, placed third at the District IV Class AA race in Bloomsburg and brought home a State medal by finishing in 15th place at the PIAA meet in Hershey.

9. Several West Basketball Teams With Strong Starts To '21-'22 Season
We’ll see which of these great starts end up as top headlines in 2022, but we can’t ignore how good the end of 2021 has been to a few of our teams. The NP-Mansfield boys are undefeated at 4-0 and are averaging over 64 points per game, while the Wellsboro boys are 5-1 and are putting up 62 points per contest. Not many people gave NP-Liberty much of a shot at defending their two-year streak as NTL small-school champs, but the Mounties started 3-0 and sit at 4-3 as we enter the new year. On the girls side, Wellsboro started out 4-1, just two wins away from matching their total from last season.

10. Wellsboro 10U Baseball Team Claims District Little League Title
Wellsboro went 7-0 through the District 15 playoffs, with wins over Tioga Lawrenceville (23-0), Canton (11-1) and Southern Tioga (10-4) in pool play, and against Tunkhannock (15-3), Southern Tioga (8-7) and Athens twice (4-2 and 3-2) to win the District 15 title.

11. Cowanesque Valley Boys Cross Country Team Enjoys Stellar Season
As a team, the CV boys won an NTL regular-season title. As individual runners, the Indians excelled well beyond the NTL. At the District IV Class A Meet, Owen Cummings finished fifth, Kristian Mizdail finished sixth and Nathaniel Welch finished 16th, each qualifying for the PIAA Meet. There, Cummings brought home a medal, finishing 20th.

12. NP-Liberty Volleyball Wins Sixth Straight NTL Title, Falls In Districts
The Lady Mounties should take pride in the opinion that them losing in the District finals for the first time in six years is a top headline. The premier program in the West has built such a dynasty that getting knocked out shy of a title is a big story. NPL went 15-2 and did win their sixth-straight NTL Large-School championship, with a lone senior on the squad.

13. Cowanesque Valley’s McGwire Painter Scores 59 .. (Forces Writer to Change Title of Year-End Column)
CV’s Painter produced one of the highest point-scoring totals in District IV history on the next-to-last day of the year, so what was originally going to be our Top Twelve Stories of 2021 now becomes a Baker’s Dozen! 

Painter, averaging around 23 points per game on the season, with both a 30 and 29-point performance already, put 59 points on Odessa-Montour in the Indians’ 94-68 win at the Colwell Classic in Addison, NY. The senior guard had just one three-pointer, hit 13-of-15 from the line and had a 20-point second quarter as well as a 32-point first half.
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I hope that everyone enjoyed this brief look back at some of the highlights from the West during the past year. Many, many more outstanding performances, championships and notable headlines could have been included.

On a personal note, I could have added dozens more, as I have thoroughly and sincerely enjoyed covering, shooting and reporting on each and every game, meet and match that I have been to since the Northern Tier West Sports Reports launched in mid-March. 

As we move into 2022, I would just like to thank the fine folks of the West who have helped make our first almost-year such a success. 

Here’s to 2022!


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