I never anticipated ever having to write this, and have no desire to do so, but due to a confluence of events, Tioga County Sports Report will cease to operate later this week.We will finish off the winter season coverage, however on our Facebook page. Said coverage includes All-Tioga County and All-Region teams.
The reasons for folding the site are three-fold.
First, Tim Taylor's well-deserved retirement at the end of the 2023-24 school year set it into motion.
Since that point, I have tried to run Valley Sports Report and Tioga County Sports Report on a daily basis, but ran into a wall late in this winter sports season. My thanks to Tim Taylor, who has been working part-time, for stepping up and finishing off the winter season.
Second, it's nearly impossible to find someone qualified, capable, and willing to put in the necessary hours to operate a site like Tioga County Sports Report on a daily basis and at the level Tim Taylor did.
Third, and the most important factor of all, the lack of support from the business community in the area in terms of advertising, which allows us to operate and provide exposure for our student-athletes without charging the reader to access the site.
The part that upsets me most about closing TCSR is that our viewership has soared more than 60 percent in the last three years. So a huge "shout-out" to all our readers, and a sincere "thank you."
I would also like to thank Tim Taylor for his tireless work and his efforts above and beyond to help built TCSR and The Sports Reports as a whole.
I would also like to give a shout-out to Aaron Lounsbury at Lounsbury Insurance for his support since Day 1, as well as the Haefele family and UHS for their support of our endeavors in recent years. There are a few other businesses who dipped their toes in the advertising waters as well and I thank them.
I would also like to thank the athletic directors and coaches, who — for the most part — were very good at getting us the information we needed to keep our readers informed.
And a final thank you to a handful of parents over the years who provided photos to us when we were unable to get to that event.
We've had a great time covering the student-athletes at Owego, Candor, Spencer-VanEtten, and Newark Valley.
As I look back on the last eight years several storylines come to mind, including state title runs for Candor volleyball team, as well as the Newark Valley girls basketball state playoff appearances, and SVEC's dominance in 8-man football.
The resurgence of the Owego boys soccer team, and the Owego football team's first-ever Section IV was also a highlight of our eight-year run, as well as covering a slew of talented boys and girls wrestlers and tracksters who brought home state medals.
I also asked Tim Taylor to provide a list of top storylines in his time at TCSR, and he sent a much more comprehensive list.
In Tim's opinion, TCSR's all-time top storylines:
No. 1: Candor grad Jensen wins three NCAA golds: SUNY Geneseo standout Lance Jensen claimed his third career gold medal, winning the 400-meter run at the 2024 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships. His time of 46.95 seconds is the third-fastest in D-3 history.
The Candor grad claimed his first collegiate gold in the 4x400 relay at the 2023 indoor championships and picked up his second in the 400 hurdles at the 2023 outdoor championships.
In 2022, Jensen was part of the third-place 4x400 at the indoor championships and the fourth-place 4x400 at the outdoor championships.
During his collegiate career, Jensen won 56 races for the Knights.
No. 2: Owego football wins first Section IV and Central Region titles; snaps 11-game losing streak against M-E: The Owego football team defeated Waverly, 37-7, to capture its first-ever Section IV championship this past November, then beat New Hartford, 36-34, on Dylan Brace’s 20-yard walkoff field goal to win the Central Region title, 36-34.
Along the way, the River Hawks snapped an 11-game losing streak to Class B powerhouse Maine-Endwell with a 19-16 upset in the sectional semifinals. It ended a 6-year drought which lasted 2,213 days.
No. 3: Owego’s Katchuk claims record five sectional diving titles: Owego girls diving standout claimed her fifth Section IV Class B championship in 2024, an accomplishment unmatched by any diver in Section IV.
At her final sectional championship meet, the senior also broke the Section IV 11-dive record with a score of 586.2 points.
Katchuk would go on to claim her third state championship meet medal, placing ninth overall. She was sixth in 2023 and 10th in 2022. She also placed 17th as a freshman.
No. 4: Candor volleyball ends 16-year drought, sweeping Class D state championship: The Candor volleyball team swept through the 2019 NYSPHSAA Class D Volleyball Championships, going 6-0 in pool play before defeating Panama, 3-0, to win its first State title since 2003.
The Coyotes would win their fourth championship in 2024 and finish as the state runner-up in 2025.
The state abandoned pool play for one season in 2023 due to the addition of a fifth classification and Candor dropped a 3-2 heartbreaker to eventual champion Chautauqua Lake in the semifinals.
No. 5: Owego’s Chrysler caps cross country career with 5th trip to states: Owego senior Jaelyn Chrysler capped her high school cross country career with her fifth trip to the NYSPHSAA Girls Cross Country Championships last November.
Her state meet experience included a pair of medal-winning efforts. She finished in 13th place in Class C as an 8th-grader in 2021 and took eighth place in Class B as a sophomore in 2023.
No. 6: S-VE’s Garrison medals in two sports in same school year: Spencer-Van Etten distance runner John Garrison garnered two medals during the 2023-24 school year.
The senior standout placed ninth in Class D at the 2023 NYSPHSAA Cross Country Championships. With less than 400 meters remaining in the 5K race, Garrison picked up eight spots to break into the top 10.
In the 2024 NYSPHSAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, he ran the fastest final lap of all 32 competitors in both divisions to finish fourth in Division II in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Garrison attends Binghamton University and is a member of the cross country and track teams.
No. 7: Newark Valley girls basketball makes back-to-back state playoff appearances: Newark Valley made consecutive appearances in the NYPHSAA Girls Basketball Championships in 2022 and 2023.
The Cardinals charged into the Class C championship game in 2022 before falling to Millbrook, 55-46.
In 2023, NV fell to Cortland, 46-41, in the Class B quarterfinals after the Purple Tigers got hot from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter.
The team’s 55-30 quarterfinal win over Waterville in the quarterfinals was noteworthy due to two postponements and a two-hour delay due to Winter Storm Quinlan.
NV was also a Section IV Class B runner-up in 2020 and 2024. The state playoffs were canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19, and Section IV did not hold a postseason tournament in 2021.
The Cardinals recorded a combined 87-6 record during that span.
No. 8: SVEC undefeated during 8-man football run: Spencer-Van Etten/Candor posted a 15-0 record during a two-year run in the 8-man football ranks in 2021-22.
The Eagles recorded three shutouts and their average margin of victory was 37.5 points.
SVEC was only seeded third for the Section IV playoffs but defeated Greene, 56-0, and Groton, 50-12, to claim the title. The Eagles went on to beat Spackenkill from Section IX, 68-20, in the regional championship game (New York does not hold a state championship in 8-man).
All 15 games were played in 2021 due to COVID-19, forcing the state to cut the “2020 season” short.
No. 9: Owego boys make four-year run at state tournament: In his second year at the helm, coach Alessio De Michele guided the Owego boys soccer team to the 2021 NYSPHSAA Class B Boys Soccer playoffs.
The Indians fell to defending champion Skaneateles, 2-1, in overtime in the quarterfinals. The Lakers went on to repeat as champs.
The two teams clashed in the quarters again in 2022 with Skaneateles winning in OT, 1-0, and going on to capture the title.
The renamed River Hawks went back to states in 2023, this time in Class A, but fell to eventual runner-up Byram Hills, 4-1.
Owego made it four consecutive state appearances in 2024, losing to Our Lady of Lourdes, 4-2, in a Class A regional.
Alessio’s teams posted a 53-13-1 combined record from 2021-2024.
No. 10: Owego boys win back-to-back sectional cross country titles: The Owego boys cross country team won consecutive Section IV Class B championships in 2018 and 2019.
The 2018 quintet of Nate Bowers, Cam Szabo, Eaan Hackett, Gavin Watkins and Lewis Race comprised the team’s five scoring runners at the state meet. Also competing for the then-Indians were sophomore James McDonald and junior Joel Choynowski.
Despite graduating the top five runners, Owego repeated as sectional champs in 2019. McDonald returned and was joined by scoring runners Owen Casterline, Hunter Ellis, Gavin Bowers and Matt Miller, as well as Jayce Stuart and Derek Saarge.
No. 11: Girls wrestling experiencing impressive growth: Girls wrestling has enjoyed an impressive growth spurt since being recognized as an “emerging sport” in 2022.
The state sanctioned it as an official sport in the 2024-2025 season and held its first state championship tournament in February 2025.
Owego’s RaeAnn Craft became the first three-time Section IV champion in 2024 and was expected to add titles in 2025 and 2026, and be a state championship contender, but suffered season-ending injuries in both seasons. She was a two-time place-winner in the NYSPHSAA Girls Invitational, a non-sanctioned state tournament, in 2023 and 2024.
Tioga County’s first two-time state place-winner was Spencer-Van Etten/Candor’s Tayah Beach, who placed fourth in 2025 and fifth in 2026. A three-time Section IV champion and five-time place-winner, she became the first Tioga County girl to reach 100 career victories with 112.
Girls wrestling started making its mark in Tioga County during the 2017-18 season when Tioga’s Emily Sindoni demonstrated that she could hold her own on the mats against male opponents. She was a two-time Section IV Division II boys tournament qualifier, then won two girls championships. She also won the 132-pound title at the first NYSPHSAA Girls Invitational in 2023.
The Tigers also laid claim to the first “sanctioned” state champion when Amelia Toomey captured the 138-pound title last month.
No. 12: Owego flag football enjoys success: Owego has built a successful flag football program in the sport’s early years, and have compiled a 47-6 record since its inception in 2022 while winning Section IV and regional championships.
The state began holding a championship tournament in 2024 and the River Hawks reached the Division 2 semifinals while compiling a 16-1 record.
Last year, Owego went 19-1 and was the Class C state runner-up.
Waverly joined the ranks in 2024.
The New York State Public High School Athletic Association started flag football with 51 schools participating and expanded to more than 140 schools by its second year. The NYSPHSAA expects to have 185 teams this spring.
