SECTION IV FOOTBALL: BELLIS POWERS TIOGA TO CLASS D TITLE; TIGERS TOP T-BURG, 44-28 (24 PHOTOS) (November 15, 2025)
TIOGA WINS 12TH SECTION IV TITLE IN THE AIELLO ERA
BY TIM BIRNEY
Valley Sports ReportCONKLIN, N.Y. — Senior Logan Bellis topped 300 yards for the second time this season, and scored four second-half TDs as Tioga pulled away for a 44-28 win over Trumansburg in the Section IV, Class D championship game here Saturday afternoon at Susquehanna Valley High School.
The Section IV title is the 12th in 15 postseasons for Tioga coach Nick Aiello, who is in his 16th year (2021 was a hybrid spring season following cancellation of fall season due to Covid.) Aiello now has a 153-28 career record, with 50 of those wins coming in the postseason, including a 31-3 mark in this Section IV playoffs.
In spite of all the success, Aiello says "it never gets old."
"This one was pretty stressful, though," said Aiello. "I'm so proud of these guys."
Aiello believes his team learned a lot from last year's overtime loss to Delhi in the Class D finals.
"We really didn't deserve the win last year," he said. "I didn't think we worked hard enough all season long.
"And I'm not saying anything bad," noted Aiello. "I just felt like the focus wasn't there. And I felt like too many times we were just trying to show up and win last year.
"It was a good learning experience for them, though. I think going into summer and coming into preseason, they understood that you're not just going to show up and win.
"I saw that last year in the morning lifts and it carried over to the summer workouts, which were fantastic," added Aiello.
And, it wasn't just the players that learned from last year, said Aiello.
"Another good thing, too, as coaches we just focused on us," said Aiello.
"We didn't go to a clinic last year. We just met quite a few times as coaches, broke down every single piece of our program and what we wanted to do. And, when we came into preseason, we had a hell of a plan.
"After that loss to Windsor, we tweaked the plan," continued Aiello. "I think that's why we got better day by day, and week by week. We were able to get some big wins early on, and confidence started to grow.
"After beating Trumansburg the first time, our confidence grew a lot, and we were able to roll in the playoffs," added Aiello. "Now, here we are sectional champs and it's just really special for this group of kids because they really worked for it. They earned it, and they deserve it."
After an exchange of punts to start the game, Tioga put together an 11-play, 56-yard drive to take the early lead.
The Tigers spread the ball around on the scoring drive. Bellis started the drive with a 7-yard run, and junior Shane Platukis followed with an 8-yard pick up.
Two plays later, senior Jayden Duncanson ran for 8 yards, and Bellis followed with a 10-yard gain.
After an incompletion — Tioga's only pass attempt in the game, Bellis gained 7 yards, and two plays later senior Dominic Palmer scored on a 15-yard run with 3:07 remaining in the first quarter.
Bellis tacked on the conversion run to put Tioga ahead 8-0.
On Trumansburg's ensuing possession, Palmer and junior Caden Bradley notched back-to-back QB sacks of Vinny King forcing a punt on fourth-and-37.
Tioga couldn't take advantage of the good field position near midfield, and turned the ball over on downs at the T-Burg 45.
The Blue Raiders, however, went three-and-out and punted the ball back to the Tigers, who took over at their 35 following a penalty against T-Burg for 12 men on the field.
The Tigers needed just two plays — a 31-yard run by Bellis, and a 34-yard TD run by junior fullback Max Stauder — to up their lead to 14-0 with 9:01 remaining in the half. Bellis tacked on the 2-point conversion to make it 16-0.
On Trumansburg's ensuing possession, King was injured and did not return.
After an exchange of punts, tailback-turned-QB Aidan Clarke-Cabezas led Trumansburg on a 12-play, 50-yard scoring drive to close the gap to 16-6. The drive was capped by a 17-yard TD pass to Will Brainard with 24.8 seconds remaining in the first half.
Trumansburg's QB switch presented some problems for the Tigers, with Clarke-Cabezas, who ran the Wildcat on occasion with King on the field, more of a threat to run.
"We came in with a game plan, and when the starting quarterback went down, we had to make quite a few adjustments," said Aiello. "We had to come out of our game plan, kind of go back to some more base things.
"We still didn't like what was going on, and it was about halfway through the third quarter when we made some other adjustments and finally felt comfortable, even though they were still getting big chunk plays.
"They were going on drives on us because we were really set up to stop (King) in the pass game," noted Aiello. "When (Clarke-Cabezas) came in, we were stuck in that defense for a little while, and they were getting first downs.
"We went to a run defense and they start getting big chunk plays with the pass, but we scored enough points to beat them, so I guess that's all that matters," added Aiello.
The second half was all about Bellis, who had 80 yards on 13 carries in the first half, then ran for 225 yards and four TDs on 13 carries in the second half.
"He makes great cuts," said Aiello of Bellis. "And, I think it's always hard to tackle little guys, especially when they're quick.
"I felt that way about Jesse Manuel and how fast he hit the hole and made cuts," noted Aiello. "Logan is pretty similar in terms of the cuts he makes between the tackles for a little guy.
"I'm just really happy for him after missing his whole junior year, just very, very proud of him," added Aiello. "And proud of all the guys, proud of all those seniors and what they've been able to accomplish."
As a team, the Tigers ran for 447 yards, including 276 yards in the second half.
"We could kind of see we would get better as the game went on," said Aiello. "We knew it was going to be tough sledding in the first half; that's the way it was in the first game against them.
"At halftime, we told the guys up front we needed to get off the ball better," noted Aiello. "And, we thought we could bust Logan out, and we did.
"We made some minor adjustments, more formational," added Aiello. "And. Logan took care of business; that's just basically what it boils down to."
Trumansburg, which won the coin toss and deferred, picked up a pair of first downs, but was forced to punt on the first possession of the second half. Tioga senior Kadin Cole fielded the punt and electrified the Tiger faithful with an 82-yard return for a score, but the score was nullified by off-setting penalties.
Tioga took over at its 18 following the next Trumansburg punt, but Bellis busted loose on a 51-yard run to the Blue Raider 31 on the first play.
Two plays later, Stauder bulled his way 14 yards up the middle to the T-Burg 14, and two plays after that Bellis scored on an 11-yard run to make it 22-6 with 5:12 remaining in the third quarter.
Trumansburg answered with a seven-play, 56-yard drive, capped by a 4-yard TD run by Eamon Herman. Clarke-Cabezas added the conversion to trim the Tioga lead to 22-14.
After recovering an onside kick, the Tigers responded with a drive of their own, going 49 yards on nine plays for the score.
A holding call put Tioga in a second-and-19 predicament at the Blue Raider 36, but junior QB Jackson Bombard picked up 14 yards on third-and-13 on a QB sweep to keep the chains moving.
Two plays later, Bellis scored on an 8-yard run with 10:06 remaining in the game. Bombard connected with sophomore Josh Rought on the two-point conversion to make it 30-14.
Trumansburg's ensuing possession ended on downs at its own 48, and Bellis needed just one run to find paydirt with 8:45 left in the game. Platukis added the conversion to increase the lead to 38-14.
The Blue Raiders took the ensuing kickoff and put together another scoring drive, capping it off with a 44-yard TD pass from Clarke-Cabezas to Brainard on fourth-and-11 to close the gap to 38-20.
Before Trumansburg could get the two-point conversion snap off, however, the officials cleared the field and the stands due to lightning in the area.
About 75 minutes later, Tioga senior Gavin Albrecht broke up a pass in the end zone on the conversion to keep the lead at 38-20.
Moments later, Bellis recovered the Blue Raiders' onside kick attempt, then ripped off a 55-yard TD run on Tioga's first play with 6:47 remaining in the game to make it 44-20.
Trumansburg scored on a 1-yard run by Connor Sherwood with 2:07 remaining to provide the final margin.
After a 23-yard run by Bellis on second-and-nine, Tioga went into victory formation.
Aiello said this title is "extra sweet" for his team.
"I think our kids just doubted themselves after last season," he said. "I think a lot of people were questioning if they were any good.
"During the offseason and preseason, they bought into the fact they had to earn it, and they worked very hard.
"After the Windsor game, they were kind of hanging their heads again, but after two weeks of work, we went into Deposit-Hancock against a team everyone thought was the team to beat in that division and came away with the win," noted Aiello. "Then we go up to Delhi and beat them — two tough road trips right in the beginning of the season.
"I think it was after those two games that the guys kind of settled in and said, 'OK, we're a pretty good football team,'" added Aiello. "They really bought into working hard and taking it day to day and week by week. I think that's why they improved all season long."
What does this win mean to Aiello"
"Well, you know, it's pretty special," he said. "I don't know how much longer I'm going to do this — it's been a good run."
Clarke-Cabezas completed 12 of 25 passes for 191 yards and two TDs, while King was 3-for-7 for four yards.
Brainard led Trumansburg's receivers with four receptions for 67 yards and two TDs, and Sherwood added three grabs 34 yards.
Trumansburg had just 96 rushing yards on 27 carries, with Clarke-Cabezas leading the way with 50 yards on 12 carries.
Tioga, now 10-1, will "host" Section III champ Lowville Friday at 5 p.m. at Vestal High School in the Class D state quarterfinals.
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IN PHOTO 1: Tioga's Logan Bellis. IN TOP PHOTO: Tioga's Max Stauder. ... PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY.
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