Valley Sports ReportTHE VALLEY — The rebuilding process of the Waverly wrestling program is officially complete in the wake of its team title at the New York State Division 2 Wrestling Championships, and Devan Witman has been there since Day 1. He is the 2024-25 All-Tioga County "Coach of the Winter."
Witman, a former state place-winner at Waverly, directed the Wolverines to a 12-4 record, and a runner-up finish in the Section IV, Division II Duals.
Wrestling without two starters, state place-finisher Matthias Welles and Dalton Davis, Waverly drop d a 37-30 decision to Unatego-Unadilla Valley in the Duals finals.
The Wolverines finished fourth in the team standings at the Section IV Championships, but advanced five wrestlers to the state tournament, where it claimed a state title with all five wrestlers taking home hardware.
2024-25 All-Valley Super 7 Coaches of the Winter
Devan Witman, Waverly wrestling: See above.
Bob Kelly, Waverly girls basketball: Bob Kelly has a couple state titles under his belt during his long coaching career, but this year may have been one of his best coaching jobs.
Kelly used his patented pressure defense to create scoring opportunities throughout the season, and directed his team to a 16-4 season, with three losses coming to Chenango Forks, which reached the state semifinals.
Waverly beat Forks in their first meeting of the season, but lost to the Blue Devils in the Section IV, Class B semifinals.
Lou Judson, Waverly boys basketball: After graduation, injury, and early enrollment at college, Judson returned just one player from last year's rotation on a team that won the Section IV, Class B title. He cobbled together a young team that got better and better as the season progressed.
Waverly earned the second seed after an 11-9 season in the STAC, then returned to the Class B finals with wins over Watkins Glen and Lansing, before falling to Dryden in the championship tilt.
Paul Blythe, Sayre boys basketball: Blythe kept things together during an up-and-down season for the Redskins, who secured a home game in the opening-round of the District 4, Class AA playoffs, where Sayre topped NTL rival NEB.
In the semifinals, Sayre lost by five points to Northwest Area, which went on to win the District title, and reach the state semifinals — with their closest game being six points.
Sayre finished the season at 16-10.
Derek Bowman, Waverly bowling: Bowman led Waverly to its first STAC Championship, another Section IV, Class C Championship, and its third consecutive trip to the New York State Championships, by virtue of winning its third straight Section IV State Qualifier.
Kelly Allen, Athens girls basketball: Kelly Burkhart Allen returned to the Athens bench this season after a six-year absence, and led the Wildcats to a six-game turnaround.
After posting a 9-14 record in 2023-24, Burkhart led Athens a 15-8 record.
Connor Hutchinson, Tioga boys basketball: In my preseason predictions, I said Tioga was a two- or three-win team.
However, Hutchinson took a young group of players with virtually no varsity experience and molded them into a solid team that posted a 7-13 record.
