By TIM BIRNEYValley Sports Report
TIOGA CENTER — Longtime Tioga coach Nick Aiello has four state titles under his belt, but this year's team is a little different than its predecessors to make the trip to the Dome.
"This is a pretty special group," said Aiello.
"In 2015, we had Jesse (Manuel), and in 2021 we had Emmett (Wood), and we molded the teams around those guys offensively," he noted. "In 2022 and '23, everyone was back from '21 for those teams.
"This year, it's such a good team, no one really sticks out above the rest," said Aiello. "They realize that, too. Everyone takes a lot to pride in the role they have, and, they take a lot of pride in not only how they play the game, but in how they practice."
Aiello continued to stress "team" when it comes to the 2025 Tigers.
"I think everyone does their part, in terms of their position ... it's just a really, really good team, and there's great team chemistry.
"These guys have also worked very hard," said Aiello. "A lot of the seniors we had coming back, played in the Dome in the championship game two years ago.
"They didn't have the year they wanted as juniors, and now that they're seniors and they were able to fight and claw back to this point to play for a state championship; that just speaks volumes about the type of young men they are and the character they have.
"I'm excited for them to have this opportunity, and I can't wait until kickoff on Friday to see what they can do," added Aiello.
Despite few people expecting this Tioga team reaching the Dome when practice began in August, Aiello said his team talked about it early on.
"Early in the year, some of the kids got up in front of their teammates and said their goal was to get to the Dome, and have a shot at winning a state championship.
"It was early in the season," said Aiello. "Just the fact that, as a staff, we were able to help these guys along, make these guys better each week, and get them to this point where they could try to live out that goal feels really good.
"I'm just really happy for this group," he noted. "I don't even know if they believed they could get here at first, but as the season went along, the wins piled up and they gained more confidence ... they really started to believe they could do it.
"They played tremendous on Sunday to punch that ticket to the Dome, and here we are," continued Aiello. "It took us Monday and Tuesday to get over that win and freshen up, but (Wednesday) we had a really good practice.
"I think it's setting in for these guys that they have the chance to live out the dream they had, and I'm excited for them," added Aiello.
Tioga (12-1) will square off with Tuckahoe (10-1) Friday at 3 p.m. at the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse in the New York State Class D Championship game.
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IN PHOTO 1: Tioga senior Logan Bellis. IN TOP PHOTO: The 2025 Tioga Tigers. ... VSR STOCK PHOTOS.
