The 2014-15 winter sports season is finally upon us.
The slate is full of tip-off tournaments on both the boys and girls side, as well as a handful of wrestling tournaments.
On the boys side, Bradford opens up at the Olean Tournament tonight against the host school at 8.
The Owls have had their struggles in recent seasons against the Huskies, but gone are Wil Bathurst, Sam Eckstrom and Nick Schmidt from a squad that made the Class B New York state finals a year ago, while Bradford looks to be much improved. Hornell and Maple Grove square off in the other game.
The Bradford girls open up at the Hollidaysburg Tournament against Blairsville, with both teams appearing as honorable mention in the PennLive.com preseason state rankings in Class AAA and Class A, respectively.
In fact, all four teams in the tournament, representing all four classifications in Pennsylvania, received honorable mention recognition in the state polls, with Hollidaysburg (Class AAAA) squaring off with Bellwood-Antis (Class AA) in the other game. Bradford fell to Hollidaysburg and beat Bellwood-Antis in last season’s tournament.
Speaking of state rankings, the Port Allegany girls, off an unbeaten regular season in 2013-14, open up as the No. 10 ranked team in the state in Class A.
The Lady Gators lost leading scorer Becca Lathrop to graduation as well as point guard Krista Miller, but return a wealth of talent, led by Brooke Roys, Lynae Delacour, Somer Buchsenschutz and Autumn Buchsenschutz.
They will open the season in the Sheffield Tournament against Youngsville today (5:30 p.m.).
The Smethport girls, who won their opening round game in the D9 Class A playoffs before falling to those Lady Gators, return most of their roster, including eight letterwinners, led by Morgan Okerlund, Kiyah Taggart, Katie Treat and Molly Lord among others. They open today at the Portville Tournament against Franklinville (N.Y.).
For those hoping to catch a glimpse of Cameron County and Bucknell commit Nate Sestina, they will have to wait until Monday.
The Red Raiders, originally scheduled to play Kane tonight, will now open their season Monday, traveling to Ridgway.
The two teams squared off twice last season. The first time around, Dylan Clingan’s full-court heave was good enough to not only give the Red Raiders a stunning victory, but also made Fox Sports’ “The 1.”
Including Sestina, Cameron County returns for of its five starters from last season, including Keith Spehalski, Trae Smith and Dominic Guisto.
Sestina and Ridgway’s Jeremy Breier were two of five players selected to the D9Sports.com preseason All-District boys team.
Elsewhere, the St. Marys Flying Dutch open in the Keystone Tournament, which promises to be competitive, with St. Marys playing Venango Catholic and 6-11 Devin Zagar, while DuBois plays Keystone in the other game.
Switching gears to wrestling, Bradford, Coudersport and Smethport will all open at the Hickory Tournament today and Saturday.
The Owls have just one returning letterwinner, senior Kyle Langdon, who placed third in District 9 last year and will be at 220.
Smethport, meanwhile features Dylan Dinch (285, 23-6), Adam Shunk (138, 23-10) and Jimmy Duffy (152, 25-5), while Coudersport is led by Nick Ragosta (138, 16-15).
On Saturday, St. Marys will host its season-opening tournament, where Port Allegany, Oswayo Valley and Cameron County will be.
Some names to look out for include Port Allegany’s Casey Vollmer (120, 29-6), Mac Tanner (160, 26-5) and Ethan Budd (220, 28-7), Oswayo Valley’s Ryder Howard (170, 9-15) and Cameron County’s Brandon Saline (132, 25-7), Paul Etchepare (138, 25-4), Austin Smoker (220, 26-3) and Jack Karsten (285, 27-5).
