Stevens Wins North Section Title
By: Ed Weaver | NTL Sports | February 15, 2026 | Photo courtesy Matt Stevens
Senior Hayden Stevens claimed a 1st place finish at Saturday's North Section Wrestling tournament in his 215-lb. weight class.
Stevens was the lone Hornet to advance to next weekend's Class 2A District IV Tournament.
"I'm really proud of Hayden. That was 4 years of competing, fighting, and waiting to achieve that title," said head coach Bryce Bitner. "He followed right up with Ryder's momentum last year and brought home another Sectional Title, which is great for the program. He battled through a tough match facing some pain, but ended up using his athleticism and grit to finish strong and pull it out in the end. Those types of matches are great heading into the District Tournament to prep you for the grueling weekend against tough District IV competition."
Stevens started out his day with a 10-1 decision over Towanda's Finn Brennan in the quarterfinals, then backed it up with a 10-1 win over Williamson's Riley Rall in the semi-finals.
Stevens capped his day with a 7-0 decision against Wyalusing's Dan Fox.
In addition to Stevens, two Hornets earned 5th place finishes in their weight classes. Freshman Mason Greene finished 5th in his 107-lb. class and junior Wyatt Kilburn was 5th at 172 lbs.
Greene dropped his quarterfinal match (16-0 tech fall) to Wyalusing's Logan Wood and fell to Troy's Garret Parks in 4:09 in the consolation semi-finals. He rebounded to defeated Towanda's Mason Harbst in 1:53 in his final match.
Kilburn lost his opening match to Towanda's Kolton McPeak (21-6 tech fall), then rebounded to defeat North Penn-Liberty's Gavin Stubblefield 11-3 in his 3rd round consolation match. Kilburn concluded his day with a 7-3 victory over Troy's Thomas Moon.
Senior Vaughn Shannon went 1-2 on the day, defeating Sayre's Amicio LaManna in his 1st round match at 127 lbs.
Sophomore Connor Linden went 0-2 on the day at 121 lbs.
"I'm super proud of our all of our guys today who went out and competed," continued Bitner. "We were decimated with injuries this year that took six guys out of the lineup and had a roster of mostly brand new wrestlers, and they made us all proud. Our kids took a beating at times this year being brand new to this sport. They never were discouraged and continued to get better and a coach can't ask for anything more than that. Wyatt and Mason ended the day with wins after being disappointed with their outcome, but I'm really proud of the way they finished the season on a strong note heading into next year."
Stevens is back in action next weekend at Williamsport High School.
Ed Weaver is the founder and owner of Circle W Sports, a Pennsylvania-based digital media and technology company specializing in athletic website development.
