TROY — North Tonawanda knew it had a good team that was capable of winning a state title heading into this season, but there is a difference between saying it and doing it.
It backed up their talk by flying through the postseason and capturing its first ever state championship. It took down Bethlehem 57-37 Sunday to win the NYSPHSAA Class AA championship and hang a banner in its gym.
And the Lumberjacks didn’t leave any doubt along the way.
During the postseason, North Tonawanda won all seven of its games by double-digits, while outscoring their opponents by an average of 17 points per game. During their run, their closest win was a 14-point win over Webster Schroeder in the state quarterfinals.
It was a run that had the entire town buying in and supporting the team. Even if many stayed in North Tonawanda and chose to watch the championship game at home, the town was buzzing, with bars streaming the game.
“I’m from North Tonawanda. I work in the city there,” head coach Ryan Bradt said. “I went to school there. It’s just great for the city. The whole place behind us. I was a sophomore when we won states on the football team. I was on the JV football team, but I see how much it brings a community together. It’s just a great feeling. The girls are going to remember this for the rest of their life.”
They could not be stopped on the road there finishing the season with a 23-3 overall record. They also finished the season on a nine-game winning streak. They finished the season outscoring their opponents 64.3 to 47.3 per game.
Out of its 23 wins this season, North Tonawanda won 20 games by double-digits including their last eight games in a row. Their largest margin of victory this season was a 51-point win, 66-15 over Nichols on Dec. 30, 2025.
When senior Annabelle Day thinks about this season she thinks big pictures. She does not think about the statistical achievements. Instead, when she thinks about the season, one memory stands out above the rest and it is not hard to choose which one.
Day did not have to think very deeply about what her favorite moment from this season was. It’s the season’s final moment. It was her team making history.
“This right here,” Day said. “There’s lots of games we’ve been through. Honestly just every game we took as one game. So there was small little memories here and there but honestly just having my teammates by my side and all be together and winning the state championship will be forever the best memory.”
It was a run which saw them finish the season with its last three wins coming by 14, 22 and 20 points respectively.
The win gives the greater Niagara region its first state title since Lockport won it in 1994. It is a history-making run that saw North Tonawanda welcomed back to town by a police escort when it arrived home on March 22.
It was a run which saw them become the second state champion to hail from all of Section VI this year, joining Frewsburg, which won the Class C title.
“I can’t even believe it,” Day said. “It means so much, especially playing for our city and doing this for our city to bring back the state championship. So it means a lot because I came short a few state championships, but doing it for my city, doing it with my girls means so much. We grew up together playing in small leagues and now as seniors it means so much, especially playing with my sister.”
As a first year head coach, this season was a significant learning experience for Bradt and his team. It was one in which he came in after a successful season and had to learn what made his team tick and what held them back from achieving their ultimate goal.
He had to learn how to get his team to take the next step and advance out of the sectional tournament for the first time in team history. It did not start off smoothly though as the team started the season 1-2 before picking it up from there.
“We learned a lot about ourselves early on when we started off 1-2 and just backs against the wall,” Bradt said. “Some of the girls are not used to losing … and then next thing you know we start piecing together. … We’ve dominated since then and it took a little bit right? You put a new system, new coach and the girls adjusted to me and I adjusted to them. Once we got clicking on all cylinders it was great.”
The fact that they won a lot of regular-season games was not new to the Lumberjacks, though. They are used to it. Over the last two seasons, the team has gone 34-11, including a 20-3 record last year.
This year they did not just win a lot of games in the regular season before falling short in the postseason.
This year, they went all the way under their first-year head coach. One of the biggest differences between previous years and this year was the fact that they did navigate an independent schedule that saw them travel all around the state and into Pennsylvania.
It is a schedule that Day said helped prepare them to face the best of the best like they faced in the postseason.
But the biggest difference between this year and previous years is down to coaching and their relationship with Bradt and his staff.
“I’ll say the coaching definitely,” senior Jakayla Brown said. “Last year we had a coach he was good but he wasn’t that advanced. So now having coach Bradt come in and take over was really good for us. So I would say the coaching and the vibes because last year we didn’t have that coaching … we go to our coaches whenever we needed to. So I would just say coaching this year.”