Norwich enters the Section IV Class A basketball championship game as the lower seed, but likely the favorite when it squares off with top-seeded Elmira Southside tonight at 7:45 p.m. at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.

Norwich (19-3), playing in its seventh Section IV championship game under head coach Mark Abbott, vies for its fourth overall sectional title and first – and likely last – as a Class A school. Norwich drops back to Class B next year.

“The guys are excited and pumped, and we know we’ll have tremendous fan support,” Abbott said.

It’s no surprise the Tornado are in this game. From the start of the season, they were presaged as a contender, and remained about the top-20 ranked New York Class A teams most of the season.

“It’s always a goal to get where we are now,” Abbott said, whose club won a Class B section title in 2003, and is 3-3 overall in sectional finals. “It’s ironic that we didn’t play Elmira Southside for 23 years, now we’re playing them a second time in two weeks.”