The Whitman-Hanson wrestling team was not happy with ending their league season with a blowout loss to the Pembroke Titans in their own gym on Wednesday. The Panthers had one more chance to go out on a high note at home when Whitman-Hanson hosted the South Sectional team championship at the high school on Saturday, and they made the most of it.

The Panthers placed third to earned a spot in the Division II state finals in Lowell in two weeks while also sending four wrestlers to the state individual tournament in Reading this weekend with top four finishes on Saturday.

“I am very happy with that finish,” coach Ed Flanagan said. “There were a lot of really good teams there and for us to take third says a lot about the team we have … The downside of hosting such a serious tournament is the distractions for the entire team. I feel like the wrestlers really came out slow in the first round of action but shook all the cobwebs out and really wrestled well. No one was happy with the way we came out against Pembroke and on Saturday we recovered quite nicely.”

Senior captain Colin McSweeney continued his impressive season with a first-place finish in the 145-pound division. McSweeney went unbeaten to improve his season record to 29-1 while also earning the Outstanding Wrestler award for the tournament.

“[That’s an] extremely high honor for him, and very much deserved,” Flanagan said. “This senior season has been beyond words for him. It really has been a pleasure to watch him wrestle and excel as a leader on this young team.”

Junior captains Jeff Bechen and Greg McGrath both reached the finals in their weight classes, coming away with second places and a chance for an individual championship next weekend.

“Both have lost to the same wrestlers before and it would have been nice to get wins against them before states but both have nothing to be ashamed about,” Flanagan said. “They have been rocks in our lineup … the season that [our three captains] have had has been extraordinary. They have been consistent, relentless, hardworking, and dedicated.”

Junior Brody DeMinico also earned a spot at the individual tournament at 126. DeMinico shook off a loss to Evan Hortman in the Pembroke meet to place third on Saturday.

“He kind of gets lost at times behind the three captains but he is another rock in our lineup,” Flanagan said. “If we didn’t have Brody this season things would have went differently for us.”

Sophomore Colin Brain also bounced back from a loss against Pembroke to place fifth at 106 with a pair of overtime wins while senior Nick Blosz shook off a loss in his first match of the tournament to place fifth at 170. Senior Billy Madden took sixth at 220 while Colin Tregonning won his first varsity match at 113.

In addition to the strong showing by the home team, Flanagan said that hosting the tournament showed the best of Whitman-Hanson, commending all involved.

“I want to thank all the parents, volunteers, and our JV wrestlers who helped us run such a smooth tournament,” he said.  “A lot of hard work was put in behind the scenes and everyone deserves a ton of credit and thanks. We got a lot of compliments from coaches, refs, and parents from other towns on the day. I hope we can host the tournament annually.”

The Panthers had a strong turnout at the high school on Wednesday for their meet with Pembroke to decide the Patriot League championship, but Titan wins in four straight matches set the stage for a 56-21 Panther loss.

McSweeney got a pinfall victory over Colin Claflin while Bechen beat Ryan Chapman on points for the only two victories of the night for the Panthers. McGrath and Tysun Blouse also won by forfeit.

“Pembroke is an extremely good team, they’re ranked in the state and my hats off to them for winning the league,” Flanagan said. “We needed some guys to step up and unfortunately it wasn’t the case tonight. But we’re a young team and we’ll have a lot of these guys back next year, so we’ll go from there.”