Fall Season Winding Down

We are heading into the home stretch of the fall athletic season and many of our teams will be playing in the post season.  We have enjoyed many exciting moments and our teams and fans have represented Whitman-Hanson very well.  Here is a quick update.

1)    The football team battled the rain and Silver Lake on the road Friday night and came out on the short end of an 18-7 final score.  Sophomore quarterback Ethan Phelps had a monster game carrying the ball 25 times for 205 yards!  The football team finishes the regular season in 4^th place in the Keenan Division with a  2-3 league record but the Panthers were 4-3 overall which was  good for a playoff berth.  Whitman-Hanson lost a coin flip for the 5^th spot, so the Panthers will settled for the 6^th seed which will send them to North Attleboro Friday night at 7pm in the opening round of the sectional playoffs.  We will offer a fan bus to students for just $10 which will include the bus and game ticket.  Students must sign up on the main office on Monday to be eligible.  No money will be collected Monday but signups are required.

2)    The girls soccer team suffered a heart breaking loss at Hingham in the final minute of the first half a week ago Saturday.  That loss essential eliminated the Panthers from league championship contention as Hingham is undefeated.  However, if the Panthers run the table and Hingham should stumble, Whitman-Hanson could earn a share of the crown.  On Tuesday night, head Coach David Floeck earned his 300^th career win by guiding the girls to a 2-0 win over Plymouth North on Tuesday night.  Amazingly, Coach Floeck has had assistant coach Tom Zamagni by his side for all 300 wins.  What a great accomplishment for both coaches and to be together so long is truly special.  The girls also defeated Silver Lake 2-0 on Thursday to improve their record to 13-1-1.  The girls play host to Duxbury tomorrow night at 6:30pm.

3)    The boys soccer team has played better than their record would indicate.  A highlight this season has been the play of keeper Conor Keane.  He dazzled Hingham through a scoreless first half last Saturday with one spectacular save after another.  The entire team played well in a 2-0 loss at home against Silver Lake on Thursday.  The team travels to Duxbury tomorrow.

4)    The golf team finished the season with a 10-8 record, 8-7 in the Patriot League.  They now move on to the post season with the state tournament qualifying round Tuesday at Easton Country Club.  The team is led by the two senior captains Luke Tamulevich and John Murphy.  In the tournament,  Coach Brian Dempsey will set his lineup like this:

a.     John Murphy

b.     Luke Tamulevich

c.      Owen Manning

d.     Matt Josselyn

e.      JP Drier

f.       Nick Duffy

5)    Our cheerleaders travelled to Ipswich for their first competition of the fall.  The girls were impressive taking second place.  They will have another tune-up next week in Braintree before competing in the Patriot League Championships here at Whitman-Hanson on Sunday November 6^th at 3pm.

6)    The field hockey  team has earned 4 ties this season, vastly improving from last year’s record.  It will be a special night Tuesday when the Panthers host Plymouth South for their senior night at 5pm. The game time has changed from the original schedule.  The JV squad will now play first at 4pm followed by the varsity game and the senior activities.

7)    The volleyball team taught us all a great lesson this fall – don’t ever give up.  Despite starting the season by losing 5 of their first 6 games,  the girls are now 10-9 and need to win just one of their final two games of the season to qualify for the state tournament.  The team travels to Quincy on Monday and then will wait an entire week before playing the finale on Halloween at Plymouth South.  The team had a wonderful senior night against Silver Lake.  Assistant Coach Ashley Balbian led the sub varsity in some incredible gym decoration and gifts for our seniors.  Many of the pictures from that night are available on our twitter account @whathletics and our website www.whathletics.com .

8)    The Whitman-Hanson Boys and Girls Varsity Cross Country teams participated in Saturday's Bay State Invitational at Gardner Municipal Golf Course, the site of this year's All-State Championship Meet being held November 19.  Nearly 75 teams hoping for the opportunity to get back to Gardner and the State Championship Meet were placed in 3 competitive sections with representative schools from each of the state's divisions in each section.  

The Whitman-Hanson Boys placed 8th overall in their section behind powerhouse teams Lowell, Peabody, Concord-Carlisle and others.  It was an excellent showing by the Panthers on the rain soaked and difficult hilly terrain.  JR Captain Jack Ryan and JR Andrew Newman finished 36th and 37th respectively in 18:07.  The rest of the top 5 included SR Captain Bryce Pulkinen (52nd, 18:26), SR Captain Lukas Moscoso (55th, 18:31) and JR Cam Wilson (75th, 18:55.)

The Girls finished 13th in their section led by JR Captain Nicole Norve who paced the Panthers finishing 22nd overall in 21:53.  Also running very well for W-H were JR Julia Cosgrave (62nd, 23:25) and FR Victoria Carleton (92nd, 24:02.)  JR Camryn Boyce (107th, 24:18) and SO Maeve Rooney (108th, 24:19) closed out the scoring for Whitman-Hanson.  

Both teams will celebrate their senior night in their final home meet of the season on Tuesday at 4pm.