Sunday, October 21, 2018

Weekly Update




As we head down the home stretch of the Fall sports season, soon the members of the class of 2019 will play their final game.  It can be an emotional time for the students and the parents as the realization this amazing ride has ended. 

When this class entered high school as freshmen we handed out little bags of skittles at athletic first night and told them that their high school experience was just like that full bag of skittles.  When the bag is full we take it for granted and often don't take time to savor the flavor of each candy.  We toss a bunch in our mouth at one time mixing up all the flavors.  But as the bag begins to empty we gain greater appreciation for each one. The biggest difference though is that we can always buy another bag of skittles but when the final whistle blows in that final game, that is it.  We never get a chance to do this all again.  So to all of the parents of the seniors we say thank you for sharing this ride with your child and we hope it was everything you hoped it would be.  To our seniors, we hope you will savor the flavor of the each skittle in the new bag you open which represents the rest of your life.  The lessons you learned and the friendships you made will last forever even if that bag of skittles is now empty.

To the parents and players of underclassmen, at the various senior nights taking place make sure you pay attention.  Show your appreciation for the seniors but also picture yourself in that same spot sometime in the future.  Make sure you invest in this experience so that night will be meaningful for you too.

Now to our weekly update

1) The football team did its job on Friday night with a dominating defensive performance at Plymouth North en route to a 21-0 win.  Sean Joanis and Brendan Frawley had big  nights for the defense and Tom George had an interception. The offensive line of Justin Mara, Ryan Trongone, Declan Meehan, Aiden Cafferty, Quinn Sweeney and CJ Guiliani led the way.  Ethan Phelps carried the ball 17 times for 124 yards and three touchdowns.  Rian Schwede was 5-7 passing for 40 yards.  The Panthers finish the season with an impressive 5-2 record but due to the rebuilding seasons Quincy, Marshfield and New Bedford have had, WH did not earn as many points by playing them and thus fell to 5th place behind Walpole and North Attleboro who also finished 5-2.  The Panthers will travel to North Attleboro Friday night in the first round of the playoffs.

2) The golf team wrapped up its season this week and despite their best start in school history came up short in their quest to make the state tournament.  In the season finale, the Panthers fellnto the league champion Hingham Harbormen 229-256.

Despite the loss, the Panthers finished the season strong with their performance. Captain Owen Manning came out in front again with a 4 over par performance, while sophomore Graham Stewart shot 5 over par, 41. Senior captain Ed Scriven also played well with his 7 over par day and juniors Ian Brown and Brian Fox and sophomore Aidan Miller all contributed with their 8 over par performances.

The team finished the season at 6-11 overall and 5-9 in the league. On Tuesday, Owen will represent the team in the state tournament qualifying round at Easton Country Club, where he is poised to do some damage.

Thank you to the parents for putting on a wonderful senior night celebration (despite some tough weather) on Wednesday.  Good luck to our seniors, Owen Manning, Ed Scriven, Pat Dever and Griff Pulkinen.

3) This has been a remarkable year for the Field Hockey hockey team but they will not qualify for the post season.  WH lost to Duxbury on Friday 2-0 but goalie Maddie Savicke was outstanding.  She made well over 20 saves throughout the game.  The team fell to 2-8-6 and will wrap up the season this week with a pair of games. Thursday the Panthers host West Bridgewater at 6pm for senior night.  Lets pack the place to support this outstanding group of seniors who helped the team turn another corner this year in building the program.

4) In girls soccer, before the season started, most people predicted the Patriot League title would be a battle between Hingham and Whitman-Hanson and that is exactly what has happened.  Whitman-Hanson will host Hingham on Monday night at 6:30pm.  The Panthers go into the game trailing Hingham by a half game which means the winner of the game will assume the top spot in the league.  This past week was a busy one for the girls with the team posting two wins and a tie.  In Saturdays 5-1 win over Rockland, freshman Kelsee Wozniak scored two quick goals in the first half and the Panthers never looked back. Zoe Cox, Riley Bina and Emily Blake all added single tallies to account for the scoring. Courtney Woodward, Sam Perkins, Olivia Johnson and Erin Wood had strong defensive games. The Panthers are now 10-1-3

5) The boys soccer team played their hearts out on senior day Saturday and nearly pulled off the upset before a late rally gave Duxbury a 2-1 win. Senior Nolan Clack gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead with a blistering free kick from 32 yards out.  Unfortunately, Duxbury with tripped in the box with 1 second left which gave them a penalty kick which they converted for the win.  The WH seniors played very well: Ben Rogers, Kyle O’Brien, Dmitri Meconiates, Nolen Smith, Matt Hickey, Sean Kukauskas and Nolan Clack.

6) The cheerleaders have been working hard all Fall and they finally got to show off their new routine at the Oliver Ames Invitational where they turned in a terrific performance to take the top spot.  You can see the performance on our twitter account @whathletics .

7) Whitman Hanson cross country returned to Franklin Park saturday with 14 great kids who had the opportunity to run an historic, albeit a difficult and demanding, course.  It was also a good test against some very talented teams from other divisions as well as our own.  The girls race was run first with three Panthers winning medals for their efforts.  Tori Boss (41st, 22:01), Maeve McDonough (42nd, 22:02) and Niki Kamperides (45th, 22:06) were impressive.  On the boys side, three athletes also took home medals. Leading the way for W-H were Theo Kamperides (33rd, 18:09), Brandon Hager (41st, 18:28) and Adam Solari (49th, 18:52.) 

Full results for the Girls can be found here:

http://www.coolrunning.com/results/18/ma/Oct20_58thAn_set3.shtml

and for the Boys:

http://www.coolrunning.com/results/18/ma/Oct20_58thAn_set4.shtml

Each of the athletes running today's race will take the next two days (Sunday AND Monday) off to prepare for the final dual meet versus Plymouth South at home Tuesday afternoon.  This will also be senior night for both teams,

Whitman-Hanson volleyball traveled to Marshfield Friday for a non-league match and suffered a tough loss 3-2. The Panthers began the match strong but were unable to keep up with the Ram's energy on the court. Leaders on the court include Junior middle Ella Sweeney with 6 kills, Senior outside Allison Hanlon with 7 kills and Senior middle Erin Leahy with 9 kills. Senior defensive specialist Kayla Crawford and Senior Tri-captain libero Nicole Scott held the backrow strong with consistent defense. Junior tri-captain Alexis Connolly racked up points with a strong serve. The Panthers are 5-10 overall, 5-8 in league play and host Plymouth South on Tuesday 10/23 at 4pm.  Thursday will be the senior night celebration
 

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