PANAMA, N.Y. (WKBW) — Over the past six months, the Panama High School boys' basketball team won the Section VI and Class D state championships, four months after they won the Class D title in football as the Clymer-Sherman-Panama Co-Op, becoming the first ever Section VI school to win both state titles in the same season.
"A lot of work has been put in, and we're all a little fatigued from the back-to-back seasons," senior Tate Catanese said. "But we lived up to the expectations."
"It feels good to be a part of history, and it's pretty cool that the banner is going to hang forever," senior Alex Barmore said. "All the hard work paying off."
This Panthers team is the first to win a state title and only the second to win a title in school history.
"You know this group kept putting the time in, and that's a super important thing," head coach Ed Nelson said. "It's the work outside the game that really matters."
Weeks before Nelson and the Panthers hoisted the state championship trophy, tragedy struck. Nelson lost his father to a heart attack on their senior night.
"I was thinking about them that night and I came to practice the very next day and we had a conversation about how they mean family to me too," Nelson said. "That was a part of me that was empty too, and I needed them, hopefully like they needed me."
This team delivered for Ed, his father and the Panama community.
"People you haven't even talked to in a while are giving you hugs. That's an amazing feeling because sports brings everyone together, brings the community together," senior Carter Brink said. "And for us to do this, it definitely brought the community together."
"You can do anything, and you can do it from a small school," senior Bryce Hinsdale said. "And being Class D, graduating 23 kids, it's something people put aside and overlook us. So winning two (state titles) is special."
Alex Barmore - Edinboro, football
Carter Brink - Brockport, football
Tate Catanese - Baldwin Wallace, football
Bryce Hinsdale - Washington & Jefferson, football
