Willimantic - The emotion in Windham High School coach Pat Risley's voice was threatening to take over and it wasn't because the Whippets won their first Eastern Connecticut Conference wrestling title since 2004.

It was because of what he had been dealing with Saturday afternoon, the disqualification of one of Windham's wrestlers, and how disheartened it made him feel.

Windham lost 27 points when 160-pounder Alex Perez won his championship match only to be disqualified for flagrant misconduct in the ensuing moments. The Whippets lost the 24 points Perez accrued during his run to the title, as well as three more team points for the DQ.

Windham, ranked sixth in the state and leading comfortably at the time of the incident, instead had to hold on through the conclusion of the third-place and fifth-place matches - contested later in the day - to edge defending champion Ledyard 216-210.

"Coaching-wise it's very hard for me to deal with," a frank Risley said. "We put a lot of time and energy trying to help boys become respectable young men. It reflects me, my coaching.

"It's amazing what a few seconds can do to you. Before, I was thinking I did one of my best coaching jobs in 27 years. Now it might be the worst."

Ledyard, ranked ninth in the state, lost to Windham in a dual meet last weekend 41-24 and was going to have trouble keeping up with the Whippets this time around.

Following the championship semifinals, Windham, with seven finalists, led the team race over Ledyard 207-144.

Yet in the final moments of the meet, Windham's lead had shrunk to two points, 208-206, with Ledyard's Mike Sullivan facing Windham's Jakir Gomez in the third-place match at 195. Sullivan led early in the match before Gomez won 9-7, giving the Whippets a slightly larger cushion.

Each team had one champion. Windham's Sebby Ruffino took the 126-pound title, while Ledyard's Danny Contino edged Waterford's Justin Keating 2-0 in the 182-pound final.

Other local champions were Fitch's Jarod Kosman, the No. 3 seed at 106; St. Bernard's Matt Dowler (113); Waterford's Sam Lindblom (138); Montville's Austin Concascia, the No. 4 seed at 145; Fitch's Trent Evans, the No. 3 seed at 195; Norwich Free Academy's Khaleed Exum-Strong (220); and New London's Oscar Calcano (285). Lindblom and Calcano both won by pin.

Concascia edged his cousin Noah Concascia of Waterford, the top seed, on a third-period pin in the semifinals before topping Ledyard's Josh Rahal 8-1 in the final. That put Austin, as well as his brothers Dane (5th, 152) and Ian (3rd, 170) on the podium.

Exum-Strong included in his finals bio the fact that he's a 2,100-yard rusher in football. Meanwhile Calcano, who never placed before, couldn't stop smiling.

Waterford finished third with 155 points, followed by Montville (146), Lyman/Windham Tech (119), NFA (113.5) and New London (113).

The meet's Most Outstanding Wrestler was Lyman's Braden Lobusch, the 120-pound champion.

Ledyard coach Steve Bilheimer noted that his team includes nine first-time starters, pleasing him in the way they wrestled in the consolation rounds for such a young team.

"Windham is in their home gym and they're very tough anyway," Bilheimer said. "I'm not surprised by their performance."

Bilheimer called Contino, a sophomore who was third in the ECC and third in Class M last year, "one of the hardest workers I've ever had, the most mature 15-year-old I've ever met in my life."

"Last year I did well. I came in third, but no one has intentions to be third," Contino said. "I wanted to come out and have a strong performance. I wanted to come out on top. I'm truly obsessed with (wrestling). It's what I wake up for. I love the challenge. … I know (falling to Windham) fires me up (for next week's state meet). It fires us up."

v.fulkerson@theday.com

Twitter: @vickieattheday