NORTHBORO — Heading into Saturday’s second day of competition in the D2 boys wrestling finals at Algonquin Regional, Minnechaug was in seventh place.

By the end of Saturday afternoon, however, the Falcons were soaring high. And leave it to senior captains Sam Dean to get them to the top.

Dean’s dramatic pin of top-seeded Ruairi Ritson of Cambridge in the 190 pound final gave Minnechaug the points it needed to eclipse Milford and take their first state championship by 1.5 points over the Hawks.

“We just wanted Sam to focus on what he was doing,” first year Minnechaug coach Taylor Pfaff said. “We wanted him to end his career the right way and that’s all we could have asked for.”

The Falcons came into the finals leading Milford by five and a half points but the Hawks got wins from Derek Marcolini (113), Michael Boulanger (138) and Aidan Baum (145) to jump into first place. Minnechaug’s Kai Ly won at 126 pounds, giving Dean the chance to steal the show.

“I didn’t think it would be like that,” Dean said. “I expected it to be a three period battle or even go to overtime. I was totally surprised to be honest.”

West Springfield also had two champions as Devon Mateo won at 106 pounds and Harith Alsutani won at 157 in overtime.

Also winning titles were Billerica’s Peter Rincan at 120; Brent Von Magnus (Bridgewater-Raynham, 132; Sawyer Ayotte (Shepherd Hill), 150; Nate Hsu (Norwood), 165; Shane Field (Salem), 175; Mason Pellegri, (Milton), 215 and Landry Fitzgerald (Bellingham), 285.

There also was another first on Saturday at Tri-County won the school’s first state title in any sport and the first for a team in girls wrestling, finishing ahead of Oliver Ames and Salem.

“It’s really exciting,” Tri-County coach Steve LaPlante said. “To do this and have three girls win titles is great.”

Tri-County was in fourth place entering the finals but two wins by pin from Luca Marshall at 126 points and senior Maddie Dowd at 132 pounds gave them the lead for good.

Also winning titles are Jailyn Edmonds of Joshua Quincy at 100 pounds; Olivia Polansky (Bridgewater-Raynham), 107; Noah Edwards (Duxbury), 114; Angelina Berry (Stoughton), 120; Gianna Reed (Longmeadow), 138; Shelby Galex (Northeast/Fenwick), 145; Nadia LeBron (Salem), 152; Meghan Wiebe (Sharon), 165; Essence Tucker (Josiah Quincy), 185 and Samantha Rabkin (Sharon), 235.