The Green Dragon wrestlers finished their regular season with a 6-0 undefeated Patriot League record and a 22-1 overall dual meet record. After sewing up the Patriot League Championship with a decisive 46-25 win over Rockland this last Monday the Dragons prepared for the Division 3 sectional tournament at Mansfield High School in Mansfield.

The Duxbury Dragons wrestling team had a great couple of days at the Division 3 South Section wrestling tournament this last Friday and Saturday. The team had eleven placewinners out of the fourteen weightclasses, including three first place, one second place, two third place, two fifth place, two sixth place and one eighth place winners. The Dragons qualified ten wrestlers for the Division 3 State tournament this next Friday in Pittsfield.

The team had hopes of taking the overall championship for the section, and while unable to overcome the perennial favorite and last year's Division 3 State champion, Foxboro, the Dragons were able to capture second place in the twenty team tournament. Of the top five teams: Foxboro scored 259, Duxbury - 200, Canton - 187, Cohasset - 142.5, and Rockland - 133. The Dragons had four men in the finals, third place finisher Canton had three, eventual champion Foxboro had five, and Cohassett and Rockland had two and four finalists respectively.

Not everything went smoothly for the Dragons. Sophomores Adam Johnson(103) and Tom Protasewich(140) both won first round consolation bracket bouts and added points to the overall team score, but were not able to place at the tournament. The Dragons also had some bad luck with several injuries at the tournament. Sophomore Scott McConnaughey(130), in a first round match he was clearly dominating, suffered an injury to his knee and was forced to withdraw from the tournament. His opponent from Watertown was the eventual sixth place winner and advanced to the Division 3 state tournament. Senior Josh Caldwell(160) was able to secure a sixth place finish and advancement to the state tournament despite having to default his last last match due to a shoulder injury. Senior Kris Burgos(275) was also able to secure advancement to the state tournament with a sixth place finish following defaults in his last two matches due to an injury to his elbow in his consolation semifinals match. Both Caldwell and Burgos are expected to be able to participate in the state tournament.

Senior Jeff Byron(112) and Junior Scott Klebanoff(135) both fought back through the consolation rounds to capture third place finishes. Byron's consolation finals match was won with a decisive pin over the first place seed, Rando of Watertown. Klebanoff's only loss at the tournament was to the number one seed and eventual champion, Duncan Banks of Carver. Scott then won a series of close, tough matches in the consolation bracket including an overtime 3-2 decision over Alex Strum of Holliston in the consolation semifinals and a 2-1 decision over Terry Baroudi of Cohasset in the consolation finals for third place.

Junior Doug Imbrogna(145) and Senior Elmo Roberts(189) both captured fifth place. Imbrogna won with a tough 3-1 decision over Barilaro of Scituate and Roberts finished with an impressive first round pin over Picard of Tri-County High School. Sophomore Steve Celino(152) took an eighth place finish after a first round win over Fleahanan of Hopkinton and a loss to second place seed Littauer of Cohasset in the championship bracket.

Duxbury had four finalists: Senior Ian McConnaughey(119), Senior Kyle McCarthy(125), Junior Matt Lanuto(171), and Senior Anthony Binsfield(215). Ian McConnaughey, in what was arguably one of the closest fought matches in the finals, lost a see-saw battle with Dave Laramee of Rockland by a score of 8-7. McConnaughey was down by one point in the last round and nearly had a takedown in the last few seconds, but Laramee was able to successfully defend and capture the win. Laramee and McConnaughey have wrestled three times this season, McConnaughey won once and Laramee won twice.

Senior Kyle McCarthy(125), last year's D2 Sectional State finalist, All State finalist and New England finalist at 125 pounds, is still undefeated and has not yet been seriously challenged this season. Kyle won the 125 pound sectional championship bout with a first round pin over Zach Gorman of Rockland. This is the third time this season that McCarthy has faced Gorman in the finals of a tournament.

Junior Matt Lanuto(171) entered the sectional finals with three pins in the three preceding bouts of the tournament. He faced second seed Joe Temple of Dedham in what looked to be a potentially tough match. Lanuto quickly demonstrated his dominance and shortly into the second round pinned Temple for the win. Lanuto, in addition to winning the 171 pound championship, was also awarded "Most pins in the least amount of time".

Senior Anthony Binsfield(215) was the second seed in the section at 215 pounds and marched through the first three rounds of the sectional championships exactly as expected. What was not expected by the seeding committee was his convincing dominance in the finals match against first seed Paul Kenyon of Dedham. Anthony took down Kenyon in the first round and never let up; winning a 9-0 shutout decision.

Duxbury head coach Bob Watts, assistant coach Chris Caldwell and assistant coach Sal Lanuto have reason to be pleased with the results of their efforts so far this season. With ten wrestlers advancing to the state tournament they also have a lot of wrestling to look forward to in the post season.