Duxbury upsets a strong Whitman-Hansen Team 34-33 in Pilgrim I Conference Action
Wednesday, January 24, 2001
For the second time in two weeks a Duxbury wrestling match came down to the last bout of the evening and Kris Burgos pulled out a win for Duxbury by pinning his opponent. The Dragons were missing two regular varsity wrestlers, Matt Homesy at 145 pounds and Anthony Binsfield at 215 pounds due to injuries and even the most optimistic fans of Duxbury wrestling felt that the match against W-H would be a tough one to win.

Kevin Donoghue started the action at 103 pounds and won by decision. Jeff Byron at 112 pounds fended off a pin and lost by major decision. Ian McConnaughey won by decision at 119 pounds and Kyle McCarthy won by major decision. Scott Klebanoff pinned his opponent in the 130 pound bout to make the match score 16-4 in Duxbury's favor. Topher Bell lost a close decision at 135 pounds. Steve Celino pinned his opponent in the 140 pound match. Doug Imbrogna staved off a fall, but lost by technical fall. The team score was 22-12 in Duxbury's favor at this point. Josh Caldwell followed though on a spectacular first round takedown and pinned his opponent, making the team score 28-12.

Unfortunately for Duxbury the tide was turning. Matt Lanuto lost a close match by decision at 160 pounds to a tough opponent. The Panthers then took control and won the 171, 189 and 215 pound matches by fall making the score 33-28 in the Panthers' favor. Kris Burgos was winning a close match on points when he turned his opponent in the third round for the winning pin. Duxbury won by one point in a tightly fought match, 34-33.

This writer was particularly impressed with the sportsmanship of the Whitman-Hansen coaching staff following a very tough loss. Winning is wonderful, but often the truest measure of our sportsmanship and characters as wrestlers, coaches and fans is our behavior when we lose. The Panthers' coaches showed their strong character. May we have the good grace and strength of character when we are in a similar situation.