It may not rank up there with Red Sox and Yankees or Patriots and Jets, but Duxbury High School’s five-game series with high school lacrosse teams from New York went in the home team’s win column after taking three of the five games.{sidebar id=4}

After starting with a fairly easy 10-3 win over Christian Brothers Academy of Albany, the Dragons met their match and more when they took on Niskayuna and John Jay and suffered back-to-back 12-7 losses that ended their five-game winning streak.

The twin beatings must have motivated the Dragons, who came back on Wednesday to humble Hewlitt, 10-2, setting up a rubber match with Long Island’s Holy Trinity HS of Hicksville in the final game of the New York tour.

The Titans, who are in third place in the Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA), came into the game with a 9-4 record and were led by Notre Dame-bound Sean Rogers and goalie Pat Delventhal.

Having traveled to Duxbury by bus on Saturday morning, the Titans arrived late and looked somewhat lethargic in the opening minutes of play.

It took the Dragons less than three minutes to get on the board, as Gus Quinzani took a feed in the slot and put one past Delventhal for a 1-0 lead at the 9:24 mark.{sidebar id=1}

The lead grew to 2-0 two minutes later when Quinn Cully scooped up a loose ball in the Duxbury end and motored down the field, hitting Derek Sweet to the right of Delventhal where he put one past the stunned goaltender.

Dominating time of possession as they have for most of the season, Duxbury got an unexpected bonus from senior attack Dane Molina, who took a feed from Sweet with 5:23 left in the quarter and scored his first goal of the season after missing the first five games.

The game was starting to look like a blowout when Hakeem Lecky fired a blast on Delventhal that would have made it 4-0, but the netminder made a spectacular save that put the Titans on offense where they scored 31 seconds later to cut the lead to 3-1.

Quinzani would send the Dragons into the second quarter with a 4-1 lead, thanks to senior Scott Austin, who spotted his teammate all alone at the left post and fed him a pass that he fired high over Delventhal’s shoulder.

A tired Holy Trinity squad was feeling the effects of its long morning bus ride, as the Dragons started to pour it on. Another Quinzani goal after a great rush up field by defenseman Will Ricciardi made it 5-1, and an Austin goal at the 8:00 mark made it 6-1.

The Titans could do little to penetrate the Duxbury defense and took several minutes off the clock without scoring, while the Dragons regained possession and made one rush down field that resulted in a Jake Harvey goal to make it 7-1.

The hosts got hit with their first man-down situation late in the quarter and paid the price, as Jason Opitz moved across the net and bounced one past Matt Zaverucha to make it 7-2 at halftime.

The Dragons have shown a tendency to go to sleep when they get a big lead, and it happened again on Saturday.

It took Holy Trinity less than three minutes to put a trio of goals past goalie Dan Buonagurio, whose defense suddenly abandoned him in a 7-5 game.

Buonagurio, who has rotated with Zaverucha all season long, kept the Titans from making it five goals in a row when he slide across his crease with 6:20 on the clock to deflect what appeared to be a certain open net goal.

Austin finally got the Dragons out of their funk, as he took a pass from Quinzani at the side of the net and faked Delventhal low before burying his shot high in the net for an 8-5 lead that stood up after three quarters.

Buonagurio came up with another big save to start the final 12 minutes, and it triggered a great play by defenseman Will Shields, who rushed up field and fed Austin. In the meantime Sweet snuck his way inside to the post and took a feed from Austin that he buried for a 9-5 lead.

Goals by Austin and Lecky appeared to put the game away with 7:13 to go, but the Dragons got a little too complacent and stood around as the Titans clawed their way back.

Goals by Rob Zecker and James Susko cut the deficit to 11-7 with 3:31 to go, and the Dragons were still feeling confident that victory was in hand.

But when Mike D’Arienzo and Rogers scored a minute apart with 1:10 remaining, the 11-9 lead wasn’t as comforting.

The Dragons couldn’t control the face-off, and the Titans continued to apply the offensive pressure. While the Duxbury defense helped take valuable seconds off the clock, it was victimized once again by Opitz, whose score with three seconds to go left the Titans a goal short in Duxbury’s 11-10 win.

“We looked great in the first half, but brought it down a notch in the second half,” said Coach Chris Sweet. “We’ve got to learn to play a complete game at this point.”

The Dragons will be back in action on Wednesday afternoon when they host Scituate at 4, followed by a big game with St. John’s Prep on Friday night at 7 in Duxbury.{sidebar id=6}