The Duxbury Wrestling Team competed in the Division II South Sectionals held at North Attleboro High School on Saturday, and finished third overall behind Somerset and North Attleboro.

While Duxbury’s third place finish qualifies them for the team sectionals on Tuesday, more importantly, the Dragons will be sending eight wrestlers to States on Friday.

Four of those eight wrestlers won championships, and two were runner-ups.  Duxbury’s Tim Donoghue repeated as Sectional Champion in the 103 lbs. weight class.  The junior grappler didn’t break a sweat as he was aided by a forfeit in the first round, and pinned his Plymouth North opponent in 42 seconds before winning a 12-2 major decision over North Attleboro’s Shane LeBlanc in the semi finals.  Donoghue’s good fortune continued in the finals when Somerset’s Dylan McKenna suffered a concussion in the semis, and was forced to default, giving Donoghue the championship.

Senior Captain Colin McKenzie cruised into the finals with a first period pin of Nauset’s Eli Enos in the quarterfinals, and a 5-0 decision over Whitman-Hanson’s James Peterson in the semi finals before facing off against Marshfield’s Brendan Meehan in the 140 lbs. championship bout.  McKenzie got the first takedown before a Meehan escape had the score at 2-1. Another takedown by the Duxbury captain and a subsequent escape by Meehan was the pattern to begin the match, until McKenzie took Meehan to the mat and earned two back points.  The four-point move put McKenzie in the driver’s seat en route to a 12-4 major decision, and another Duxbury championship.

Next up for Duxbury in the finals was senior captain Johnny Barrett who pinned his first three opponents before meeting Mansfield’s Jim Gilmore in the 152 lbs. weight class.  After the two wrestlers spent most of the first period trying to set up a takedown, Barrett was awarded the two points after successfully fending off a Gilmore attempt. With a 2-0 lead heading into the second period, Barrett chose bottom, and earned a one-point escape. Both wrestlers could not muster a takedown for the remainder of the period, and the score remained 3-0 at the end of two.  Barrett rode legs for most of the third period, and held the Mansfield grappler down, giving the senior captain Duxbury’s third championship of the night.

That set up Duxbury’s fourth and final opportunity for another championship in the 171 lbs. weight class.  Senior captain Tyler Genereux had missed two days of practice prior to Sectionals with a toe injury, but the undefeated captain showed no ill effects, pinning his first three opponents, including one of Marshfield’s top wrestlers in Tommy Pomella.  Genereux faced off against Sharon’s Jeff Enos in the Finals.  Genereux deferred in the second and the Mansfield senior chose neutral, which proved costly for Enos who was quickly taken down and tilted for three back points.  Another point for stalling gave the Duxbury captain a comfortable 6-0 lead en route to an 8-0 major decision and the championship.

Duxbury also had two back-to-back runner-ups in senior captain Justin Carroll and senior Kyle Scola.  Carroll had an 11-4 major decision in the quarterfinals over Mansfield’s Henry Larose before upsetting Whitman-Hanson’s Ryan Stephansky in the semi finals with an exciting 5-4 decision. Unfortunately for the senior captain, Somerset’s Eric Francis was too much for him in the finals, controlling the match from start to finish with a 12-2 major decision.

It was the same result for Kyle Scola (135 lbs.) who had pinned his first two opponents, and had a nail biting 7-6 decision over Marshfield’s Patrick McGrath in the semifinals before taking the mat against one of the best wrestlers in the state in Isaac Mello.  The Somerset captain showed why he’s tough to beat, getting three sets of back points en route to a 16-1 technical fall, and the championship.

Also heading to States next Friday in North Andover are senior Zach Sanchez (145) and junior John McGeady (160) who were both major factors in Duxbury’s third place finish. Freshman Brendan Gillis also wrestled well, earning a sixth place finish.