All good things come to an end, and for Coach Chris Sweet and his Duxbury lacrosse team their 99-game winning streak against Massachusetts’s high school teams came to a conclusion on Saturday night in Duxbury when the Dragons dropped a 12-10 decision to #1-ranked St. John’s Prep of Danvers.

“Our hats are off to St. John’s,” said a disappointed Sweet. “They’ve got some real good players and they deserved to win.”

Playing on enemy turf, the Eagles came out like a ball of fire in front of the largest home crowd ever seen at a Duxbury lacrosse game. With fans ringing Jonathan Taylor Field, the visitors jumped out to a 5-0 first-quarter lead just over six minutes into the game and ended the quarter with a 5-1 lead after Duxbury’s Jake Harvey got the Dragons on the board with 2:32 to go.

“The simple fact was that we had too many groundballs we couldn’t hold onto, and groundballs mean possessions,” said Sweet.

The game slowed down in the second quarter, as the Duxbury defense dug deeper and kept the Eagles off the board for the first five minutes. Meanwhile, Harvey was getting his second of the game, as the Dragons methodically passed the ball around the perimeter before finding their captain in the slot to narrow the margin to 5-2.

Garrett Campbell would get the lead back up to 6-2 for the Eagles with 6:56 remaining in the half. However, a pair of goals 20 seconds apart by senior Hakeem Lecky and sophomore Kane Haffey would send the Dragons into halftime only down by two goals.

“We really didn’t make any adjustments,” said Sweet. “We settled down and turned the momentum in our favor.”

Despite the halftime interruption, the Dragons maintained momentum entering the third quarter, as Haffey and senior Mike Griffin scored in the first two minutes to tie the game at 6-6.

Play remained even over the next four minutes, as both squads had trouble holding onto the ball and executing their offense.

Lecky picked up one of those St. John’s miscues, and raced down the middle of the field zeroing in on goaltender Nick Valenti. As he approached the Eagle defense, he dished off to Haffey, who was all alone at the post to beat Valenti for Duxbury’s first lead of the game.

The Eagles would tie it at 7-7 two minutes later, setting the stage for an historic final 12 minutes.

Campbell would get the lead back for St. John’s in the first minute of the fourth quarter, as he found himself all alone at the right post and fired his shot off goaltender Mickey Zaverucha’s stick for an 8-7 lead.

John Jennings would increase the visitor’s lead to 9-7 at the 9:21 mark when he cut through the crease five yards in front of the Duxbury net and redirected a pass past Zaverucha.

The clock was ticking as the streak was in jeopardy, but Lecky kept hope alive, as he made a great recovery on a loose ball and beat the Eagle defense and Valenti to make it 9-8 with 8:31 left in the game.

It would be the closest Duxbury would get the rest of the way, as Steve Siderewicz and Campbell beat Zaverucha within a 49 second span to make it 11-8 with 7:12 to go.

With the crowd waiting for another miraculous Duxbury finish, captain Quinn Cully kept their hopes alive with a spectacular recovery and score that cut the lead to 11-9 with 5:59 showing.

Jennings would take the wind out of the Dragon sails, as he found himself in the slot 34 seconds later to match Cully’s goal and put the lead back up to 12-9.

A Harvey tally ended Duxbury’s scoring with 3:25 remaining, and the Eagles maintained possession and ran the clock as the celebrating began with 30 seconds left to go.

“It’s hard to come back when you’re down 5-0 in the first seven minutes of a game,” said Sweet. “I was surprised at the start when our intensity level just wasn’t up there, but I was also proud of how we battled back. We put them back on their heels and started to get some ground balls. Sure our team is disappointed, but now it’s back to work and try to fix some of the things that didn’t work here today.”

Despite their first loss to a Massachusetts’ team since 2004, Sweet reminded his team after the game that the only game that really counts will be for the championship, and the Dragons will be ready.

Earlier in the week Duxbury blasted Silver Lake, 18-0, and North Quincy, 19-3.

Freshman Sam Sweet had a breakout game against the Lakers with six goals and a pair of assists, while Haffey chipped in with four goals and four assists.

In the win over the Red Raiders, Harvey notched four goals, with Haffey and junior Sam Reinhardt scoring three each.

Next up for Duxbury will be a home game with Marshfield on Monday afternoon at 4 p.m.