Treading lightly with a chance to make postseason play, the Dragons took a giant step backwards in their pursuit of that goal when they dropped a 4-3 decision to Braintree High School on Saturday night at The Bog.

Coming into the game at 5-7-1, the Dragons needed four wins in their last six games to make the .500 mark to qualify. With three tough games scheduled in the Cape Cod Classic over school vacation, it seemed like a must-win for the Dragons.

Braintree came out smoking and dominated play in the first period, scoring less than three minutes into the game when junior forward Jared Rizo moved into the slot untouched and blasted a shot off the crossbar that dropped behind goalie Derek Williams for a 1-0 lead.

Following the goal, the Wamps were aggressive on their forecheck and had the Dragons pinned in their own end for close to a minute. Unable to advance the puck, Duxbury had few scoring chances until late in the first period when they got a rare breakout.

Taking a pass from junior defensemen Joe Coyne, sophomore Cam Daley came flying down the right wing and unloaded a shot from the top of the face-off circle, beating Braintree goaltender Mike Monahan over his left shoulder and under the crossbar to tie the game at 1-1 with 36 seconds left in the period.

The goal seemed to get the Dragons back on track, as they were far more competitive in the middle stanza and almost went ahead with 5:07 to go when a goal was disallowed when the net came off its moorings.

The Duxbury pressure continued to mount, as defenseman Jake Kearney unloaded a blast on Monahan that signaled the Dragons’ most aggressive play of the night.

But the Dragons’ aggressive play would come back to haunt them, as three players over-skated a loose puck in the Duxbury end and watched helplessly when Rizo scored his second of the night for a 2-1 lead with 2:58 left in the period.

Duxbury didn’t let the mistake affect its play, as it continued its aggressive style. It took just a over a minute to tie the game once again when junior captain Bryan Barry fired from the left face-off circle to beat Monahan with 1:24 to go in the period.

While the Dragons felt good about their comeback effort, they must have taken a psychological hit with eight seconds remaining when a face-off to Williams’ right turned ugly. With Rizo winning the draw, he slid the puck across to captain Tim Harrrington, who barely tipped the puck into the far right corner beyond Williams’ reach for a 3-2 lead.

The well-played and penalty-free game finally saw its first man-advantage of the night with 8:19 to go when the Dragons went on the power-play, only to see their chance at a tie go by the boards.

Duxbury kept its feet moving and it finally paid off, as sophomore forward Will Siefert tied the game with 4:21 to go, giving Duxbury a chance for a comeback win.

Things were looking up for the Dragons with 2:26 to go when the Wamps were called for too many men on the ice. However, even a timeout by Coach John Blake to get his troops organized couldn’t get the job done.

All the momentum Duxbury generated came to a halt with 48 seconds to go when the Dragons were nailed with a holding penalty. Able to hold off the Wamps for most of the penalty, a slight breakdown left Harrington all alone coming through the slot where he slid his shot into the far corner past Williams for the game-winning goal.

“We just aren’t getting the bounces now that we did earlier in the season,” said Coach John Blake. “That’s the second time we have gotten a penalty in the final minute of a game and it cost us. We played better as the game went on, but we’re still not playing for 45 minutes the way we need to.”

The Dragons will travel to Scituate on Wednesday night at 6:10 p.m., and return home on Saturday night to take on Xaverian at 6:20 p.m. at The Bog.