Who says the Dragons are ready to be dethroned?

The loss to St. John’s earlier this month certainly had the lacrosse community talking. However, after the Dragons took care of No. 1 ranked Billerica last Tuesday night, that talk has now turned into concern that the king isn’t dead.

Coming back from a 3-1 first quarter deficit, the Dragons rattled off seven straight goals over three periods to knock the Indians from the undefeated ranks with a solid 9-6 win at Chandler Field.

The first quarter resembled a demolition derby race, as Billerica hit everything in sight, trying to intimidate the Dragons and get them off their game.

While it seemed to work for the first 12 minutes, they couldn’t keep it going for the full 48.

Two goals by Billerica’s Grant Whiteway in a four-minute span seemed to establish why the Indians had such a high ranking, and Cameron Slatton’s goal on an assist by James Holland with 3:13 left in the quarter gave the Dragons bad memories of St. John’s Prep.

When they finally got possession in the final minute, Duxbury called a time out to talk over the situation. Whatever they discussed worked to perfection, as junior Kane Haffey was stationed down low to the left of freshman goaltender Daniel Smith, where he buried his shot with three seconds left on the clock to cut the deficit to 3-1.

The goal seemed to light a fire under the Dragons, who started to punch back at the pesky Indians and suddenly revived their offense.

A goal by sophomore Mitch Barrington at 9:25 of the second quarter got Duxbury rolling, and 28 seconds later senior Nick Woodgate tied it up at 3-3 when he took off from the top of box and went to his right before firing one past Smith.

No sooner had Woodgate tied the game, when sophomore Paul Hellar took a pass from a flattened Bryan Barry and fed senior captain John Ricciardi for the go-ahead goal at the 8:33 mark.

Duxbury would get a man-up situation later in the quarter and couldn’t score, while Billerica called two time outs to set up their offense, and still made hardly a dent against a staunch Dragons defense.

The game was up for grabs after the break, but Duxbury continued their offensive streak, scoring 12 seconds after the face off when Ricciardi notched his second of the night for a 5-3 lead.

Billerica’s offense suddenly disappeared, allowing Duxbury to keep piling on when Haffey beat Smith high from the right side for a 6-3 lead midway through the quarter.

A minute later a recovered Seamus Connelly scored an unassisted goal making it 7-3, and left the Indians to ponder what their short stay at the top was like.

With a comfortable lead entering the final quarter, the Dragons allowed Billerica some space and gave up a goal 13 seconds after the face off to cut the deficit to three.

Sophomores Will Siefert and Connolly answered with goals two minutes apart, giving Duxbury a 9-4 lead with eight minutes left in the game and allowing the large contingent of Billerica fans time to figure out how to navigate the Rt. 128 traffic.

“They are a scrappy, tough, and tenacious team,” said Coach Chris Sweet. “We just didn’t do anything in that first quarter and were unable to match their intensity. Once we started getting ground balls. and Max Randall kept the ball away from Whiteway, things turned around for us.”

The game was also a statement game for the Dragons and Sweet, who wanted to see how his players would react to tough competition after being manhandled by the Prep.

“I wanted to see how we would react to the St. John’s loss,” said the Duxbury coach. “We hadn’t been tested since then, but we came out strong and had a good momentum swing, so I was happy with our response.”

The Dragons had an easier time on Thursday when they traveled to Westwood and pinned Xaverian with a 10-3 loss, raising their record to 15-1 as they prepare to take on Hingham at home on Thursday at 4 p.m.