Scheduling non-league opponents from the Old Colony League and the Big Three was Maimaron’s way of getting his team toughened up for the 2010 season. By scheduling tougher opponents, instead of guaranteeing an impressive early-season record by rolling over weaker ones, the Duxbury coach has killed two birds with one stone by starting off at 5-0 and garnering a top-20 ranking in the recent Boston Globe polls.

While those fairly easy victories, including Friday night’s 35-7 thrashing of Quincy, have been impressive, they have no bearing on whether or not the Dragons will make it into the playoffs.

That journey starts this Friday night at 7 p.m. when Duxbury travels to Whitman-Hanson to take on the Panthers in their first Patriot League–Keenan Division battle of the season.

There are only four important games during the regular season and Friday night’s is one of them, as winning the division makes the Dragons eligible for postseason play against the winner of the Old Colony League in the first round.

After plowing through the first four games, Duxbury took on Quincy at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium on Friday night in Quincy.

After opening the game with a 28-yard swing pass to running back Reggie Cesar, the Presidents were forced to punt on fourth down and put the Dragons back on their own 27-yard line.

Junior QB Matt O’Keefe was at the helm once again and was destined to have the best game of his high school career, as he opened with a 10-play/83-yard drive that included four completions and three carries for 32 yards, culminating in a four-yard TD pass to sophomore Joe Guilfoile. Tucker Hannon’s PAT made it 7-0 with 4:45 to go in the quarter.

The Presidents did themselves no favors by fumbling the kickoff and losing it at their own 27-yard line, setting the stage for O’Keefe to strike quickly with a 16-yard pass to junior Don Webber, a six-yard keeper, and a six-yard TD strike to Webber for a 14-0 lead after Hannon’s PAT with 3:49 left in the quarter.

Starting at its own 20 after Hannon’s kick went into the end zone, Quincy went three and out, punting to their own 45.

After a 15-yard penalty set the Dragons back to their own 40, junior Henry Buonagurio got into the action, rumbling 46 yards on two pass receptions, all the way down to the Quincy 14-yard line.

Three plays later O’Keefe took it into the end zone on a seven-yard keeper for a 21-0 lead just over a minute into the second quarter.

The Presidents came to life after the kickoff with runs of 13 yards by Cesar and 20 yards by QB Ryan Shultz had the ball all the way down to the Duxbury 18, where the drive stalled on a failed fourth down attempt.

The Dragons took over at the 18 where O’Keefe hit Guilfoile for 20 yards and a first down, followed by completions to Buonagurio (3 yds.), Gulfoile (9), and Andrew Buron (7) down to the Quincy 43.

O’Keefe decided to rest his arm and scrambled for 19 yard and a first down before hitting Buron two more times down to the 16. The junior QB took off on his own one more time for 15 yards and made it down to the one, where he hit senior Christian Spooner on a slant on the right side to make it 28-0 with a minute left in the half.

After a quiet third quarter, the fireworks returned at the start of the fourth when O’Keefe hit Webber for 41 yards out to the 48-yard line, followed by a 52-yd TD strike to Buron, who broke on  a slant out of the slot and out-raced the Quincy secondary for a 35-0 lead.

The Presidents still had some tricks in their bag, as the speedy Cesar got outside on third down from his own 44-yard line and flew down the left side for 56 yards and a TD that prevented the shutout.

Maimaron emptied his bench soon after, as junior Seamus Connelly came in at QB and quickly gained 27 yards on a pair of carries down to the Quincy 38. Penalties killed Duxbury’s momentum and Maimaron held back his charges as time expired and victory was well in hand.

“We control our own destiny and we’re taking one week at a time,” said Maimaron. “We’re just trying to get better every week and it’s kind of scary because we aren’t at 100 percent right now, but we’re very effective no matter who is in there.”

O’Keefe was voted the Player of The Game, as he was 19 for 24 passing for 242 yards and 4 TDs, and carried the ball eight times for 77 yards for 319 yards of total offense.

Webber (4 for 67 yds.), Guilfoile (6 for 59 yds.), and Buron (5 for 70 yds.) also had big nights on the receiving end, while Connelly’s 31 rushing yards complemented O’Keefe’s big night with 108 rushing yards from the QB position.