After competing against perennial powerhouses Franklin and Winchester in last month’s 12-team tournament at King Philip Regional High School, the Duxbury wrestling team was back on friendly soil. Last week in Kingston, it was a battle of the South Shore teams, all of whom have been plagued by depleted rosters over the last few years. This is uncharted territory for Duxbury that has been forced to put inexperienced wrestlers into their varsity line-up. Thankfully for the Dragons, freshmen John Taglieri, Matt Boyle and Kyle Auer, along with sophomore Drew Dowling gave the team a much needed boost against rival Rockland, giving Duxbury a 48-36 opening-round victory.

The match had all the ingredients that make for a good rivalry, but a non-call in the 138 lbs. bout that eventually led to a Rockland pin had the Duxbury sideline fired up. That’s when Duxbury junior Brian Leddie took to the mat and stunned the Rockland bench with a pin in the 145 lb. weight class. Junior Jake Genereux vacated his usual 152 lb. spot to wrestle at 160 where he recorded Duxbury’s third pin of the match, but Dowling stole the show three matches later with his first varsity win and pin at 195.

With the match clearly in Duxbury’s control, junior Owen Grey sealed the victory with another pin at heavyweight. Junior Nick Kates, wrestling at 113 for the day, had his first win and pin since returning from off-season shoulder surgery. Taglieri (120), junior JP Geiger (132), and senior captain Bobby Boyle (220) all won by forfeit.

With three more matches to go against Hanover, Carver, and Norwell, the Dragons were hoping to get the sweep, but with Dowling unable to continue due to sickness, and junior Cody Dormady out with an ankle injury, Duxbury didn’t have enough fire power despite the efforts of Boyle and Auer, who made their varsity debut at 170 and 182 respectively.

Leddie, Genereux, Geiger and Jim Chappuis (138) led the way in Duxbury’s 24-12 win over Carver. Genereux recorded four pins on the day, including a pin of Carver senior captain James Blankenship at 170. Leddie also had an outstanding day, going 4-0 with three pins.