Duxbury dominance on line vs. unbeaten Hingham

WEEK 5 PREVIEW

The road to the Patriot League Keenan title has gone through Duxbury for the past decade.

For the Dragons (4-0) to extend the run to 11 years and 51 straight victories in league play, they will have to slay undefeated Hingham tonight.

While Duxbury had its way with Hingham in the playoffs a year ago, the Harbormen gave the Dragons all they could handle in the regular season matchup, losing, 14-13.

“They are an experienced team, they pretty much have their whole team back,” said Duxbury coach David Maimaron. “We had a great game with them during the regular season last year and we’re expecting the same kind of game this time.”

Hingham (3-0) took a major hit when starting quarterback Jack Johnson went down with a broken collarbone against Whitman-Hanson two weeks ago. Owen O’Brien came on and led the Harbormen to a 46-6 win over Silver Lake last week.

“Jack is a pretty special player, but we really haven’t changed much at all,” said Hingham coach Jim Connor. “Owen would be a starting quarterback at a lot of places and people would be very happy with that.”

While Hingham loves to run the ball with Jonathan Bearden and Grady Harrington, the Harbormen do have a pair of dangerous receiving threats in Spencer Cassell and Cole Finney. They will attempt to attack a Duxbury defense led by defensive back Mike McCutcheon, linebacker Red Magwood and massive two-way tackle Quinn Murphy.

“The defense is going to have to be able to get off the field,” Maimaron said. “With the type of offense they run, we might not get that many possessions.”

The Hingham-Duxbury tilt isn’t the only key league battle tonight. In the Patriot Fisher, Scituate and

Hanover vie for the top spot in which should be an interesting game.

Falmouth puts its undefeated record on the line when it meets Dennis-Yarmouth, while Stoneham seeks to avenge last year’s crushing 44-38 overtime loss to Melrose. Upper Cape visits West Bridgewater and will be looking to give coach Ken Owen his 199th win.

There are plenty of other key contests throughout Eastern Mass. tonight. Among the best matchups are Bishop Stang at Coyle & Cassidy, Braintree at Needham, Cohasset at Mashpee, Danvers at Lynn Classical and Reading at Woburn.

The big matchup in the ISL-7 has BB&N on the road against St. Sebastian’s with the winner getting a leg up in the league race and potential NEPSAC bowl bid.

There are a trio of good nonleague games involving ranked teams. No.1 Everett puts its 23-game winning streak on the line when it travels to BC High, while

Xaverian looks to defeat

Brockton for the seventh straight time. Fresh off an epic win over Lincoln-Sudbury, Acton-Boxboro jumps right back into it with a dangerous road test at undefeated Dracut.

The marquee matchup tomorrow is the Catholic Conference battle between No. 3 St. John’s Prep and sixth-ranked Catholic Memorial. Other key matchups include Greater Lawrence

at Northeast, Swampscott at Lynn English and Natick

at Wellesley.

In the ISL, Groton looks to go to 3-0 when it hosts a Noble & Greenough team coming off a big win over Lawrence Academy.