Two consecutive seasons with 13-0 records, the longest winning streak in the state, and a pair of Super Bowl titles is certainly something to be proud of. But Duxbury HS football Coach Dave Maimaron sounds more like Bill Bellichick when discussing if his Dragon football team can keep it up.

(One class starts the Newport to Bermuda race in a swirl of colors.)

Roughly 160 sailboats left Newport on Friday, June 15 bound for Bermuda. There were actually 10 “participants” from Duxbury, but not all of them sailed: nine made the race and one started them all.

Bill Walker’s Med Spirit, a Wellborn 92 skippered by Mike D’Amelio of Marblehead, broke their own boat record by four hours in the Open Division to a mere 44 hours. They were first in class and first to finish in their class and fifth overall out of 159 boats. Their average speed over the course was 14.5 knots, with a top speed registered as 23. With all of this they were not first, Rambler made it in 39 hours, breaking the Newport to Bermuda time record by 14 hours at an average speed of 16 knots. Fourteen boats broke the elapsed time record.

Frederick Weyerhaeuser having emigrated from Germany in 1852, first worked in Erie, Penn. where he met and married Elizabeth Bladel. The young couple moved to Rock Island, Ill. where Frederick worked in a sawmill, eventually becoming foreman and saving his money. When the financial panic came in 1857, he was able to buy the mill in partnership with his brother-in-law. He later acquired interest in several other mills, attributing his success to his “will to work.”

In the 1860s, he began buying tracts of land in Wisconsin, Minnesota and later, in the 1890s Idaho, Washington and Oregon. In 1891, the family moved to St. Paul, Minn. where Frederick was a friend and neighbor of James J. Hill, the president of the great Northern Railway. Hill owned millions of acres of land given to the railroad in return for constructing the transcontinental rail line from Lake Superior to Puget Sound in Seattle. From 1900 to 1903, Frederick and his partners bought land from Hill and others and thus was born the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company.

July 4 reminds me that life in the country, both the nation and the rural kind of country, swings around in circles through the year. When you read this, our Independence Day celebration will be wrapping up, with our parade marshaled by members of the Duxbury Rural and Historical Society. I hope that some of you readers took the plunge and found a way to get you, your kids or your group involved this year. Here’s another way to build memories and put down roots that reach back for generations. Come Aug. 17 – 26, the 145th annual Marshfield Fair opens for the area’s (and the year’s) most intensive gathering of agricultural, horticultural, educational and historical fun. I think of it as Duxbury’s County Fair, and with good reason. It’s a Marshfield event, of course, but you’ll see your neighbors richly represented in exhibits from the 4-H barns to the Country Arts and Crafts and the Agricultural Hall (the flowers and such).

(Front row l to r: Katie Hargrave, Liz Wong, Francesca Amodio, Kylie Stevens, Gabby Dorsett, Christina Kates, Heron Stames, Marisa Saia and Nina Fassnacht. Back row l to r: Head Coach Bob Jordan, Emma Gill, Celia Borghesani, Alex White, Lily Venturelli, Caroline Drinkwater, Marykate Elliot, Ali Garrett, Asst. Coach Ian Wylie and Asst. Coach Mark Drinkwater.  Missing are Molly Tobin and KC Williams.)

The Duxbury Youth Soccer Girls U14 Division 1 team completed a strong spring season last weekend at the Massachusetts Tournament of Champions (MTOC) in Lancaster.

The team was invited to MTOC after winning their Coastal League championship the previous week by beating Norwell 5-0 in the semi-finals and finishing off Marshfield 2-0 in the championship game.  MTOC matches up the championship teams from the top leagues in the state playing in a World Cup-type format. 

(Photo by Jim Tarbox)

ESPN is reporting that Duxbury High School senior Max Randall was named ESPNBoston.com’s “Mr. Lacrosse” this year. The second annual recipient of this award, Randall was a defender for DHS’ Boys’ Lacrosse team this season and won the state championship title with his team.

Randall was chosen by ESPNBoston.com staff, correspondents and coaches from across the state, who recognized Randall for his deft and subtle ability to take out opposing players during games.

Randall also won two state titles for DHS football and three lacrosse titles, as well as numerous other sports awards, all while maintaining a high GPA.

In the fall, Randall will attend Dartmouth College where he will continue to play lacrosse. He will receive his “Mr. Lacrosse” award later this year.

ESPN is reporting that Duxbury High School senior Max Randall was named ESPNBoston.com’s “Mr. Lacrosse” this year. The second annual recipient of this award, Randall was a defender for DHS’ Boys’ Lacrosse team this season and won the state championship title with his team.

Randall was chosen by ESPNBoston.com staff, correspondents and coaches from across the state, who recognized Randall for his deft and subtle ability to take out opposing players during games.

Randall also won two state titles for DHS football and three lacrosse titles, as well as numerous other sports awards, all while maintaining a high GPA.

In the fall, Randall will attend Dartmouth College where he will continue to play lacrosse. He will receive his “Mr. Lacrosse” award later this year.

(Steven and Kevin Heath with their catches for second place in the Duncan Frazee Memorial Striper Tournament.)

COASTAL REPORT:  Striper fishing remains good to excellent – tuna fishing is just getting started. With this hot weather (thank you Mr. or Ms. Weatherperson) fishing should turn on now. Around the Cape Cod back beaches at Peaked Hill Bar stripers are heading north and fishing remains really good here. Out in deeper water off Peaked Hill Bar tuna fishing is mostly slow, but soon the action will be red hot. Best baits here for stripers are live mackerel or wire line jigging.

It was certainly the way Duxbury’s 18 seniors wanted to end their high school lacrosse careers. After cruising through three play-off games with an average victory by 12 goals, the Dragons had to hold on in the fourth quarter and defuse a late Needham comeback bid to win its ninth State title in the last 11 years with a hard-earned 10-8 win over No. 6 seeded Needham HS on Wednesday night at Harvard Stadium.

They were considered Duxbury’s toughest competition in the march toward their ninth State title in 11 years. But after the Dragons’ 18-6 blowout of Lincoln-Sudbury on Saturday afternoon, it’s now up to Coach Chris Sweet’s team to show  on Wednesday night that there really isn’t any team in Massachusetts that can compete with this year’s Duxbury squad.

Riding the hat-tricks of seniors Cam Mullins and Seamus Connelly, along with a trio of goals from junior Henry Narlee, the Dragons jumped out to a 4-3 first-quarter lead and blew the game wide open in the second quarter while on their way to victory.

They were considered Duxbury’s toughest competition in the march toward their ninth State title in 11 years. But after the Dragons’ 18-6 blowout of Lincoln-Sudbury on Saturday afternoon, it’s now up to Coach Chris Sweet’s team to show  on Wednesday night that there really isn’t any team in Massachusetts that can compete with this year’s Duxbury squad.

Riding the hat-tricks of seniors Cam Mullins and Seamus Connelly, along with a trio of goals from junior Henry Narlee, the Dragons jumped out to a 4-3 first-quarter lead and blew the game wide open in the second quarter while on their way to victory.

Duxbury’s arts experiences arrive in surges, and one of the richest starts (in a way) this week. On Thursday, June 14 – tomorrow, as you read this Clipper – at 9 a.m. at the Ellison Center for the Arts on St. George Street, you can learn about volunteer opportunities for the 7 annual Duxbury Music Festival, which runs from July 15 to 27. The Festival is a massive event, and calls on 150 volunteers to make it work. The students and guest faculty stay for nearly two weeks, enriching Duxbury’s cultural milieu. At the same time, the students benefit from Duxbury’s seaside recreational scene, relax, and take in a sizable number of meals. Older students bunk in at St. Margaret’s Convent on Washington Street, and the whole affair requires many willing hands to carry the load. The 9 a.m. meeting time highlights an important point. Many of the Festival’s day-to-day events are, well, during the day. You’ll need to be available. Festival co-chairs Mary Steinke and Marcy Bravo will join DMF Director Stephen Deitz, who will give an overview of the Festival program.

The Duxbury girls’ lacrosse team appears to be peaking at just the right time, as they demolished Atlantic Coast League entrant and No. 8 seed Nauset High School, 15-5, on Thursday afternoon in Duxbury.

The Warriors stayed close for the first 10 minutes thanks to the goaltending of senior Libby Hart, who made several outstanding saves to keep the game from becoming an early rout.

The DHS girls’ softball team broke open a tight game in their tournament opener with No. 9 seed East Bridgewater to win 7-2 over the Vikings on Thursday afternoon in Duxbury.

The game was scoreless after three innings with both teams squandering scoring opportunities. Duxbury would break the scoreless affair in the fourth inning on a walk to Christina Curley, who then reached second when Caroline McSherry reached first on an infield error.  A double steal put runners on second and third base, allowing Curley to score on an infield groundout.

For 25 years Coach Jack Stoddard has been bringing his passion for the game of golf to the student-athletes of Duxbury High School. His golf programs have earned seven State titles and a combined 21 league championships.  Since becoming the girls’ varsity golf coach four years ago, the program has doubled in size.

(CROSS-COUNTRY TRAVELERS: Meg MacKinnon, Aaron Klein, Alex Palfrey, Alec Stewart, Ian Ikeda, Hanno Kite-Powell and Sydney Connor traveled to Seattle, Washington to compete in the National Championships. Photo by Chris Lash)

The Duxbury High School sailing team competed in the High School Sailing Fleet Race National Championship in Seattle, Wash. last weekend, finishing 12th among the top competitors in the country.

Representing the Dragons in Seattle were captain Ian Ikeda, captain Alec Stewart, Hanno Kite-Powell, Sydney Connor, Meg MacKinnon, Alex Palfrey and Aaron Klein.