Football: Dixon rolls past Rock Falls in BNC road win

ROCK FALLS – In its first road game of the season, Dixon made itself right at home in Rock Falls.

The Dukes scored on nine of their 11 possessions, and limited the Rockets to 35 total yards in a 63-7 victory Friday night at Hinders Field.

“We’re setting the tone up front, and we’re setting the bar for us for the rest of the conference season,” senior two-way lineman Tyler Zepezauer said. “I think we definitely improved from last week, but it’s a never-ending puzzle. We’re going to keep adding pieces, we’re going to keep improving. It’s linear, and we don’t peak, we just keep working.”

[ Photos of Dixon at Rock Falls football ]

Eight Dukes found the end zone, with quarterback Cullen Shaner’s four scoring passes providing the ninth player responsible for Dixon touchdowns. Four receivers caught those TD passes, and four backs combined to run for five more scores.

Shaner finished 13 of 15 for 271 yards through the air, with three receivers topping 70 yards receiving: Eli Davidson (six catches, 98 yards, TD), James Simpson (three catches, 94 yards, TD) and Tyson Dambman (three catches, 72 yards, TD).

“The O-line gave me all the time in the world in the pocket. I wasn’t close to being sacked even once, and that’s all props to them. The play calls were great. We were getting open zones, and I was just throwing it into them,” Shaner said. “When you can throw it to literally anybody on the field, or you can hand it off and know that person is going to run their tails off, it’s a great feeling.”

Three Dukes ran for more than 45 yards, led by Landon Knigge’s 84 yards and two touchdowns on three carries. Logan Mershon entered midway through the third quarter and finished with 71 yards and a score on 11 rushes, and Shaner added 48 yards on four carries. Owen Belzer and Jagger Kemp added rushing TDs for Dixon (3-0, 3-0 BNC), which accumulated 487 total yards.

And while the offensive line was protecting Shaner on pass plays and opening holes for the run game, the defensive line was just as dominant. Rock Falls (0-3, 0-3) was held to minus 26 yards rushing, while quarterback Mason Landes finished 7-for-17 passing for 61 yards and an interception.

“We’re a unit, and we can’t do it with just one guy on the line. We all did our part, and we did good things tonight,” Zepezauer said. “Every play, our goal is to just fire off the ball and make a play.”

The highlight of the game for the Rockets was senior Isaac Duchay recovering a fumble in the Dixon backfield and returning it 60 yards for a touchdown to tie the game 7-7 with 1:38 left in the first quarter. Jacob Hosler got penetration on the play and forced the fumbled handoff, and Duchay was right there for the scoop-and-score.

“I was trying to get into the backfield, and Jacob Hosler forced the fumble, and I saw it bouncing there and I just grabbed it and ran. It was kind of like a movie, in slow motion, and they were catching up to me, and I did my best to get into the end zone,” Duchay said. “That energized a lot of guys, but then it went down when they scored again. I wish it had lasted longer. It was a good play and gave us some hope, but that’s a really good team, and we just couldn’t get in the flow. We’ve still got to fix stuff.”

The Dukes answered with touchdowns on their final five drives in the first half and their first three after halftime. Their final drive of the game ended with a fumble that was recovered by Rock Falls’ Broxtyn Surratt with just over a minute remaining.

Shaner’s scoring strikes covered 36 yards to Davidson, 66 yards to Dambman, 11 yards to Gabe Rowley and 74 yards to Simpson. The final TD pass of the first half to Rowley capped a perfectly executed two-minute drill, and the only drive for the starters to start the second half lasted only one play as Shaner hit Simpson on a go route on the first play out of the locker room to start the running clock.

Knigge had TD runs of 11 and 55 yards in the first half, Belzer added a 3-yard scoring run before the break, and Mershon (6 yards) and Kemp (1 yard) scored on the ground in the second half.

“They were bigger, faster and stronger at every position up front. We just were outmanned, and we panicked. There’s nothing else other than that,” Rock Falls coach Kevin Parker said. “We’ve got to find a way to get better if we want to compete the rest of the season. We’ve got to find a way to scratch across that first win, then keep things going.”