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Dixon took what the Rockford Lutheran defense gave it Friday night, and Landon Knigge ended up with one of the best games running the ball in school history.
The junior tailback broke out with 335 yards and four touchdowns on homecoming in a 56-13 Big Northern Conference win for the third-ranked Dukes (5-0, 5-0 BNC) as they became playoff eligible for the 10th straight regular season.
Despite not playing down the stretch with the game well in control, Knigge’s rushing yardage total tied for the second-best in school history, surpassed only by Arthur Cox’s 367-yard game in 2016. Cox also ran for 335 yards that year.
“I’m going to thank my line for tonight’s game,” Knigge said, “because they’re really just pushing people, and I was just running through the holes and doing what I do.”
Dixon has shown it can get it done through the air or on the ground this season.
“We have some weapons on offense,” Dixon coach Jared Shaner said. “So whatever’s working, we kind of roll with it. They did a good job in their secondary taking away some of our pass stuff, so [it was] feed Landon and kind of go with that.”
Knigge vaulted himself into role of the team’s leading rusher with the Friday’s performance.
“He runs the ball really, really hard, has good vision,” Shaner said of Knigge. “If you don’t square him up and tackle him, he’ll run through arm tackles. He was a workhorse tonight, that’s for sure.”
Newman ‘D’ getting it done
The Comets have been scoring at an impressive clip the past three weeks, and it’s been overshadowing the defense.
Newman’s starters have allowed just two offensive touchdowns in the past two games combined – and held Erie-Prophetstown to 13 points in Week 3 – as the Comets ran their winning streak to four straight with a 15-7 win over Rockridge in overtime.
The only touchdown Newman allowed Friday was an interception return for a score, and in a 54-21 win in Week 4 against Orion, one of the Chargers’ TDs came on a kickoff return and another came in the final two minutes of a running-clock game with the Comets’ starters on the sideline.
“They didn’t score on offense, so that helped us with our confidence,” senior linebacker Daniel Kelly said about Rockridge. “It was just that one mistake on offense; really, we were sustaining drives, we just couldn’t finish them. In the second half, we finally got that touchdown, and I think that gave us the confidence that we were the better conditioned team and we wanted it more.
“We’re a brotherhood, and we’re going to stick together no matter what. We knew that our defense was holding them and our offense could get yards, so we felt confident we were going to win this game.”
The victory puts the Comets (4-1, 3-0 TRAC Rock) on the doorstep of playoff eligibility; they need to win one of their final four games to reach five wins, and two to guarantee a postseason berth.
But the win also boosts the confidence Newman was already playing with after winning their three previous games by a combined 137-34.
“We know we have a lot of potential; we all see it in each other that we can go far, even in the playoffs,” sophomore Matthew Blackert said. “We knew that as a team, we’re basically family, and we can do a lot when we work together. So we all came together as a group, talked about what we need to do better, and we accomplished that and got a big win.”
Sterling scores shutout in Wisconsin
The Golden Warriors (3-2) won a third straight game after holding Beloit Turner to 128 yards in a 32-0 win in Wisconsin. It was one of only two shutouts in Week 5’s Sauk Valley football slate.
For the season, Sterling is holding opponents to an average of 52 yards rushing and 158 yards passing each contest, allowing just 14.8 points per game.
Drew Nettleton followed his school-record, four-passing-touchdown game against Galesburg with a 10-of-19 performance for 185 yards and two touchdowns, both to Kaedon Phillips.
Milledgeville, Polo roll to set up Week 6 clash
The Missiles and Marcos both improved to 5-0 after dominating once again. Milledgeville handed West Carroll (4-1) its first loss as an eight-man team, 44-0, and Polo beat Alden-Hebron 54-6. The two sit atop the Illinois 8-Man Football Association North Division ahead of Friday’s matchup at Milledgeville.
Rock Falls gets first win via forfeit
The Rockets (1-4) officially got their first win of the season by forfeit after not playing last week. Their original opponent, Rockford Christian, canceled its season in August, and Rock Falls was unable to find a replacement game.
Sauk Valley area scoreboard
Ridgewood 34, Amboy 22 (Thursday)
Byron 49, Oregon 7
Bureau Valley 46, Knoxville 13
Fulton 45, Dakota 6
Eastland-Pearl City 34, Stockton 8
Erie-Prophetstown 20, Mercer County 14
South Beloit 35, Ashton-Franklin Center 14
Milledgeville 44, West Carroll 0
Polo 54, Alden-Hebron 6
• Ty Reynolds contributed to this report.