Dixon, Rochelle renew longtime rivalry in first round of 4A playoffs

Sometimes you get a first-round playoff matchup that ramps up the intensity and excitement even more than the usual thrill of Week 10.

The Dixon Dukes got one of those matchups this year.

Dixon (6-3) will travel to Rochelle (7-2) on Friday night in the renewal of a rivalry that dates back to 1913, but has fallen by the wayside the past dozen years due to conference shifts.

“Obviously we’re happy to be in the playoffs, but it was exciting to be able to see that matchup,” Dixon coach Jared Shaner said. “And I’ve tried to impress upon the kids this week, and I don’t know that they fully understand, but we were in the same conference for 50 years together, and we’ve played over 80 times. So I looked back at some stats: Dixon and Rochelle played for the first time in August of 1913, and that’s pretty cool.

“So we’re excited about it. It’s going to be fun, right down the road, and they’re a really good football team. We’re going to have to play well, but it should be fun.”

It was 2009 the last time the Dukes and Hubs squared off as conference foes, in crossover games in the North Central Illinois Conference. But with the towns separated by about 25 miles, there’s still the occasional meeting between youth teams; in fact, Dixon senior Hunter Vacek thinks the last football game his class played in eighth grade was a loss to Rochelle.

“I think we’re coming out with revenge,” he said with a smile. “It does feel good to play another local team that’s close to us, good competition. Coach Shaner told us that their coach has been ready to play Dixon for a while now, so I think it’ll be pretty fun and exciting.”

Even after all these years apart, some things never change, and in this case, it’s the Rochelle offense. The Hubs have run the Wing-T for years – and done so very successfully – and it’s no different this season.

Garrett Gensler has rushed for 1,453 yards and 25 touchdowns on 152 carries, an average of 9.6 yards per carry. Trey Taft has 813 yards and 10 TDs on 88 rushes (9.2 yards per carry), and Erich Metzger has 65 carries for 444 yards (6.8 yards per carry) and three scores. Quarterback Hayden Inman can throw when he needs to, and is 20 for 37 for 404 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions. Taft (7 catches, 185 yards, 2 TDs) and Dave Gerber (7-176, 2 TDs) are his top targets.

“We have two scout films, and I think they ran two pass plays. Just like you can turn on Byron film, G-K, Stillman’s a little different offensive look, but it’s the same result: they want to run it, run it, run it,” Shaner. “And they’re a talented team, and they’re huge up front. They have their all-time leading touchdown scorer in the backfield, Gensler, a big, strong kid, then Taft is their wingback that’s the counter, the speed kid the other way, and they can give it to the fullback and just go straight downhill. They’re good, and they run their stuff well.”

Having seen a few strong rushing offenses the past few weeks, the Dukes defense is more confident in their ability to slow down the Hubs than if they were playing a totally different type of attack.

Still, they know it’s a challenge, and they’re eager to see how they stack up.

“Another running team, and we’re more confident because we’ve seen offenses like theirs already this season. We’re ready to go play Rochelle,” Vacek said. “I think it’ll be a flip-flop scoring game, just go back and forth, and see which team can make the plays to win it.

“We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing all year: overload our line, and then have three ‘backers in there fill our gaps and let no one through. We have to go for knees, legs, hips, anything, just to make sure they don’t fall forward for extra yards. Drive them back, keep moving our feet, drive through our tackles, finish our tackles, strip the ball and create turnovers.”

Defensively, Dixon expects another hard-nosed, tough, physical defense in the Hubs, much like they see in the Big Northern Conference with the likes of Byron, Genoa-Kingston and Stillman Valley.

But the Dukes are buoyed by the fact that they were able to find success at times against all of those teams in their matchups, and hope their balanced attack can do it again Friday night.

“We see a lot of things we like,” senior Ethan Hays said. “We’re going to see Cover-2 a little bit, and we’re going to try and pick that apart. And the run game is always there, so if that’s there, we’re just going to take it.”

That run game has been potent out of the spread formation the Dukes run. Quarterback Tyler Shaner has run for 913 yards and eight touchdowns on 149 rushes (6.1 yards per carry), and running back Aiden Wiseman has 906 yards and 12 TDs on 133 rushes (6.8 yards per carry).

Hays says the key to that has been the steady, strong, consistent play of the big boys in the trenches.

“I think in some scenarios we do get lighter boxes with the spread formation, so that opens up the run. But also, I think our O-line is just moving people and doing a great job,” Hays said. “We’ve seen G-K, Byron, Stillman, and these guys will also run a lot and play tough defense, too. They do it very well, and I think we’re prepared for that.”

Tyler Shaner has also thrown for 818 yards on 60 for 111 passing, with 10 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Hays leads the receiving corps with 23 catches for 358 yards and four scores, and fellow seniors Rylan Ramsdell (192 yards, 3 TDs) and Jath St. Pier (143 yards, 3 TDs) have 12 catches each.

But beyond the stats and X’s and O’s – and even the rekindling of a traditional rivalry – there’s one motivating factor the Dukes are focusing on this week.

“We want to come back and play on this field here at home again next week, and we have to win to do that, so we’re going to be ready,” Vacek said.