Dixon High School announced Thursday its football team will travel to Johnston City for a nonconference game at 7 p.m. Oct. 11.
“The Dukes are excited for this new challenge,” Dixon athletic director Roger Fegan said. “While scheduling changes like this can be unexpected, we’re fortunate to have secured a great opponent in Johnston City, and we are looking forward to a competitive game.”
Johnston City is a member of the Black Diamond Conference. The Indians opened their season with a 62-0 win over Christopher-Zeigler-Royalton. They had a Week 7 bye when Vienna-Goreville announced in the summer that it would not be fielding a varsity football team this fall.
The Indians have made the Class 2A playoffs the past three seasons, including going 12-1 in 2022. They are 43-17 under Todd Thomas, now in his seventh season.
Dixon originally was scheduled to play Rockford Christian in Week 7 this year. Rockford Christian announced in August that it would not field a varsity football team.
Johnston City is in Williamsville County, 22 miles east of Carbondale, and is 278 miles from Dixon.
WIXN AM-1460 and FM 95.1 will broadcast the game from Johnston City starting with the pre-game at 6:45pm.
– Sam Ramirez of Shaw Local contributed to this report.