Dixon started both halves with a bang, and Oregon never recovered.

The Dukes had a punt return touchdown for their first score, then opened the second half with a kickoff return touchdown on their way to a 56-0 win over the Hawks in their Big Northern Conference game Friday night at Landers-Loomis Field.

For the second straight game, Jake Zepezauer took a punt return to the house and Owen Belzer returned a kickoff for a score to supply a pair of special-teams TDs for Dixon (4-1, 4-1 BNC).

“I think we’ve got a little back and forth going. He had a punt return last game and I had a kickoff return last game, and that’s two weeks in a row we’ve both done that,” said Belzer, who took the opening kickoff of the second half 68 yards to the end zone for a 42-0 lead. “It’s just about setting the tone. Special teams is an underrated part of the sport; I feel like there’s a lot of points teams leave out on the field by not prioritizing special teams, and we do a good job at keeping our special teams clean and making sure to capitalize on those moments when they come to us.”

Zepezauer’s 62-yard punt return touchdown set the tone early on. The Dukes forced a three-and-out to start, and Zepezauer put them up 7-0 just 2:19 into the game before they even took an offensive snap.

“I saw everyone collapsing to the middle and I just took my chance on the edge. I cut up the field, got some nice blocks from my teammates. We set up well all week in practice, and the hard work pays off,” Zepezauer said. “It’s one of those times where you’ve got to strike fear. You’ve got to get the momentum early, you’ve got to strike that fear, and you’ve just got to get the boys up and going. I’m just happy it was a good team win and everyone played well.”

Landon Knigge ran for 170 yards and four touchdowns on 14 carries. That included a 45-yard scoring sprint on the Dukes’ first offensive possession that started with a huge hole up the middle before he made a jump cut to avoid a tackler about 10 yards downfield and never looked back.

“The front five makes me look good – and I think I make them look good a little bit – but I love my O-line,” Knigge said. “They’re the best O-line I think I’ve had; last year’s O-line was good too, but this year’s O-line is something different, man.”

Jagger Kemp passed for 31 yards and ran for 28 more, with a 9-yard TD run in the first half on a read option play where he pulled the handoff and ran right up the middle after the Oregon defense zeroed in on Knigge going to the perimeter.

Belzer broke off a 46-yard touchdown run with about 8:35 remaining, adding to his explosive start to the second half.

“It really gets the momentum going again, gets the emotions running,” he said about his kickoff return. “Everyone’s saying, ‘Hey we’re not done yet, we’ve still got a job to do,’ and it gets everyone fired back up after a break at halftime.”

Dixon’s defense was dominant again in posting its third straight shutout, limiting Oregon (3-2, 3-2 BNC) to 22 total yards on 32 plays and recovering two of the Hawks’ four fumbles.

“The defensive line, they’re just straight animals. They get after it and they want to dominate,” Knigge said.

Keaton Salsbury finished with 15 yards rushing, and Jakobi Donegan added 14 yards for Oregon, which lost lineman Eddie Gomez to a possible broken collarbone and starting quarterback Benny Olalde to an arm injury early in the second quarter when he was hit by a Dixon pass rusher as he was throwing the ball.

The Hawks will try to shake off the loss and move forward, with a chance to make the playoffs still front and center on their list of goals.

“Dixon’s a good football team; they play fast, they play physical, and they’re bigger than everybody and they play like it,” Oregon coach Broc Kundert said. “The message to the kids was the score tonight’s not an indication of what we are. The next four games we feel like we can be competitive in and get wins, so we’ve got to regroup and have a great week of practice.

“We told the boys, ‘Our preparation [as coaches] is going to be as good as it ever has been, and we need a good week of practice from you guys, and we’ll be ready to go to North Boone next Friday.”