Class 4A

Dixon 45, Woodstock North 0: Landon Knigge surpassed the 2,000-yard mark for the season with another huge effort just a week after rushing for a school-record 447 yards.

The reigning Friday Night Drive Team of the Week MVP ran 30 times for 238 yards and three touchdowns, putting him at 2,083 yards for the season. It’s the second-best single-season rushing mark in school history, and he’s just 32 yards shy of the single-season school record of 2,115 yards set by Arthur Cox in 2017. Cox also ran for 2,069 yards in 2016; those are the only three 2,000-yard seasons in program history.

“It’s the playoffs, so we had to get in the swing of things, get back into the mindset of ‘Hey, it’s football, let’s turn it up,’” Knigge said. “The O-line was doing great the whole time, we just had to flow into it.”

The Dukes defense was stingy, allowing just 62 total yards and two first downs on 34 plays. Both Thunder first downs came on the same third-quarter drive after Caleb Carlson’s 24-yard field goal put Dixon up 31-0 midway through the period.

“Our defense constantly sets the tone, makes plays every single game,” Owen Belzer said. “We come out and kick the other team in the teeth and show them it’s going to be hard moving the ball on us.

“And forcing turnovers, the more opportunities our offense has to get on the field, the better. It’s awesome to be able to give our offense the chance to make the scoreboard look like that at the end of the night.”

Coal City 49, Sterling 7: The Golden Warriors lost in the trenches as Coal City running back Logan Natyshok ran for 272 yards and five touchdowns on just 22 carries. Sterling’s only spark on offense was a kick return touchdown from Maurice De La Cruz in the first quarter.

Coal City (8-2) advances to play at Dixon (9-1) in the second round at 7 p.m. Friday. Sterling finishes the campaign at 6-4.

“Our big guys up front were creating some pretty big holes to run through,” Natyshok said. “The credit goes to those guys. They were getting off the ball and pushing people around. All I had to do was wait to see where the opening was going to be.

“Our offense was really clicking, but so was our defense. Our defense was really flying around, making plays all day and Emmett (Easton’s) pick was so awesome to see. This was a great team win, for sure.”

Class 3A

Byron 63, Oregon 15: The Hawks (5-2) fell to the second-seeded Tigers (10-0) after trailing 50-7 at halftime. Caden Considine rushed for 182 yards and three touchdowns on 14 carries for Byron as the BNC champions had a larger margin of victory than the 35-7 win in Week 3.

Oregon finished the game with just 184 total yards. Six different players scored for Byron. The 63 points given up by Oregon are the most in a single game in school history.

Class 2A

Newman 43, Ridgeview/Lexington 8: Newman put together one of its most complete performances of the season as Renner Rosengren, Asher Ernst and Riley Mason had interceptions. “I think that we played to our ability today, and we played fast and well,” Rosengren said. “I think that we’re ready to really show what we’re going to do this year.”

Matthew Blackert finished with three TDs, and Rylan Alvarado scored two more, but it was the passing game that accounted for a majority of Newman’s yardage.

Evan Bushman finished with 198 yards through the air, including 107 to John Rowzee on five catches. Danny Welte, who had just two catches for the season entering the game, matched that on the opening drive alone. Welte had four catches for 54 yards and 10 yards rushing.

“We have a dominant passing game, but we also have a run game that complements that perfectly, and I think it’s hard to cover both or prepare for both,” Rowzee said. “I think everybody played a great game tonight, and there’s nothing else we could have done differently.”

Farmington 10, Eastland-Pearl City 8: The game came down to the final play as the Cougars lined up for a short field goal to win it. The kick was blocked as 14th-seeded EPC (5-5) nearly pulled off the win against the 10-0 and third-seeded Farmers.

Draven Zier ran for 104 yards, and Deaken Hofmaster threw for 106 yards and was picked off twice. Will Birchen returned a fumble for a touchdown to go with five tackles and a sack.

Aurora Christian 37, Erie-Prophetstown 12: The 11th-seeded Panthers (6-4) fell in their playoff opener against the sixth-seeded Eagles (8-2). E-P trailed 23-0 at halftime in the setback.

Class 1A

Lena-Winslow 48, Forreston 22: The Cardinals fell in their Class 1A playoff opener against the third-seeded Panthers (9-1). Forreston, seeded 14th, finishes the season 5-5. The setback was closer than Forreston’s Week 1 50-12 loss in the regular season.

The Cardinals ran for 151 yards on 30 carries while the Panthers ran for 333 yards on 38 carries.

8-Man Football Association

Polo 36, Hiawatha 14: The Marcos (9-1) scored on their first three possessions, then saw Hiawatha turn two turnovers into touchdowns. But the second half was all Polo, as it held the Hawks to minus-18 yards rushing while adding two Jordan Reed touchdown runs to pull away.

“Our defense definitely set the tone today. Our offense struggled a little bit at times, but we found our stride again and finished it,” said senior lineman Wyatt Plachno, who got a second-half carry for 3 yards. “They did what we expected them to do. We were expecting more trick plays, so we were more on our toes than usual, but we got in the backfield and we rattled them a little bit.”

Amboy 68, Milford-Cissna Park 8: The Clippers started their quest for a third straight state title with a bang after scoring in just two plays. The Clippers scored touchdowns on eight of their nine first-half drives to build a 62-8 lead at halftime.

Jose Lopez rushed for 127 yards and three TDs on 10 carries, and Colt McCoy ran for 129 yards on 11 attempts. Caiden Heath had 114 yards rushing with four TDs on just nine carries.

“We knew coming in that Caiden Heath could have a big day with how they were setting up their defense, and he did,” coach Scott Payne said. “Caiden played really well. He’s just a really great athlete.”

Milledgeville 66, Meridian 16: The state runners-up ran out to a 66-0 lead at halftime to open the playoffs. Kyson Francis threw three TDs, and Spencer Nye threw another in the win. Nye led the Missiles with 105 yards and a score on 11 carries. The top-seeded Missiles will face eight-seeded South Beloit (8-2) in the quarterfinals.

West Carroll 42, West Central 8: The Thunder (8-2) won their eight-man playoff opener for the second straight year and advanced to face second-seeded South Fork (10-0).

— Ty Reynolds, Kevin Chlum, Brian Hoxsey and Sam Ramirez contributed to this report