The Dixon Dukes spent the 2025 season imposing their will almost every week, using sheer physicality to dictate things on the gridiron.

Friday night, the Dukes and Coal City traded blows for 48 minutes before the Coalers left A.C. Bowers Field with a 49-42 victory in their Class 4A second-round playoff game.

“Using a cliché, it was a heavyweight fight; we kind of just stood toe to toe and kept punching,” Dixon coach Jared Shaner said. “Our guys didn’t back down, and I’m proud of that.”

The Dukes (9-2) scored first after Owen Belzer recovered a fumble on the fourth play of the game, but fell behind 21-7 before bouncing back to score 21 straight points. After a 50-yard touchdown run by Landon Knigge, a blocked punt by Jake Whelan set up another score, then Dixon opened the second half with a 75-yard scoring drive capped by a 15-yard Jagger Kemp-to-Jake Zepezauer scoring strike to take a 28-21 lead.

“They did not quit, and that’s the thing you love about this group,” Shaner said. “They love playing football, they love being physical. There’s no quit in them. We’d get punched in the mouth and respond, and just came up a little short.”

That was because of the Coalers’ answer. Quarterback Connor Henline threw for 223 of his 307 passing yards and all three TDs in the second half, with scoring strikes of 64, 55 and 78 yards to keep the Dukes at bay.

Dixon also used big plays to set up a couple of scores, as Kemp hit Jackson Koehler for 38 yards to the 2-yard line, then Knigge returned a kickoff 62 yards to the Coal City 25 as the Dukes cut their deficit to seven points twice in the final 6:16.

But too many empty possessions were too much to overcome. Some of that was due to poor starting spots for drives – the Dukes started inside their own 10-yard line twice, inside their 20 three times, and inside their 30 three times – and scored TDs on just three of the nine drives they started in their own territory; on the flip side, all three drives that started in Coalers territory ended in touchdowns.

“It really was the big plays that made the difference,” Shaner said. “The other thing, too, I felt like it was a field-position game. It felt like we were backed up all the time, which has an impact on what you want to call and how aggressive you want to be.

“And credit to Coal City, they’re a really good football team – and so are our guys – and it was a great game, it had a little bit of everything.”

Coalers coach Francis Loughran was equally impressed at the quality of the second-round shootout.

“Two very good, evenly matched teams,” he said. “Their defense had six shutouts, and offensively, they’re scoring points all over the place. It was a tall task; man, they’ve got some athletes all over the field. Knigge, hats off to him, and their O-line, too; I know he gets a lot of credit, but their O-line really gets off the ball, and I thought Kemp did a great job of getting the ball out to the receivers.

“Just when you think you get a stop, they come up with a play, and we’ve got to regroup. Thankfully, our offense bailed us out tonight, and we get to live for another week.”

Newman coach Mike LeMay’s first group of fourth-year players made their mark

Completing his fourth season as head coach of the Comets, Newman coach Mike Lemay saw his first group of fourth-year players finish their final game together in last Saturday’s road loss to El Paso-Gridley in the second round of the Class 2A playoffs.

While the game did not go their way after some costly mistakes and turnovers amid rainy conditions, the Comets took another step forward this season. The Comets won eight games in the last two seasons as they look to get back to competing for state trophies. Newman’s seniors led the way.

“We came up short, and obviously it didn’t end like we wanted it to,” senior quarterback Evan Bushman said. “I’m just proud of how we played and the effort we gave. Even when the score wasn’t in our favor, we never gave up. We always played with 100% effort, and we played to the whistle.”

Players like Bushman at QB, George Jungerman leading the defense, and the seniors on the line have helped continue to set the standard for the Comets. Newman’s senior linemen include Leo Francis, Matthew Clemen, Benjamin Geske, Jerry Mulderink, Jacob Payne and Cooper Spears.

“They were great examples,” junior Matthew Murray said, “and better than that, they were great friends, great people. I think they had a remarkable impact on our program. It feels different now than it did my freshman year.

“I just can’t say how much of an impact these guys have had on my life and my career as a football player. No one’s challenged me more, and I wouldn’t rather have anyone else next to me in the huddle.”

It was an emotional end to the season as players reflected on the field and shared hugs long after the game was over.

“They were super invested and I can’t say enough about this group,” LeMay said of this year’s Comets. “It’s going to be tough to say goodbye to those guys. It’s hard to even talk about it because they know they led it well and they showed these guys how it’s to be done, especially coming up.

“I think they left a solid foundation of Blue Machine football. And we’ll be back.”

Three area teams in 8-man semifinals

A Sauk Valley area team is guaranteed to be in the Illinois 8-Man Football Association championship again this season after Milledgeville, Amboy and Polo advanced to this weekend’s semifinals.

Undefeated Milledgeville beat South Beloit 22-6 after leading 14-0 at halftime. Spencer Nye Nye led the Missiles’ rush attack with 135 yards on 24 carries, and added three of the Missiles’ eight backfield stops on defense.

“During our season in 11 games, we’ve had a lot of momentum swings, and that’s what our team keys on,” Nye said. “If they make a big play, we fight for the next big play and make it ours. We’ll reverse the roles and make sure we get the next big play.”

The Missiles will have a rematch of Week 1 and last year’s title game against Amboy at 2 p.m. Saturday at Amboy. The Clippers (9-1) rolled at Pawnee 64-6 in the semifinals to set up the rematch. Milledgeville won 30-22 to open the season.

Polo advanced to the semifinals after a 46-14 win over St. Anne. Mercer Mumford ran for 165 yards and three touchdowns in the victory.

“It feels great to be out here. I missed last week, and that kind of sucked, but I was happy to hear the news that I could play today,” said Mumford, who was cleared to play on his injured right shoulder by a medical trainer Friday afternoon. “At the start of the game, I was a little nervous; I didn’t really want to take a shot to that shoulder. But once I started going, I thought, ‘I can do this, I can take a hit, take a shot to it, I’m fully healed, let’s go.’”

Mumford and senior quarterback JT Stephenson provided a powerful 1-2 punch, as Stephenson ran for 170 yards and two scores, and also connected with Mumford on a 26-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the first half as Polo (10-1) scored 46 straight points after falling behind 6-0.

“It’s amazing to have multiple guys making plays, and makes a huge difference. Having different weapons is where it’s at,” Stephenson said. “The holes were wide open, and our line did great, just an amazing job all day.”

Polo hits the road to South Fork for a 4 p.m. matchup on Saturday in Kincaid. The Ponies are 11-0 and beat West Carroll 38-14 to advance.

The 8-man championship is at 7 p.m. Nov. 21 at Monmouth College’s April Zorn Memorial Stadium.