Dixon ready for the unknown against Oregon

The Dixon football team hasn’t lost to Oregon since joining the Big Northern Conference for the 2014 season.

In fact, the Dukes own a 242-56 scoring edge over the Hawks, and have only given up more than 15 points once in seven meetings.

But there’s no chance Dixon is overlooking Oregon as the teams prepare for Friday night’s game at Landers-Loomis Field.

“Super excited. We’ve been looking forward to this for a couple of months, right before the beginning of summer,” sophomore Eli Davidson said. “So we’re antsy, for sure. Definitely ready to get out there.”

The biggest thing keeping the Dukes’ attention is the changes going on with the Hawks. Broc Kundert has taken over as head coach, and has brought a bit of a different style with him after four years at Freeport Aquin.

With the Bulldogs playing eight-man football last season, and very little to go on from the 2021 spring COVID season, Dixon hasn’t been able to see any tape to know what to expect from Oregon under Kundert.

“The thing that worries me this year about playing Oregon in Week 1 is they’ve got a new coach, I think they’ve got a lot of positive energy around their program right now, they have more kids out than they have recently. You don’t have film on them from how they defended you last year or what they were trying to do to you offensively, and even the coach comes from an eight-man style, so you don’t quite know, so there’s all that uncertainty,” Dixon coach Jared Shaner said.

“But maybe it’s a blessing in disguise in that we’ve kind of just focused on what we do on both sides of the ball, and then told the guys that on Friday night, let’s be football players. We’re going to have to make adjustments based on what they come out with offensively and defensively, so I think maybe we’ve just focused on ourselves and hopefully that will pay off.”

Like any team that has had to spend the offseason learning the ins and outs of a new offense, Oregon is looking for a strong start out of the gate in Week 1. The key is playing a clean game.

“We will need to stay ahead of the chains on offense. We have been stressing how every play needs to be a positive play, we can’t have negative plays,” Kundert said. “Mistakes for us will be drive-killers, so cutting down on penalties and missed assignments is really important. We will need our young guys to grow up quick, and I also would like to see us get off to a fast start.”

Not knowing exactly what to expect, the Dukes know they must be ready for anything. While the coaches will be making in-game adjustments, the players trust those calls and are focused on playing the game and doing their jobs.

“Obviously with the changes, we don’t really know their tendencies or anything. We’ve just got to do what our coaches tell us to do: read our keys, follow our assignments, and we’ll have it covered, hopefully,” Davidson said. “It takes all 11 of us doing our job, and if all 11 of us do that, our coaches will put us in good spots to succeed.”

When Dixon has the ball, things should look very similar. Junior quarterback Tyler Shaner is in his second year as a starter, and has a good grasp of the offense. The Dukes want to both run and pass, and will look to exploit whatever openings they can find.

Having plenty of players in tune with the style, scheme and playbook will help when going up against a team they don’t know a whole lot about.

“We’ve been running this forever, so having all the guys around each other, we’ve had reps, and that definitely helps. We feel comfortable with our teammates,” Davidson said. “If you’ve got a question, you turn to the guy next to you and they know what you’re doing. Everyone’s here to help each other out, so it’s definitely a good comfort feeling knowing everyone around you has your back.”

The Hawks have seen what the Dixon offense is capable of over the last several years, and Kundert has some experience running a wide-open offense at Aquin, so he and his coaching staff know what needs to happen on defense in order for Oregon to fight for a win.

“We will need to be really good at tackling in space,” Kundert said. “With any spread team, they want to use the entire field, and Dixon is no exception. They also do a really good job of using motions to move people’s eyes on defense and make it challenging to stay on your key. They will be returning some really good offensive lineman, so we will have to be real tough at the point of attack. Getting turnovers will be key for us.”

As with any football game, it will come down to execution: blocking on offense, tackling on defense – and that comes with everybody on the team playing their part and trusting in the teammate next to them to do theirs.

“We talk about that everyday, we do a little drill called ‘Block Block Defeat’ that’s really about when I’m on offense, there’s one ball and 10 of us have to do another job. Do we want to do that job better than the defender wants to come make a play?” coach Shaner said. “We try to ingrain those basics in our kids’ heads, and hopefully they’ve taken something throughout the summer and fall, and we can do a few things right on Friday night.”