Looking to wrap up a seventh straight Big Northern Conference wrestling title, Dixon left little doubt why it is at the top of the league on Wednesday night at Rock Falls.

The Dukes, ranked fifth in the IWCOA Class 1A rankings, beat 11th-ranked Oregon 61-17 and Rock Falls 61-9 to wrap up an undefeated season in BNC action.

Dixon senior Dylan Bopes, ranked ninth in the heavyweight rankings, had two pins for the night.

Bopes said it feels amazing to help continue the stretch of BNC titles.

“All the work that we’ve put in, it’s just something else,” he said. “[And] coaching. That’s the main thing, coaching. Hard work and coaching.”

Doolan Long provided a spark and helped set the tone for Dixon in the opening bout against Oregon.

Down 4-1 in his 126-pound matchup with Isaiah Perez, Long came back to win 8-4. Jack Benesh and Landon Ege answered with a technical fall and a pin for Oregon, but the Dukes caught fire from there.

Charlie Connors, Preston Richards (by forfeit), Neyo Holloway and Adam Staples all helped put Dixon back up 27-11 by pin or forfeit. Blake Dingley followed with a 10-0 major decision, while Seth Shaffer, Dawson Kemp and Bopes had another run of pins.

The finish was undramatic as Dixon’s highly-ranked pair of Riley Paredes and Jack Ragan won by forfeit to wrap up the dominant win.

“We’re always looking for something to achieve. A conference title is definitely one of them,” the No. 1-ranked Paredes said. “But now we’re looking for the regional, sectional and hopefully going on to win that state title at some point as a team.”

Paredes said, ‘leaders being leaders’ was key in the big win over Oregon.

“All of us putting phones down and stuff and just genuinely watching matches,” he said. “Giving each other the support we need in order to help out and do whatever we can for our wrestler to feel like they have that one-up on guys.”

A Kayden Cover pin at 106 was Oregon’s only other win against the Dukes.

Oregon’s No. 1-ranked 120-pounder, Josiah Perez, did not wrestle Wednesday night after a Hawk forfeit against Dixon and a forfeit win against Rock Falls. He would have faced Dixon’s fourth-ranked Jack Ragan.

“We didn’t have some matches go our way and we had quite a few starters out with some injuries,” Oregon coach Justin Lahman said. “We’re kind of battling through that and moving some guys around. They’re a tough team. We knew coming in we had to be on our ‘A’ game to kind of keep it close and battle.

“We lost a couple of matches late and gave up bonus points, and those are key in duals like that that are really close.”

He said things snowballed after Dixon got the momentum, which led to the forfeits at the end. Ragan hasn’t wrestled Perez this season. Perez beat Ragan 7-2 last season about a year ago.

“The dual was out of hand, so we’ll save those matches for postseason,” Lahman said. “It didn’t make sense to wrestle. When you start seeing guys multiple times a year, they pick up stuff. We’ll see them when it counts and kind of go from there. Jack’s a great kid; we knew it was going to be a good match. We’ll probably see him at sectionals and state and we’ll battle it out there.”

Dixon coach Micah Hey said Long’s comeback win to open the dual was a big tone-setter.

“He hits that cement mixer and that just gave us all adrenaline,” Hey said. “I could feel it, the kids could feel it.

“There were a few swing matches throughout and we just ended up on top and getting some pins. I was very proud of them, they couldn’t have done a better job.”

Hey said his wrestlers expect to win, and it showed. Things are coming together at the right time for the Dukes with the postseason starting at the end of the month.

“Seven in a row is very hard to do,” he said. “It’s a team effort. They all did it.

“Once they get on a little bit of a roll, they’re hard to stop.”

In other action, Oregon beat Rock Falls 42-34 as Kayden Cover (tech fall), Josiah Perez (forfeit), Isaiah Perez (major decision), Nelson Benesh (8-5), Jackson Messenger (pin), Jayden Berry (pin), Jasper Messenger (forfeit) and Jacksyn Windham (pin) had wins for the Hawks.

For the Rockets, Scottie Hampton (pin), Logan Thome (forfeit), Tucker Ullrich (tech fall), Trail Stonitsch (tech fall), Peighton Ahlstrand (pin) and Jahkei Jones (pin) had wins for RF. Ullrich had another pin against Dixon and Stonitsch won a 9-2 decision.