Looking to advance to the team dual state meet for just the second time in program history, Dixon took care of business.

The Dukes beat Morrison 57-20 on Thursday night at Oregon’s Blackhawk Center to advance to the Class 1A state quarterfinals in Bloomington at Grossinger Motors Arena. Dixon, ranked fifth by the IWCOA, will face No. 9 Belleville Althoff at 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 27. The semifinals and finals take place the following day. No. 1 Coal City faces Olympia in the opposite quarterfinal.

Dixon’s Doolan Long started things off with a pin at 132 pounds and the Dukes never trailed in the win. Jack Ragan won a 14-6 decision over Cael Wright before a forfeit wrapped things up.

Dixon is heading to the state duals for the first time since the Dukes took third in the 2016-17 season.

“It means a lot for us,” Ragan said. “We put a lot of effort into it.”

Morrison’s Patrick Schaefer won by technical fall in the second match to make it 6-5, but Dixon answered with wins from Charlie Connors (pin) and Preston Richards (tech fall).

Morrison’s Caleb Modglin had a pin at 157, but Noah Stout (major decision) and Eli Modglin (by forfeit) were the Mustangs’ only other wins on the night.

“That just sets the tone starting off with a pin,” Ragan said of Long’s win to open the dual. “It just leads us to start rolling and I like that I got to finish the night with a win.”

Adam Staples, Blake Dingley, Dawson Kemp, Dylan Bopes and Riley Paredes all added pins for the Dukes and Gage Heath got a forfeit win at 106.

Ragan said the team feeds off one another in practice. The Dukes don’t have many holes in their lineup as a result.

“We’ve got great leaders,” Ragan said. “We saw what it looked like to get to state and we’ve been working hard ever since.”

Dixon also has nine wrestlers competing at the Byron Sectional next Friday.

“Now it’s time to take care of the rest,” Paredes said. “Job’s not finished. Time to go finish the job.”

The Dukes started to see team state as a possibility as the season developed.

“We’re a good tournament team and a good dual team,” Paredes said. “I’m just really happy for the team and how we show that we can just come and dominate every single night and put on performances.

“We just have so many great wrestlers. It’s good just having that many good guys in the room beating up on each other.”

Morrison coach Tom Drosopoulos said Dixon is a tough team.

“We didn’t wrestle bad, they’re just a better team,” he said. “They have a full lineup and very consistent up and down the lineup, on top of some of their horses that they have. They have a good team.”

The Mustangs have a young team and raised their own bar after winning a regional title for the first time.

“Basically everyone is coming back,” Drosopoulos said. “We knew it was going to be an uphill battle against Dixon, because they have a tough team.

“[It is] more motivation for next year.”

Dixon coach Micah Hey said his team brought the energy from top to bottom. The Dukes will enjoy the win for a night before locking back in to prepare for the individual sectional a week away.

“We were kind of on a little bit of a roll tonight,” he said, “and it was going to be hard for them to stop us.”

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Morrison’s Patrick Schaefer puts a lock on Dixon’s Channing Sarver in the 138 pound weight class in the Class 1A wrestling sectionals at Oregon. (Alex Paschal)