Rockford Lutheran to challenge undefeated Dixon in our “Overtime” game of the we

DIXON, Ill. (WTVO/WQRF) — The Dixon Dukes are one of the few remaining undefeated football teams in our area. They’ll likely face their biggest test of the season so far Friday night when the Lutheran Crusaders visit Dixon for a Big Northern battle in our “Overtime” game of the week.

The Dukes have been very impressive so far. They’ve outscored their first four opponents Stillman Valley, Oregon, Rock Falls and Genoa-Kingston by an average score of 48 to seven.

Head coach Jared Shaner says he’s tried to keep his guys focused on the little things. “For us and this team this year, what I’ve tried to instill, or we’ve tried to instill is it is not about beating your opponent. It’s about how close to perfect can I play? Do I know my assignment, my alignment, my technique, and then do I execute on very play?”

The Dukes have excelled with senior Cullen Shaner taking over at quarterback this season and he has some excellent receivers in Eli Davidson and Tyson Dambman. Davidson also leads the defense.

“The goal on offense is put the ball in the end zone and defense is to get them off the field,” said Davidson. “We want our offense to be on the field as much as possible, and we want the defense to be off the field no matter who we’re playing.”

This week the Dukes are playing the Crusaders. The only blemish on the Crusaders’ record so far is a week two loss at Byron 49-18. Even in that game the Saders came away encouraged.

“I thought we did pretty well at different times during that game. I really do,” said Lutheran head coach Jeff Luedke. “We scored 18 points. That’s as many points as anybody’s put on them this year and maybe even last year too.”

The Crusaders’ offense has shown what it can do through this first month of the season putting big points on the board against Winnebago, Stillman and Rock Falls. Running back Gavin Sanders and receiver David Ballard have led the way with their quick-strike ability.
Getting a win on the road over an outstanding Dixon team would be huge for them.

“It’s a big game for us because I think we have a really good opportunity as a team,” said Sanders. “We have a lot of seniors. We just have to get going early because we started, I feel like a couple of the games this year we started off very slow.”

“The last two years we haven’t beaten them,” said Luedke. “We had them down 19-16 two years ago, and they came back and beat us. Then last year they just killed us. We know that they have a lot of firepower, and they’ve got a very good defense.”

For highlights of this game and many others around the Rockford area, tune in to “Overtime” Friday night on Fox 39 immediately following the Big Ten college football game on Fox between Washington and Rutgers. That game begins at 7 p.m.

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