Mendota’s Edwin Angulo is hit by Dixon’s Nolan Randick while Christian Stephenitch of the Dukes moves in for assistance on Sept. 21 at the MHS field. (Reporter photo)

MENDOTA – When a football team doesn’t gain as many yards in a game as the field is long, it usually spells real trouble. Such was the case for Mendota on Homecoming night against Dixon.

As has been the norm for the first four games of the season, the Trojans just could not put together a long, sustained drive. The result was another lopsided loss, this time 36-7 to the Dukes in a Big Northern Conference contest on Sept. 21 at the MHS field.

Mendota dropped to 0-5 overall and in league play, while Dixon improved to 3-2 overall and in the BNC.

It’s not that Mendota didn’t have its chances on offense. The Trojans ran 60 offensive plays, 10 more than Dixon. But the total yardage comparison was incomparable. Mendota picked up a meager 73 yards for an average of 1.2 yards per play. In Dixon’s 50 plays from scrimmage, it accumulated 291 yards.

The Dukes did a bulk of their damage in the first quarter. A total of 168 of their 291 yards came in the opening stanza, when they scored 23 points to put the game away early.

Mendota kicked off to open the contest, and just 53 seconds later, Dixon was on the board. Starting at their own 31, the Dukes needed only two plays to cover 69 yards. The second play was a 67-yard touchdown run by Tyler Christiansen. Brendan Boelter followed with the extra-point kick.

The Trojans stalled on their first offensive series and were forced to punt into a stiff north wind. That allowed Dixon to set up its second possession inside Mendota territory at the 39. It took the Dukes just three plays to cover that ground, culminated by a 23-yard touchdown pass from Jacob Shafer to Kade Callison. Boelter added the PAT kick to make it 14-0 with just over three minutes gone in the game.

On Mendota’s ensuing possession from deep inside its own territory, a bad snap from center pinned the Trojans back at the 2-yard line. On the next play, Mendota’s Gabe Guzman was tackled in the end zone for a safety to give Dixon a 16-0 lead.

The Dukes added one more score before the end of the opening stanza. They traveled 60 yards in seven plays, the finale being a 10-yard pass from Shafer to Nate Long. Boelter’s extra-point kick was good.

The second quarter was highlighted by turnovers as each team fumbled the ball away. Mendota did it twice, and the second one was costly as Dixon’s Alec Faley picked up a Guzman miscue and rambled 28 yards into the end zone with 30 seconds left in the first half. The Dukes failed on a two-point pass attempt and took a 29-0 lead to intermission.

Dixon’s offense had to drive into the wind to start the second half, and when the Trojan defense held on the Dukes’ first possession of the third quarter, a short 17-yard punt gave Mendota excellent field position at the Dixon 25-yard line. But the Trojans gained nary a yard in four plays and turned the ball back over to Dixon.

The Dukes wasted little time in getting back into the scoring column when a 39-yard TD pass from Shafer to Callison capped off a five-play, 75-yard drive. Boelter’s PAT kick split the uprights to make it 36-0.

Mendota was able to avoid the shutout when it took advantage of a Dixon turnover to tally its lone touchdown. Cole Stremlau pounced on a fumble at the Duke 15-yard line on the final play of the third quarter. Fifty-five seconds into the fourth frame, Edwin Angulo ran in from 8-yards out to get the Trojans on the board. Angulo also kicked the extra point.

Angulo accounted for nearly three-quarters of Mendota’s offense, gaining 54 yards rushing on 16 carries. Tyler Christiansen had 166 yards on the ground for Dixon, while Shafer threw for 135 yards.