Boys soccer: Dixon rolls past Rockford Lutheran in BNC clash at home

DIXON – The shots were coming fast and furious, and Dixon still only had a one-goal lead to show for it.

But two goals in the final five minutes of the first half broke open the floodgates, and the Dukes scored three more times in the first 10 minutes of the second half Wednesday for a 6-0 Big Northern Conference victory over Rockford Lutheran at A.C. Bowers Field.

[ Photos of Dixon vs. Rockford Lutheran boys soccer ]

“We definitely played a lot looser after we scored those two goals right before halftime,” forward Jayvian Herwig said. “We just had to keep the energy up, because recently we’ve been struggling with that. We did that tonight.”

Logan Grett scored a hat trick, Herwig dished three assists, and four different Dukes scored goals in a dominating performance that saw Dixon (5-1-2, 4-1 BNC) control possession for about 95% of the game.

The first six shots for the Dukes were off the mark, but they started to lock in on target in the latter stages of the first half.

Grett started the scoring with 23:40 left in the first half, scoring off an assist from Quinn Flanagan. The second goal came 19 minutes later, and it was off of another Flanagan-to-Grett opportunity, as Grett took the pass on the back line to the right of the goal, dribbled past the Lutheran goalkeeper, then kicked it through another Crusader defender who fell on the ball after it got past the keeper.

“In the first half, I felt really good. I was getting good passes, I was applying really good pressure,” Grett said. “One of those was a little bit of luck because there were four guys in there on me, but I was able to finish well today.”

The Dukes pushed the margin to 3-0 with 1:13 left before halftime when Jack Redell scored on a breakaway off a pass ahead from Hayden Yingling.

“We felt more warmed up and we were getting in the groove there,” Grett said. “Then in the halftime talk, we realized we had to pick it up and keep it going. Ever since losing to Oregon last week, we know we can’t do that again, so we’ve been high pressure, high intensity, high everything, just attacking. We don’t want to lose like that again.”

Dixon picked right up where it left off to start the second half. Grett secured the hat trick when he converted Herwig’s direct kick into a header goal less than four minutes into the second half, then less than six minutes later, it was 5-0 after another Herwig assist.

On that play, Herwig ripped a header into the box from the left side, and it looked like it was going to find the net. Cameron Foulker made sure of it, just managing to deflect it into the goal with a header of his own.

“Personally I realized I wasn’t shooting well, so I just started distributing more, and it worked,” Herwig said. “Everybody was finishing well in the middle of the game. Cam’s goal off the header, that was crazy, a really good play with teamwork.”

Just 1:06 later, Herwig notched his third assist in a 10-minute span when he connected with Ethan Bond for the final goal with 29:44 to play.

“They were all marking Logan after his three goals, and it created so many openings,” Herwig said. “The third goal of the second half, Ethan was just standing there on the other side and I just played the pass on his feet and he had a good finish. That was an open goal because of Logan’s early goals. It created more open chances for other people.”

The Dukes peppered the Lutheran defense with 41 shots, including 19 on goal, while giving up just three shots (one on goal) to the Crusaders. Lutheran goalkeeper Tre Wasemiller made 13 saves.

Dixon emptied the bench in the final 10 minutes, and the starters loved every minute of their teammates getting the chance to show what they can do.

“That 6-0 lead is nice because we were able to get some of our guys who don’t start or play as much onto the field and get them some playing time,” Herwig said. “We were all celebrating them on the field, and it was just a fun day overall.”