Dixon Youth Football, Cheer Play Hard in Ukiah Season Opener

Special to Dixon Patch

The Dixon Youth Football Teams kicked off their North Bay Youth Football Season with a road trip 150 miles North to take on the Ukiah Lions on Saturday, Aug. 20.

The first game of the day saw the Mitey Mites beat Ukiah 33 to 0.  The Rams got off to a fast start on offense and scored on their first series with a TD run by Carson Spradling.

“The offense looked really good today” offered Coach D.

The little Rams had a total of 347 yards on offense behind the blocking of Brett Braun, Edward Rollins, Xavier Romo, Chris Tibbett, Josh Giardino, Daniel Cannon, Dominic Lepenske, Marcus Gelpi and Luke Dahlin.

“Our offensive line works really hard during the week at practice and it shows on Saturdays,” Coach Eric said. “I think we could beat anybody with this blocking.”

Micah Scott-Kelly scored three TD’s and an extra point, while Carson Scored two TD’s and had a two-point conversion pass thrown by Charlie Bernhardt.  Hayden Rogers had a few carries and made some great blocks to spring his running backs for TD’s.

“We know Ukiah is one of the toughest Mitey Mite Teams in the NBYFC and last year they put us into scrimmage in the first half. We were coming up here to gauge how we are going to stand up against the rest of the league and I think we looked ok but we still have a lot to improve on,” added Coach Clay.

The Rams’ defense was outstanding only allowing 100 yards to the Ukiah offense with 50 yards coming on one run.

“The Defensive line played incredible on Saturday. They handled the Ukiah line and also took on their blocking backs. This left our LB’s to roam free and make a lot of tackles,” said Coach Justin.

The Defensive line headed up by Noah Clay, Noey Castro, Earic Hall, Medhanae Haile, Cameron Broussard, Daven Cannon, King Saffring and Jackson Young was just too dominating for the Lions. Coach Tyler’s linebackers just refused to let the young Lions get to the outside.

“Jacob Kinney made a perfect tackle to end the half. It was the kind of tackle you make instructional videos of,” said Coach Tyler.

Rigo Jimenez led the team in tackles from the Middle Linebackers spot, but was followed real close by Sean Edwards who had a break out game. Jalen Wabaunsee, Jacob Albrecht and Josh Zemacnik rounded out a great group of backers for the Mitey Mite Rams.

Next up was the Jr. Pee Wees, who fought hard all game but fell short 14 to 6 in overtime. The Lions scored in the first half with a short run around the end gaining six points but was denied the extra point by the Rams. Within a few plays the Rams defense forced a fumble in the Lion's end zone and recovered the ball for six points.

The extra point was no good and the game went into half time with the score 6 to 6. Both teams battled out the second half scoreless. In overtime the Lions scored and the Rams fell a yard short of answering back.  The third game of the day saw the Pee Wees come out strong with a 54-yard pass from Mitch Moniz to Mylan Dickerson on the very first play to score a touchdown and go up 6-0 against the Ukiah Lions.

The Rams went on to win the game 38 – 20. Moniz threw for a total of 145 yards and two touchdowns.  When Moniz was hurt in the fourth quarter and forced to sit out, Kyle McMullen didn’t miss a beat, throwing for 21 yards including a 14-yard touchdown pass to Jesse Camarillo.

Camarillo rushed for 118 yards on 10 carries and two touchdowns. Camarillo also caught two passes for a total of 62 yards and two more touchdowns. Spencer Webb rushed for a total of 21 yards, including a conversion while McMullen caught a pass from Moniz for eight yards.

Jake Giardino rushed for 115 yards with 12 carries, including a 34-yard touchdown. Giardino also caught two passes for 11 yards including a conversion. The offensive line did an excellent job blocking led by Jerick Maghoney at center, guards Michael Barnhill, George Fountain, and tackles Terry Bruce, Anthony Soucy, and Mace Moreno. The defense played a very good game giving up three TD’s, two coming on miscommunications.

The defense fought very hard, all game, stopping Ukiah on fourth down several times.

The Rams forced one fumble, in which they recovered and ended the game with an interception. The Jr. Midgets were up next and in fine fashion put the Ukiah Lions into scrimmage 30 to 0 at half time.  The offense scored often in the first quarter.

Bryce Nakamura had an outstanding game scoring three touchdowns from 30, 40, and 50 yards out. Alex Cole got into the action with a nice 30-yard touchdown while Aaron Cruz made three out of the four PATs, Ukiah blocked one.

The offensive line has worked very hard and it showed, led by center Jake Arnold, Cameron Bibby, Xavier Wabaunsee, Dylan Anderson, Aaron Cruz, KC Holtemann, Max Gorham, Andrew Rivera and Jorge Jimenez. They pushed hard and made some good holes for the backs to run wild.

Ben Nefzger did a great job controlling the game at QB. Ukiah’s power running game never got started as the Dixon defense hit hard and fast.  Joey Baker, Austin Coyle, Joe Jimenez, George Raymond and Bibby all did a good job.

The linebackers Jorge Jimenez, Alex Cole, Max Gorham and Cameron Garlick hit hard all day. Cornerbacks KC Holtemann, Bryce Nakamura, Dominic Castelli and Joey Jurardo kept Ukiah Lions out of the end zone.

"It was a good team effort", said Head Coach Holtemann.

The Dixon Ram Midget Football team capped off a great day of Ram football by dominating the Ukiah Lions 25- 6. Ukiah won the coin toss and elected to receive, giving the Ram’s defense the opportunity to set the tone for the rest of the game.

Ukiah’s opening offensive series went four and out with -8 yards of offense.  Ram D came out and punched them right in the mouth with a crushing hit by DE Antwone Whitley that knocked Ukiah RB for a -3 yard loss.    Rams D swarmed Ukiah the next three downs putting Ram O in great field position for their opening offensive series, which Dixon took full advantage of in 5 plays with a Rams Touchdown.

Wing Back Armani Jones took an inside counter 21 yards for a TD. Rams D caused two turnovers giving the ball back to the Rams high powered running game with wing backs Nate Short and Armani Jones leading the way to two more Ram TD’s.

The defense held Ukiah’s offense to one first down and 15 yards of total offense in the first half. Dixon took an 18-0 lead at the half.  Start of the second half saw the Rams offense get put in a hole by penalties then turn the ball over with an interception deep into Rams territory.

Ukiah’s offense showed some life and in four plays they scored Ukiah’s first and only TD of the day. The Lion’s gleam of hope for a comeback was short-lived with the Rams running game chewing up the clock the next 12 plays in a row before turning the ball over on downs, because a horrible spot by the ref’s (which would have given Dixon a first down in Lion territory).

With the 4th quarter well under way the Lions started airing it out testing Dixon’s DB’s.  But Defensive Backs Christian Ceja, Stephen Gelphi, and Ebay Ceja were up for the challenge forcing Ukiah’s QB to throw into traffic. When they were intercepted (by Outside linebacker Armani Jones) this would put the nail in the coffin, because Ram’s O came out and ran three plays. On the third play Nate Short went 47 yards on a beautiful run for a TD.

“I am proud of these young men.  To open the season on the road, 2.5 hrs from home, against a tough team like Ukiah is not easy. But this football team came to play from the coin toss to the final kneel down. All 20 of these players put on a clinic showing what Ram Pride is all about. Now its all about Windsor next week at home," said Head Coach Jason Chadwick of their season opener.

Game Stats for the Midgets: Rams Offense:

Passing Nate Short -   1 of 2 for 15yds and 1 interception.

Rushing: Nate Short 19 rush/185.5 yds / 9.8avg/2 td’s / 0 TO’S. Armani Jones 15 rush/112yds/7.5avg/2 td / 1 extra point/0 T.O. Micah Gomez 4 rush / 16yds/ 4avg.

Total rushing: 40RUSH/315.5YDS/7.9AVG/4TD’S /1 FUM

Passing:  1 of 2 /15yds/1 int.

Total Team offense: 42plays /330.5yds /25pts

Total Team Defense :   84 yards allowed/3 take aways /4 forced fumble/1int   2 first downs allowed.

The Rams have their season home opener against the Windsor Knights this Saturday, August 27th at the Old Dixon High School with games starting at 9 a.m.