Central’s Dixon reaches coaching milestone as sixth-ranked Panthers overwhelm Wolves

CAMP POINT, Ill. — Central football coach Brad Dixon preferred to deflect the post-game attention toward his team.

But, hey, a coach only wins his 100th game one time, and Friday night it was Dixon’s turn.

Central’s 46-0 victory over Pleasant Hill provided Dixon with that milestone, one that makes him just the 10th coach in West-Central Illinois and Northeast Missouri history to accomplish the feat. Dixon is the seventh Illinois area coach to reach the century mark.

“We’ve had a lot of kids buy into what we (try and do),” said Dixon, whose Panthers (2-0) are ranked sixth in Class 1A.

Dixon is 100-25 since taking over the Central Program in 2011. Dixon’s .800 winning percentage is second all-time in the area, trailing only Carthage’s legendary Jim Unruh (.850), who is also the region’s all-time victory leader at 256-45.

Dixon pointed to — and praised — longtime assistant coaches Casey Rhea and Kasey Monroe as integral figures in the ongoing success at the Camp Point school.

“They’ve been with me for every one of those seasons,” Dixon said.

Dixon lauded his entire staff as an extremely close-knit group that has helped provide the needed continuity to sustain the success that is now expected at Central. The Panthers program has not had a losing record since 2007. Dixon himself has been at Central 16 years, the first four as an assistant.

Dixon’s players have bought into the Central program, too.

“Coach likes to work with a lot of younger players,” said senior running back/defensive back Gavin Graves. “That helps build confidence in a lot of players.”

Graves said that kind of approach has created a lot of chemistry and a lot of faith “in one another.”

Dixon is also a strong believer in numbers, especially at running back. The Panthers had 12 guys carry the ball against Pleasant Hill, including Graves, who rushed for a team-high 98 yards on just five carries. He also scored two touchdowns, including a 55-yard burst on Central’s first play of the game. Graves later punctuated the Panthers’ scoring with a 5-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

Graves’ second score gave Central its 46-0 lead. The final 1 1/2 quarters were played with a running clock.

In the Panthers’ 34-0 victory over Carrollton in the season opener, nine different ball carriers were employed en route to piling up 292 yards on the ground. Against Pleasant Hill, Central rushed for 298 yards — that’s a monstrous 580 yards in two games. Seven different backs have scored for Central in its first two games.

Dixon said part of the reason for the cadre of ball carriers is to keep players fresh over the course of a long season.

“The depth is important, plus some of our guys have specific strengths for (specific plays),” Dixon said. “And we don’t want one guy having 330 carries by the end of the season.”

Two-way Panthers senior lineman Owen Roth says depth, not only at running back but other positions as well, is a key reason Central normally has “a lot of energy” late in the season when some of its opponents might be running on fumes.

“The depth has been great for us,” Roth said.

Those gaudy Central rushing numbers will likely get even better once a key component of the offensive line returns from injury. Cole Pracht, a 6-foot-3, 320-pound senior, is nursing an arm injury but should return at some point in the not-too-distant future.

Central’s other touchdowns against a Pleasant Hill defense that has now surrendered 100 points in its first two games were provided by senior Isaac Genenbacher and junior Drew Paben.

Genenbacher scored on a 20-yard run and a 41-yard interception return. Paben reached the end zone on bursts of 1 and 4 yards.

Blaine Miller’s 50 yards rushing and Carter Dolbeare’s 48 were the bright spots for Pleasant Hill.