Game Notes: DIXIE STATE - PDF | TARLETON STATE
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OPENING KICK: After 469 days between snaps, the Dixie State Trailblazer football program will officially make is long-waited NCAA Division I FCS debut this Saturday afternoon with a road date at fellow FCS newcomer #22 Tarleton State (1-1). Kickoff is slated for 2 p.m. (CT), at Memorial Stadium (12,000) on the TSU campus in Stephenville, Texas.

DIXIE STATE VS. TARLETON STATE: Saturday's game at Tarleton will be the first-ever meeting between the Trailblazers and Texans on the gridiron. The two sides will also play again in DSU's spring season home opener on Saturday, March 13, inside Greater Zion Stadium at 7 p.m.

DIXIE STATE ON THE AIR: All Dixie State Division I home and away games this season will be broadcast live on ESPN Radio 97.7 FM, with Devin Dixon calling the play-by-play action and Andy Thompson providing color commentary. A live stream of the radio broadcast will be available at sportsradio977.com.
    Along with the radio coverage, both DSU home games this spring will be simulcast on KCEC-TV (TDS Cable Channel 22), with tape-delay rebroadcasts throughout the following week, and streamed live on Dixie State's YouTube channel (youtube.com/DixieStateAthletics).

HI, MY NAME IS ....: After 14 years as a competing member of the NCAA at the Division II level, Dixie State will officially kick off its D-I FCS era on Saturday at Tarleton.
    During their 14-year Division II era, the Trailblazers played to a 52-100 (.342) overall record, which included a combined 41-61 conference record in the GNAC (16-46; .258) and RMAC (25-15; .625) conferences.
    Dixie State posted winning records in three of its final D-II seasons, including a program best 8-3 mark (8-2 RMAC) last season Head Coach Paul Peterson's first season at the helm.

WE ARE INDEPENDENT...FOR NOW: Dixie State Athletics officially began its transition to NCAA Division I status this past July 1, with all sports except football joining the Western Athletic Conference. The transition also meant that the Trailblazer football program was going to begin its transition as one of three FCS independent programs in the country, joining Tarleton and Presbyterian University.
    However the WAC announced last month an expansion plan that would include the addition of five new member schools, all of which sponsor football. Among the new members are current Big Sky Conference member and soon-to-be a new in-state rival Southern Utah, and Abilene Christian, Lamar, Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin from the Southland Conference.
    The four Southland schools will join the WAC this upcoming July 1, while SUU will move over in July of 2022, thus rounding out a seven-team WAC FCS football league that begins play that fall.
    Fellow WAC member New Mexico State, which DSU plays this upcoming March 7 in El Paso, Texas, will remain an independent D-I FBS program and will not be included in the new WAC football league.

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME (SPRING) FOOTBALL?: Though the 2020 D-I FBS football season has come and gone, the National Football Foundation announced last month that more than 300 schools and 35 conferences in the FCS, D-II, D-III and NAIA levels are playing college football this spring.
    According to the NFF, Dixie State is one of more than 100 FCS programs which are putting on the helmets and pads for the 2021 spring season.

DIXIE STATE AGAINST D-I FCS OPPONENTS: Dixie State has played nine games against D-I FCS opponents over its 14 years as a D-II program (0-9), including eight games against current members of the Big Sky Conference, most recently at Idaho State in 2013 (L, 14-40; 9/7/13). DSU has also played road games Northern Arizona (2006), Montana State (2007, 2009), Weber State (2008), Southern Utah (2009, 2010) and Cal Poly (2009), and at current Pioneer Football League member San Diego in 2006, which was coached at the time by current Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh.

DIXIE STATE AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS: Saturday's game marks the third-straight season that the Trailblazers will have opened the season against a ranked opponent when they step on to the field at Tarleton (#22 in the latest Stat Perform FCS Top-25 poll) on Saturday.
    Last season, DSU kicked off the year at home against then D-II AFCA No. 9-ranked CSU-Pueblo (L, 7-36), which was one of two ranked teams the Blazers played last season. CSU-Pueblo was also ranked #14 in the AFCA D-II poll to begin the 2018 campaign when DSU faced them in Pueblo for that season opener.
    The Trailblazers are 2-17 all-time in match-ups against ranked opponents, with the last win coming on Nov. 3, 2018, in a 52-45 thriller at home against then-No. 6 Colorado School of Mines. DSU claimed its first win over a ranked opponent in a 38-31 victory at then-No. 23 Colorado Mesa in Grand Junction in 2016. 

ALL-TIME IN SEASON OPENERS: Dixie State is 2-12 all-time in season openers in its NCAA era. The Trailblazers' last season-opening win came at home in a 21-14 triumph over New Mexico Highlands on Sept. 1, 2016. DSU's last season-opening victory before that was a 37-28 home win over Adams State on Aug. 27, 2009.
    Saturday's game at Tarleton will mark the ninth time DSU has started a season on the road (0-8).

DIXIE STATE LANDS SEVEN ON PHIL STEELE PRESEASON ALL-INDY TEAM: Though its seems forever ago, July 24, 2020 to be exact, but Dixie State landed seven player on the annual Phil Steele 2020 Preseason FCS Independent Team.
    Four of the Blazers' seven selections are on the offensive side of the ball, highlighted by redshirt junior quarterback Kody Wilstead, who threw for 1,640 yards and 18 touchdowns in his DSU debut in 2019. Wilstead connected on 54.5 percent (103-189-7) of his throws, which included completing 18-of-29 passes for 341 yards and a school-record tying five touchdowns in Dixie State's 2019 season ending 35-10 home win over Adams State (11/16). That performance earned him Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors.
    Two of Wilstead's main targets made the list, including senior tight end Chase Hess and senior wide receiver Jalen Powell.
    Hess enjoyed a stellar junior campaign in 2019 that saw him haul in 23 catches for 354 yards and team-high tying seven touchdowns on his way to first team all-RMAC and D2CCA All-Super Region 4, and Don Hansen third team All-Super Region 4 accolades. Hess led all region tight ends in receptions, yards and TDs, and posted two 80-plus yard outings, highlighted by a 107-yard day with two scores vs. Black Hills State (10/5), and a three touchdown game and 83 yards on six catches vs. ASU (11/16).
    Meanwhile Powell is Dixie State's top-returning receiver after he finished second on the team in catches (44) and yards (557), and was tied for third on the club with five touchdowns. Powell, who earned 2019 all-RMAC honorable mention recognition, enjoyed a breakout day in Dixie State's home win over Colorado Mesa (W, 42-32; 11/2/19), during which he tied a career-high with eight catches for a career-best 127 yards and two TDs.
    Senior offensive lineman Nathen Aceves was also listed on the Phil Steele offensive team for 2020. Aceves started in 10 games and garnered second team all-RMAC accolades last season after he anchored a Trailblazer offensive line that helped Dixie State rack up over 5,000 yards of total offense (5,008 – 455.3 yards per game), which included 3,378 yards (307.1 ypg) through the air and another 1,630 yards (148.2 ypg) on the ground.  
    Dixie State redshirt junior defensive lineman Dylan Hendrickson was the Trailblazers' lone representative on the Steele defensive team. Hendrickson was an honorable mention all-RMAC pick in 2019 after he broke DSU's NCAA-era sack record with 10, which included a school-record 4.5 sacks and 13 total tackles in a 28-16 road victory at South Dakota Mines (9/28) that earned him RMAC Defensive Player of the Week honors. The junior-to-be finished with 38 total tackles, including 16 solos stops, and 11.5 tackles for loss.
    DSU also placed two more players on the special teams list in senior placekicker James Baird and redshirt senior quarterback/punter Keaton Mott. Baird broke two DSU single-season records for made kicks after he connected on 11-of-13 field goal and 42-of-45 point-after-touchdown attempts on his way to first team all-RMAC and third team Don Hansen all-Super Region 4 recognition.
    Mott, who opted out of the 2021 spring season, averaged 38.1 yards per punt (32 punts, 1,220) in 2019, which included three 50-plus yard boots and four punts downed inside the 20-yard line a season ago. The senior-to-be was also part of an effective 1-2 punch at quarterback last season as he passed for 1,274 yards and 10 touchdowns, while he connected on 54.2 percent (90-166-2) of his throws.

#AB3FOREVER: Just prior to the start of its first NCAA Division I fall camp, Dixie State Football announced that senior running back D'Arman Notoa was awarded the No. 3 jersey for the 2020 season.
    The awarding of the No. 3 jersey is the first of what will become an annual tradition honoring the memory of former Dixie State football player Abraham Reinhardt, who passed away unexpectedly on March 22, 2019. DSU Head Football Coach Paul Peterson noted that the No. 3 jersey would be awarded to a student-athlete who best exemplified Reinhardt's leadership, both on and off the field.
    "When we lost a great young man in Abraham [in 2019], we wanted to honor him and his legacy the best we possibly could," Coach Peterson said. "Abe was a perfect representative of our team culture which focuses on toughness, hard work, trust and accountability.
    "When we thought of a player to carry on his legacy and have the honor of wearing the number three, D'Arman was clearly the best candidate. We know D'Arman will continue to exemplify our team culture, carry on Abe's legacy and help propel us into becoming an elite D-1 football program."
    Notoa played in all 11 games in his first season at Dixie State in 2019, during which he rushed for 308 yards on 75 carries and three touchdowns. He also caught 16 passes out of the backfield for 124 yards with one more touchdown.

NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES: The Dixie State University football program was presented the Life Saving Medal Award last September by the DSU Department of Public Safety for its heroic efforts in the St. George community The award was presented to the team at Greater Zion Stadium by DSU Chief of Police/Director of Public Safety Blair Barfuss and several DSU Police officers.
    This past August 7, the Trailblazer program received national attention when several football players and coaches sprang into action to rescue a rappeler who was stranded in mid-air below the face of the "Dixie Rock" located on the Dixie Sugarloaf that overlooks the city. The entire team was at the Sugarloaf as part of an annual tradition prior to the start of fall preseason camp when the call for help came.
    Then two weeks later on the evening of Sunday, Aug. 23, two members of the team, along with two other fellow students, helped lift a vehicle off another Dixie State student who was trapped under water during a sudden flash flood as a result of a massive thunderstorm that hit the St. George area.
    "I am really proud of this team, we have some really good young men on this team," Coach Peterson said. "We are trying to establish a culture of positivity and to champion everything that we do. We definitely want to give back to our community.

SCOUTING TARLETON STATE: No. 22 Tarleton enters Saturday's game having already played two games of its eight-game 2021 spring schedule.
    The Texans opened the year with a tough 40-37 double overtime home loss to McNeese State on Feb. 13. However Tarleton bounced back in a big way with a convincing 43-17 "road" win last Sunday vs. New Mexico State in a game that was played in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas.
    Senior quarterback Cameron Burston, who found out he was starting vs. NMSU just hours before kick-off, threw for 252 yards, rushed for 79 yards, and had four total TDs (2 throw, two rush) in the win. Burston's efforts also earned him Stat Perform FCS National Offensive Player of the Week honors.
    Burston's favorite target on Sunday was junior WR Gabe Douglas, who caught seven balls for 190 yards and both passing touchdowns.  
    Tarleton's defense also had a day vs. NMSU, limiting the Aggies to 54 yards rushing and 241 total yards overall. The Texan defense also picked off three Aggie passes and collected two QB sacks. 

NEXT UP FOR THE BLAZERS: Dixie State will head back to the Lone Star State for a "road" date vs. New Mexico State on Sunday, March 7, in the Sun Bowl in El Paso. Kick off is slated for 3 p.m. (MT).