Dixon High football honors JV player who died by suicide. ‘It was different, sad’

The two football coaches met an hour before kickoff in Solano County to share their grief.

They embraced again after a game that was originally scheduled for Friday night, canceled midweek, and then rescheduled for Saturday afternoon — capping a week of sorrow and uncertainty. Dixon High School coach Wes Besseghini and his longtime friend, Casa Roble coach Chris Horner, were so overcome with emotion that they trembled as they hugged.

Usually, these men meet with a swell of good cheer, comparing stories of player-and-team accomplishments. But this game and this setting were not the usual. There was a moment of silence before the national anthem for Isaac Arredondo, a 16-year old student and multi-sport athlete at Dixon. He took his life by suicide on Oct. 10 in his family home in town, a Dixon Police Department investigation revealed. (The Bee had previously withheld his name because of sensitivity regarding the circumstances but is naming him now because it is widely public and is being communicated openly.)

The Dixon Quarterback Club, a decades-long fundraising arm for the school, on Oct. 14 posted on its Facebook page a promotion for a vigil for Arredondo that included a smiling photo of the junior varsity football player. The JV team did not play Saturday.

Tuesday night’s vigil, originally planned for the football field, was moved indoors due to rain. The school gym overflowed with students, staff and community members. Many held candles.

Two days after Arredondo’s death, on Oct. 12, Dixon JV football players and cheerleaders gathered at Hall Park, near campus, to grieve together.

Grief and perseverance

Casa Roble won Saturday’s game, 42-14, but Dixon players competed with heart and resolve. In their effort, they found a form of victory. The school’s marching band was absent, having traveled to a previously scheduled competition in Santa Cruz. The cheerleaders and students who typically energize Friday home games stayed away, reflecting a collective sense of loss.

In a solemn post-game moment, both teams took a knee at midfield. Dixon senior linebacker Max Graef spoke in tribute.

“We’re here for Isaac,” Graef said.

Besseghini admitted before kickoff, “I’m really struggling with all of this.”

After the game, the 2003 Dixon High graduate expressed pride in how his hurt team held it together, and he expressed appreciation to coach Horner and Casa Roble’s team for being such good sportsmen.

“Our kids, our players, needed this game,” Besseghini told The Bee. “Our boys said that they needed to be on the field, to play. I can’t thank Casa Roble enough for being here, with there being a game, then not having a game to finally having a game.”

He paused.

“There’s no normal here right now,” he said. “There’s no playbook, no script for how to deal with emotions like this for our players and school. So we just play.”

Leadership and burden

Like any head coach of a high school football program, Besseghini bears the burden of leadership and stability. He’s expected to have answers. This time, he doesn’t.

His son, Wesley, is a junior starter on the Rams team, a receiver and good student. The aim for the football program is to keep the team together for the final two weeks of the regular season.

Horner, the Casa Roble coach, praised Besseghini’s strength. Horner can relate to the loss of a player. Last November, Horner used Casa Roble’s home football field in Orangevale to honor Julian Snyder, a senior football player who was killed in an automobile accident days after the end of the season.

“I feel for Wes and all of those kids,” Horner said. “Wes is a coach and a dad, and a teacher. He has all of those roles. He’s going through a whirlwind of emotions. I went through it last year with Julian, and it’s just so hard. I was able to just hide in the classroom or at home since our season was over. Wes can’t do that. He’s got a football team to run right now, and they need him. My heart just goes out to him and the team.”

To play or not to play

This game was cancelled at midweek as some players expressed concern if they were mentally fit for a tackle football game, in which players, if not alert, risk injury. Dixon players on Wednesday agreed to play the game, and the principals of the two schools — Angela Brown of Dixon and Tanya Baker of Casa Roble — spoke late Wednesday to sort out details. On Thursday morning, the game was back on.

“It was a hard call — do we play this game?” said Stefanie Switzer, Dixon’s public-address voice in the press box.

Switzer, a Dixon High alum, has a daughter, Kenadee, who is a freshman cheerleader and basketball player. She worried about the emotional toll on her daughter and other students.

“The kids have been here for each other, and they need each other,” Switzer said. “I’m glad we played in (Isaac’s) honor and memory. There was no hype for this game on campus this week. There was no run-out onto the field with music and a flag. It was different, sad.”

Dixon athletic director Brent Peterson added: “We had this game to support the kids, and of all the schools for us to play, this was the right one. Casa Roble is good people.”

The first daytime home game at Dixon since 1989 drew a modest crowd. Few fans wanted to talk about the trying week.

“In towns like this, where most all of us know every kid on campus, these things rarely happen — and it’s just incredibly sad,” said Lisa Jones, who said she has a nephew on the JV team and attended Saturday to support. “I just cannot imagine the heartache.”

‘That really hit me’

Scott Stacey is a fixture in a town known for its agricultural roots and recent urban sprawl. He has been a trusted figure on the Dixon High campus for five decades, first as a student and later as an assistant coach, a student mentor, a campus supervisor, a crossing-guard director or ticket taker for sporting events.

Stacey is so beloved here that he is in the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame, and the Dixon City Council recently put his name on a park bench to thank him for years of service.

Everyone knows “Scotty,” and no one has his finger on the pulse of the town quite like him.

“People in this town really care, and they rally, and they help each other,” Stacey said. “I’ve been here my entire life, and I was here when we had 2,500 people in town, and now we have nearly 20,000. People need to vent their hurt and emotions. A vigil helps. A football game helps. They needed a chance to cheer on their team, win or lose.”

The school brought in grief counselors throughout the week. Stacey noticed many students wearing photo badges of Arredondo.

“To see the young man’s smiling face with heavenly wings? Wow. That really hit me,” Stacey said.

Stacey remembered the good and the sad of Dixon High since the 1970s. He celebrates the good and is pained by the sad.

“We’ve had six student suicides in my 38 years working for the district here,” Stacey said. “They all hurt. But this school finds a way.

“You can grieve and hurt, but you have to move on, and this school and town always has.”

This story was originally published October 18, 2025 at 6:28 PM.