Dillon Football ranked 5th In AA After Starting ’26 Season 1-1
Dillon Wildcats sitting at 2-1 with a home game against Cheraw coming up.
By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
Dillon—After two games of the 2026 football season Dillon is ranked 5th in the latest HSSR AA rankings, after a first week loss to Camden (35-13) and a huge bounce back win over Myrtle Beach (50-24) in week two, the Wildcats are now preparing for a home game against Cheraw.
After the win over Myrtle Beach, head coach Kelvin Roller (53-11), who is starting his 6th season as the Wildcat head coach, told the HSSR, “The offensive line has played well in our first two games,” said Coach Roller. “As we prepare to play Cheraw, we must keep improving in everything. We are a long way from being where we want to be.
“Our quarterback (Nibras Harrison) is playing well for a sophomore and first year starter,” said Coach Roller. “He had a good game against Myrtle Beach, and our running back Noah Singletary had over 200 yards. We need for these two to keep playing like this every week.”
The offensive line has had to deal with some injuries. Senior left guard Darian Gibbons has been out with an injury along with guard Ryland Martin. Japhia Davis (5-10,270) is now starting at left guard for Dillon. The other four starters up-front include junior left tackle Jaylen Bacote (6-3, 245), sophomore right tackle Trey Copeland (6-1, 210), and junior right guard Lucas Butler along with junior center Nathan Rowell (5-11, 270).
Coming into the season, Coach Roller called linebacker Kelvion Manning (6-3, 185) and running back Noah Singletary, the top seniors returning to the team, while receivers JJ Campbell (5-9,155) and Zay Quan Carmichael were the top juniors. Quarterback Nibras Harrison is the team’s top sophomore starting the season.
Against Myrtle Beach. Harrison completed 9-of-13 passes for 182 yards and a touchdown.
His top receiving targets against the Seahawks were Campbell with six catches for130 yards while TE Ke’Shawn Ray and junior WR Malachi Graham added one catch each for 28 and 20 yards respectively.
The Wildcats, behind excellent blocking up-front, pounded out 336 rushing yards led by running back Noah Singletary who had 13 carries for 212 yards and a touchdown. Trayvon Brown rushed six times for 38 yards and Geno Lester added 29 yards and two touchdowns.
As a team Dillon had 518 total yards against Myrtle Beach on 64 plays.
Against Myrtle Beach, Harrison scored twice on runs of two and eight yards and he finished with 21 net yards. Lester scored twice on two-yard runs. Singletary scored on a 72-yard run in the second quarter. Ke’Shawn Ray hauled in a 28-yard scoring reception from Harrison late in the second quarter that gave Dillon a 37-10 lead at the half. Dillon’s final score of the game came on a two- yard run by Brown in the fourth period.
The Nasty Cats of defense limited the Seahawks to just 94 yards rushing. The top tacklers in game two were junior linebacker Malachi Nelson who had 12 total tackles including a sack and one TFL. Freshman SS prospect Aerion Chavis (6-1, 190) had seven total tackles. K Manning had six total tackles from his SS position.
Three other Nasty Cats had six tackles each versus Myrtle Beach and they were junior FS Geno Lester, senior MLB Ke’shawn Ray, and senior OLB Zhilmer McLaurin. Senior MLB Donovan Charles also had five total tackles.
The starting defensive unit coming into the season were junior NG Lucas Butler, DE Jaylen Bacote (6-3, 245), senior DE Jymeek Bridges, and senior DT/DT Levis Hatungimana (6-3, 200).
The linebackers are Ke’Shawn Ray, junior MLB Malachi Nelson, OLB AC Chavis, and OLB Kelvion Manning. Komari Allen, D’Rontae McClam, and JJ Campbell start at corner backs. Geno Lester plays at FS.
Jayden Lester handles place kicking and JJ Campbell is the punter for Dillon.
After two games Harrison has completed 15-of-27 passes for 232 yards and 1 TD. Campbell is the top WR with 8 catches for 147 yards. Ray has caught 28 yards in reception and one TD.
Singletary has been the work horse in the rushing game with 30 carries for 327 yards and two TD’s. T. Brown is next with 82 yards on 13 carries with one TD. Harrison has added 71 yards and three TD’s via the ground.
On defense the Nasty Cats are led on the tackle index by Nelson with 29 total tackles including one sack and two TFL. Ray is next with 15 total tackles, followed by Chavis with 13, Manning with 11, and Lester is at 10. Carmichael and Allen have one interception each.
Campbell has a 38.5 punting average on two punts with a long of 47.
