Seasoned and hardened Dutch Fork poised for another state title defense
By WORTHY EVANS
HSSR Contributing Writer
Columbia - Since Tom Knotts took over as head coach of the Dutch Fork football team, the Silver Foxes have won eight state championships in 11 years.
For Knotts, who won seven state championships at two schools in North Carolina before coming to Irmo, every team is different, and every path to the end of the season requires different ways of thinking.
This year’s Silver Foxes (12-0) started working toward its ninth state title immediately after winning its eighth last year against Region 4-5A rival White Knoll. That year’s team started 2-5 before reeling off eight straight wins to finish the season.
Knotts has said or implied many times that the real intangible strength of this year’s Silver Foxes is in its 31 seniors. Those seniors, along with a host of junior starters, provide the strength of the team that was borne from that 2-5 stretch in 2023.
“It really humbled us,” senior defensive back and Georgia Tech commit Elgin Sessions said. “It made some people lead who needed to lead, and it made other people step up who we wanted to step up. We were in an uncomfortable situation and we learned to be comfortable in it.”
Added junior quarterback Ethan Offing, who split time with Jon Hunt under center last year, “Last year taught us adversity. We needed adversity to be successful at the end of the year, and by the playoffs we were ready after those losses. We knew what we had to do to win.”
Since that shaky start to 2023, Dutch Fork has stretched its winning streak to 20 games and looks to extend it with a victory in Friday’s 5A Division I state championship game against Summerville (13-0) at South Carolina State’s Oliver C. Dawson stadium.
After Tuesday’s practice, Knotts (177-28-1 at Dutch Fork, 473-88-1 in his career) said that his team has been preparing for Friday since the close of last season.
“We have been diligent. We have been grinding, and really it’s probably too much, but you’ve got to keep up with the Joneses,” Knotts said. “I’ve been doing this long enough to where I think I’ve got a good feel for the pulse of the team and what we need to do to have ourselves ready.”
Going back to when these seniors had risen out of a phenomenal junior-varsity team to reach the varsity level to help win the 2022 state championship, Knotts said that these seniors had a rude awakening in early 2023, and that’s what made them the power that the Silver Foxes have become.
“They’re pros at what they’re doing, but the flip side to that is, they know it all,” Knotts said. “It was more of a mental thing with these guys than the physical. They didn’t always bear down and get to do everything that I wanted them to do, but they have really progressed each week and gotten better and better and more and more mature as the season’s gone on, and I’ve been real pleased with that.”
Behind a front five that includes seniors Cayden McFadden at left tackle, Ky-Mani McLeish at left guard, and Josh Benson at right tackle, Offing has passed for 2,722 yards and 22 touchdowns to just four interceptions. His completion percentage is 67.9. He’s also rushed for 531 yards and eight touchdowns.
“I wish we had more time to play and learn a little bit more, but he’s grasped every concept we’ve got. He corrects me sometimes when I screw something up because a lot of our plays are a little bit wordy,” Knotts said. “He’s completed more than 66 percent of his passes, and that’s pretty much unheard of in high school. He’s accurate, he’s got a cannon, He can throw with touch, he can rip it, he can throw the long ball. He’s a complete package. His big thing is let’s get this game mastered, and let the offense work for you.”
Supporting Offing is senior running back Maurice Anderson, who has 1,032 yards and 19 touchdowns in addition to 38 catches for 490 and three touchdowns. Knotts said he possesses great finesse but can be physical when he needs to.
“Sometimes I want him to run over them, so as the game goes along they’ll say this guy’s powerful and strong, ’cause he is powerful and strong,” he said of Anderson, who has an offer to play for The Citadel. “You should see him in the weight room. We want him to use that Friday and then after we punish them a little bit he can use that athletic ability he’s got. He’s got a good jump cut, a good stiff arm, he’s got a good spin move.”
Senior wide receiver Boykin Bickley, who currently has 10 offers but has not yet made a commitment, is the top pass catcher on the team with 53 catches for 1,011 yards and seven touchdowns. Seniors K.J. Smith (48 catches, 615 yards, 9 TDs) and Jayden Westbrook (13 catches, 207 yards, one TD), and senior tight ends Boone Miller (8 catches, 84 yards) and Carlos Sexon (7 catches, 101 yards) round out the starting receivers.
Dutch Fork has shut out six teams this season and has outscored opponents 474-73. What gives that offense a huge lift is a defense that plays shut-down ball through four quarters. The Silver Foxes have never trailed opponents through 12 games.
Sessions leads the secondary with 36 tackles, three for loss. He has two interceptions, both of which he returned for touchdowns.
Linebackers Josh Smith, a senior and South Carolina commit, and junior Raleigh Salters, play havoc in the offensive backfield. Smith has a team-leading 91 tackles, 16 for loss, and nine sacks. Salters has 72 stops, 11 tackles for loss, three sacks, and two interceptions.
Senior Daniel Williams and junior Julian Walker are the starting defensive ends. Williams has 57 tackles and a team-high 26 tackles for loss, in addition to nine sacks. Walker, who has an offer from USC, has 44 stops, 16 for loss and nine sacks.
As a team, the Silver Foxes had 36 sacks,122 tackles for loss, and have allowed 2,374 yards over 12 games, a 197.8-yards per game average, which is small compared with Dutch Fork’s offensive yardage of 4,927 yards, or 410.6 yards per game.
“I’ve been fortunate to have great defensive coordinators and some great defensive teams,” Knotts said. “This one is special now. There’s a lot of older guys but there’s a good mix of young kids in there. I don’t know how to rank them. Certainly statistically wise they’re probably in the top three or four defenses that we’ve ever coached. It makes it easy a lot of times to call offense.”
Williams, a leader in a defense full of leaders and veterans, said that the key phrase for his side of the football is Attention to Detail.
“We like that phrase,” he said. “It starts on film, breaking down film, their tendencies on first down, second down, third down, what they like to do, their bread and butter, and we expand from there. When a lot of people buy in, you can do special things. Eleven people bought in and this is the result.”
