By Thomas Grant Jr.
It’s unchartered territory for Dutch Fork High School under head coach Tom Knotts.
Since arriving from North Carolina in 2010, he has orchestrated a football dynasty in Irmo. Along with seven state titles, he has guided the Silver Foxes to 13 consecutive region titles and zero losing seasons.
Those streaks are in jeopardy as Dutch Fork (2-5, 0-1) finds itself needing to run the table in its final three games. It starts with an early week game at 7 p.m. Thursday at Cecil Woolbright Field against Chapin.
Dutch Fork has won all 10 meetings against the Eagles. It also had a 13-game winning streak against White Knoll which was snapped in a 17-14 loss.
The loss also ended the Silver Foxes’ 32-game region winning streak. Ironically, the last loss occurred on October 13, 2015, against Ridge View.
Dutch Fork faces a Chapin team which is coming off a bye week. Like the Silver Foxes, the Eagles (5-2, 0-1) are coming off a region-opening loss to Lexington 22-14.
Head coach Justin Gentry believes his team is as “healthy as they’re going to be” after a 13-day break. The game was moved up a day out of concern of potential severe weather on Friday.
This year has seen Dutch Fork’s offense struggle. Its 23.2 points per game average this year is almost half of what was posted by last year’s state championship team.
“They’re always going to be well-coached and they’re going to be ready to play,” Gentry said.
The winner stays in the race for the Region 4-5A title as Gentry believes the champion will only have one region loss. White Knoll and Lexington are the lone unbeaten in region play and face each other Friday.
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