Dutch Fork’s reign as South Carolina’s gold standard continued Saturday as the Silver Foxes won their 10th state championship in program history. 

With a 40-20 win over Summerville in the 5A Division I state championship, Dutch Fork head coach Tom Knotts tied legendary Summerville coach John McKissick and Woodruff’s Willie Varner for the most championships in state history, with 10. 

“That’s special,” Knotts said after the game. “I'm honored to be in his company, but it's a tribute to the players and the administration and everybody that I have.” 

Knotts has now won 17 state championships across North and South Carolina. He is one of only a handful of coaches in the country ever to reach that number.

While the final scoreboard shows a big Dutch Fork win, Summerville put up a strong fight early. The Green Wave clawed back from a 14-0 deficit and tied the game early in the third quarter. 

Two interceptions by K.J. Dupree jump-started the Silver Foxes' offense, setting up the first two touchdown drives. Turnovers have fueled Dutch Fork throughout the playoffs, and the championship game was no different.

“Came across the field, made something happen. I got the yards and my offense came back and scored,” Dupree said. “Watching film a lot, I knew they do that glimpse route a lot, so I knew it was going to come at some time in the game, and when I saw it, I was like it’s time to go make a play on the ball, and I did.”

Quarterback Jaxon Knotts delivers two touchdown strikes to put the Silver Foxes up early. The first was a 33-yard bomb to Kye Fulton. Then after the second pick, Jaxon found Wyatt Warner on fourth-and-11 for a 25-yard score. 

Jaxon, coach Knotts’s son, finished with 223 total yards and had four touchdowns, three passing and one rushing. It was his first season as the team’s starter and made championship 17 extra memorable for the father-son duo. 

“That makes it special, but right now, I’ve got 75 sons over there,” coach Knotts said. “ I'm a year-to-year guy. They're all special. Every Friday night is special.” 

Jaxon’s only blemish in the game came in the third quarter when he fumbled the ball after a strip sack. Summerville scooped up the fumble and returned it 43 yards to the endzone to tie the game at 14. 

Dutch Fork retook the lead a few drives later after Jaxon faked a pitch and then flipped the ball over to Braydon Johnson for a 27-yard touchdown. The PAT missed, but the Silver Foxes were back up and entered the fourth quarter with a 20-14 advantage. 

Instead of continuing the dog fight that occurred in the first three quarters, the wheels fell off for Summerville as Dutch Fork scored 20 unanswered points in the final quarter to seal the deal. 

Jaxon scored a one-yard rushing touchdown on Dutch Fork’s first drive of the quarter to go up 26-14. The two-point attempt to go up 14 was no good, but it was still a two-possession game. 

Julian Walker continued his big week, scoring Dutch Fork’s only defensive touchdown on the following Summerville drive. Walker ran the ball 19 yards to go with 3.5 sacks in the game. It was his first career touchdown.

The championship game was played just a few days after Walker flipped his college commitment from Michigan to South Carolina to play for Shane Beamer and the Gamecocks. He is a four-star prospect and a consensus top-100 prospect nationwide. 

“ I was a little bit worried about him because he was so distracted. [North Carolina coach Bill Belichick] kept him on the phone for an hour, throwing money at him. It was just crazy, and he was so stressed out,” Knotts said. “Finally, after he announced it, he felt like the weight of the world was off his shoulder, and he did turn his attention to this.” 

A rollercoaster week of emotions ended with nothing but smiles and cheers as Walker capped his Dutch Fork career with another championship.

“ We were trying to kill. They were trying to gain momentum, and we were trying to stop it, and that's what we did,” Walker said. “ I had the first touchdown I've ever had in my life, so I made sure that I got it. That was a special moment.”

Dutch Fork’s final touchdown came with three minutes to go and was the final nail in Summerville’s coffin. Kyle Henry punched it in from a few yards out as Dutch Fork’s lead grew to 26. 

Summerville scored one more garbage-time touchdown to make it look a bit better, but the Green Wave were completely outclassed in the final quarter. 

“We just played a bit more sound defense than we were,” Knotts said. “We had to shut down the run.”

Dutch Fork finishes the season (12-1) overall, with its lone loss coming against 3A champion Oceanside back in week four. The team captured its ninth title in 10 seasons and 10th since winning its first in 2013. 

For the group of Dutch Fork seniors who played their last game, they went out securing their fourth championship, never knowing what it's like to fall short of a title. 

“ There's not many people in the country that have done that at any level,” Knotts said. “ It's a special group, and there are 40 of them. So, that's pretty much unheard of.”