No. 1 Dutch Fork, No. 4 Irmo renew football rivalry. So why didn’t it happen sooner?
AJ Brand remembers well the last time Irmo and Dutch Fork played on a football field.
Brand, the Irmo quarterback, was a seventh-grader standing on the sidelines watching his father and Yellow Jackets head coach Aaron Brand go against the Silver Foxes on Sept. 6, 2019.
Quarterback Ty Olenchuck threw four touchdown passes, including one to current New York Giants receiver Jalin Hyatt, in Dutch Fork’s 47-7 win over Irmo.
Five years later, the two schools separated by just eight miles meet again in the most-anticipated game in the Midlands this season.
“Seeing our team go out and lose like that (2019) definitely puts a chip on my shoulder and makes us want to do something that hasn’t been done in a while here,” AJ Brand said this week. “Me and my teammates are ready. We are well prepared and we know how much is at stake for this game. It is just like any other game we prepare for. …. We are just ready.”
Both Class 5A teams enter the game unbeaten, with Dutch Fork (8-0) ranked No. 1 and Irmo (9-0) at No. 4. The winner earns the Region 4-5A championship. And in Dutch Fork’s case, a victory wraps up the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye in the Class 5A Division I Upper State playoffs.
Irmo also is guaranteed a first-round bye in the 5A Division II Lower State playoffs and could still be the No. 1 seed if they lose because of the strength of its RPI and likelihood there will be no other region champions in its part of the bracket.
Renewing the rivalry
Dutch Fork, which opened in 1992, played Irmo each season from 1996-2019 with the Yellow Jackets holding a 17-13 edge. So, why did the schools take a hiatus from playing each other a year after Aaron Brand took over at Irmo?
That is a question Dutch Fork coach Tom Knotts wanted to know. Knotts said he tried to keep Irmo on the schedule after the schools were placed in different classifications. He thought it wouldn’t be a problem, especially with the history between the two schools and with his prior relationship from coaching with Brand in North Carolina.
“I admit I was mad with him and probably one of the reasons I haven’t talked to him too much,” Knotts said. “I’m all about Dutch Fork, and I feel Dutch Fork and Irmo should be playing all along. I understand when you first get here you want to build a program and be careful who you schedule.
“... But being my buddy, I thought we would play every year, shake hands and have a cold beer afterwards and be done with it. But that didn’t work out and it crawled on me a little bit.”
Irmo had no choice to play Dutch Fork this year because of South Carolina High School League realignment. The Yellow Jackets moved up from Class 4A to 5A and are in the same region as the Silver Foxes for the first time since 2019.
Brand explained his decision on not wanting to play the Silver Foxes, citing lack of depth and saying they weren’t up to the caliber of a program like Dutch Fork when he took over. But five years later, Irmo has restored the winning ways of the 1980s and ‘90s.
The Yellow Jackets enter the game with a 21-game regular-season winning streak and are going for their second-straight unbeaten regular season.
“We just wanted to be on even ground. We’ve got 33 players who dress every Friday night so we didn’t have the depth,” Aaron Brand said. “We still don’t have the depth. But we have been asked to move to 5A and we have done a good job so far.”
Brand and Knotts history
While the two schools have a long history against each other, so do Brand and Knotts. Brand spent a decade on Knotts’ coaching staff at Charlotte Independence in North Carolina. Knotts built Independence into a powerhouse, winning six titles there and 109-game winning streak in the process.
Knotts reflected some on Brand’s time with him at Independence, recalling days where they would spend time studying football while Brand’s wife took AJ and Knotts’ son Jaxon to the movies and lunch during the summer.
“Me and AB would do football all day long if his wife would have stayed away with the kids,” Knotts said. “Those were good days and it was fun watching the kids grow up together. … He is a great coach, he does a lot of things well over there. My hat’s off to them.”
That kind of positive reinforcement is something Brand acknowledged he’s sought from Knotts since has been the coach at Irmo. But he knows Knotts, who he called the “ultimate football coach,” isn’t one to dish out a lot of superlatives.
“When I first got down here, I wanted him to call and say, ‘Hey, good job,’ but I know that isn’t in his makeup but that doesn’t mean he isn’t happy for what we are doing or me coming off that tree of his,” Brand said. “At first I wanted that acknowledgment and yearned for it. But once I realized that it wasn’t going to happen, I just kept it moving.”
Star power on both teams
Friday’s matchup will be filled with future college football players, led by AJ Brand and Irmo receiver Donovan Murph, and Dutch Fork linebacker Josh Smith and defensive back Elgin Sessions.
“This one has been marked on our calendar and marked on everyone’s calendar,” said Smith, who leads Dutch Fork in tackles and committed to South Carolina this week. “It is going to be a great game. Two pretty good teams with stars all around.”
Brand, a Virginia Tech commitment, has rewritten the Irmo record book during his four years on varsity (three as starting QB). He went over 10,000 total yards last week and accounted for eight touchdowns in the win over Chapin.
This year, Brand has thrown for 1,871 yards, rushed for 1,272 and has 37 total touchdowns.
“I have been in South Carolina 14 and a half years and I don’t think I have seen anyone that dynamic,” Knotts said of AJ Brand. “He is a competitor, great athlete, great move, jump cut, great stick in the ground. … He can run over you. He can run by you. He has got a great stiff-arm and he is accurate when he throws it. He is the total package. He does a lot of good things.”
Murph, a four-star prospect who is reclassifying into the Class of 2025, has been Brand’s top target this season. Sessions, a West Virginia commit, will likely draw the assignment of covering Murph. It will be the second time Sessions has covered a high-profile receiver this year. He held Ridge View WR and South Carolina commit Jordon Gidron to two catches for 34 yards in a 38-0 win.
Dutch Fork already has tied the school record for shutouts of the season (5) and has allowed just 31 points this year. The school record for least points allowed in a season is 94, set in 2020. The Silver Foxes played only 10 games that year in the COVID-shortened season.
“We’ve got a lot of good players. They got a lot of fabulous players,” Knotts said. “Two undefeated teams in the small town of Irmo so we will see how it turns out. Nice to be here — it is going to be a playoff atmosphere.”
Game schedule, predictions
(Winner picks in bold face caps)
Thursday
Airport at SOUTH AIKEN
GILBERT at Aiken
Friday
Regular Season
American Leadership at SALUDA
BATESBURG-LEESVILLE at Strom Thurmond
GRAY COLLEGIATE at North Augusta
Irmo at DUTCH FORK
Mid-Carolina at FAIRFIELD CENTRAL
NEWBERRY at Silver Bluff
RIVER BLUFF at Lexington
Spring Valley at WEST FLORENCE
SUMTER at Ridge View
WHITE KNOLL at Chapin
SCISA Playoffs
Cardinal Newman at HAMMOND
BEN LIPPEN at Augusta Christian
Heathwood Hall at PORTER-GAUD
First Baptist at NORTHSIDE CHRISTIAN
Newberry Academy at RICHARD WINN
W.W. King at JEFFERSON DAVIS
Last Week: 19-3
This Season: 212-44
This story was originally published November 7, 2024 at 7:00 AM.
