Ten titles! Dutch Fork makes history with latest football state championship
Tom Knotts and the Dutch Fork football program continued their assault on the S.C. High School League record book.
The Silver Foxes captured their 10th state championship Saturday with a 40-20 win over Summerville in the Class 5A Division I championship at S.C. State’s Oliver C Dawson Stadium.
Knotts is now tied with former Summerville coach John McKissick and Woodruff’s Willie Varner for most state titles (10) in state history. As a program, Dutch Fork’s 10 state championships are tied for fifth all-time in state history with Woodruff.
Knotts also won seven state championships as a head coach in North Carolina.
“I have a lot of respect for Coach McKissick,” Knotts said. “I visited him a couple of times, learned a bit from him. I am honored to be in his company, but it is a tribute to the players, the administrators and everyone I have around me.”
All of Dutch Fork’s championships have come since 2013. This one was a special for Knotts for a different reason: His son Jaxon was the Silver Foxes’ starting quarterback this season.
Jaxon Knotts had a strong game Saturday after bouncing back from a third-quarter fumble. The junior finished with 223 total yards and accounted for four touchdowns.
Dutch Fork (13-1) won the championship despite losing one of its top players in senior linebacker Raleigh Salters, who fractured his forearm in the first half and didn’t return. Tom Knotts and the team used Salters’ injury as motivation .
“Let’s play for him now,” Knotts told his team in the huddle when Salters was being helped off the field.
The game was a rematch of last year’s state championship game won by Dutch Fork, 35-21.
And in a state championship weekend full of blowouts, this game was in doubt heading in the fourth quarter.
Down 14-7 at halftime, Summerville’s defense forced a fumble of Jaxon Knotts, and Jaiden Kelly-Murray returned it 43 yards to make it 14-14 early in the third quarter.
With the momentum in Summerville’s favor, the Silver Foxes took it back when Brayden Johnson scored on a 27-yard touchdown that put Dutch Fork up 20-14 with 1:27 left in the third quarter.
“The fumble was really close to shifting the game into their favor,” Jaxon Knotts said. “But everyone told me to keep my head up, and I told them that is not how I am going out. I am going out on top. And we came back, finished it off with a couple touchdowns.”
It was all Dutch Fork in the fourth quarter as its defense dominated and the Silver Foxes scored three times in a four-minute span to lead 40-14.
The Silver Foxes’ defense scored a touchdown. Jaden Wuerth forced a fumble of Summerville quarterback Max Stafford, and South Carolina signee Julian Walker picked it up and returned it 19 yards for a touchdown to make 33-14.
“My guy Jaden got to him, I saw the ball on the ground, picked it up and made sure I had some blockers and just reached out,” Walker said. “I was like, ‘I’ve got to score this.’ This was the first touchdown I have had in my life. That was a special moment for my first touchdown to be in a state championship game.”
The touchdown capped an eventful week for Walker, who began the week committed to Michigan before signing with the Gamecocks on Thursday. The senior defensive end finished with 3.5 sacks in Saturday’s game.
Wuerth also added 2.5 sacks as the Dutch Fork defense sacked Stafford eight times.
“The defense turned it on and did what they were supposed to do,” Tom Knotts said.
The Silver Foxes jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter after a pair of KJ Dupree interceptions.
Jaxon Knotts hit Kye Fulton on a 33-yard touchdown and then found Wyatt Warner on a 25-yard pass on fourth-and-11 to make it 14-0 with 1:35 in the first quarter.
Summerville (12-3) got on the board when Stafford hit Kelly-Murray on a 6-yard TD to cut the lead to 14-7 with 9:22 in the second quarter.
Jayven Williams led Summerville with 175 yards rushing.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st quarter
DF - Fulton 33 pass from Knotts (O’Leary kick), 8:36
DF - Warner 25 pass from Knotts (O’Leary kick), 1:35
2nd quarter
S - Kelly-Murray 6 pass from Stafford (Beaver kick), 9:22
3rd quarter
S - Kelly-Murray 43 fumble return (Beaver kick), 10:56
DF - Johnson 27 pass from Knotts (kick failed), 1:27
4th quarter
DF - Knotts 1 run (O’Leary kick), 7:00
DF - Walker 19 fumble return (O’Leary kick), 6:01
DF - Henry 1 run (O’Leary kick), 3:01
S - Williams 1 run (Pass failed), 1:07
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
PASSING - S: Stafford 11-22-2 127. DF: Knotts 12-15-0 110, Johnson 1-2-0 10.
RUSHING - S: Williams 22-175, Grayson 5-19. DF: Knotts 13-103, Wilson 7-24, Shine 3-17, Henry 2-6, Harley 1-4, Fulton 1-3
RECEIVING - S: Kelly-Murray 4-39, Pounds 2-30, Jackson 1-24, Davis 1-16, Gaskins 1-8, Burnett 1-6, Williams 1-4. DF: Johnson 4-23, Fulton 3-49, Shine 3-10, Warner 1-25, Knotts 1-10, Wilson 1-3.
This story was originally published December 6, 2025 at 11:52 PM.
