The Dillon Wildcats football team was recently ranked ninth nationally in the Maxpreps.com small school rankings.
The Wildcats have a 27-game winning streak in the regular season and have three players committed to Division I schools, with offensive linemen D.J. Park and Bryce King heading to the University of South Carolina and running back Jabo Lee committed to play for East Carolina.
Dillon is also led by head coach Jackie Hayes, who was recently inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame. Hayes made history in 2010 as the youngest coach in South Carolina history to reach 200 wins. With recent wins, his record is now 227-47.
The Wildcats are expected to dominate again this year with high hopes that they could claim another title this season.
The Maxpreps list considered small schools to be any school that plays in a state classification where the majority of the schools in the division are less than 1,000 students.
The number one spot in the ranking went to Curtis High School, which won the Class AA state title last year. Head coach John Curtis ranks second on the national all-time wins list with 506 wins.
Florida boasts three schools in the top six, all from Class AAA. American Heritage of Delray Beach, Florida ranked second and has one of the nation’s top running back recruits. They are the defending 3A champs with 11 returning starters. University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, ranked third, losing 31-20 to American Heritage last season. They returned 14 starters. Madison County, Florida, ranked sixth with 13 returning starters including guard Ira Denson who’s heading to Florida State.
Clairton, Pennsylvania, ranked fourth and has the longest active winning streak in the nation. They’ve won the last 47 games in a row, including three consecutive state titles, and outscored their opponents 705-78 last season.
Bishop Leuhrs of Fort Wayne, Indiana, ranked fifth with a 13-1 record last season and 13 returning starters, including Notre Dame-bound Jaylon Smith. Refugio, Texas, was seventh, with a 15-0 record last season. The Bobcats led the nation in scoring last season with 891 points quarterback Travis Quintanilla will be returning after throwing for 3,944 yards and 53 touchdowns in his sophomore year.
Coldwater, Ohio, took eighth, with 14 returning starters, including quarterback Austin Bruns who threw for 3,242 yards and 29 touchdowns last season. Christian Academy of Knoxville rounded out the top 10. The defending 3A champs have 15 returning players.
