When White Knoll head coach Nick Pelham took the job, he set out to build the program in Dutch Fork’s image. He served as the Dutch Fork defensive coordinator for five years under Tom Knotts and learned exactly how he would want to run a football program of his own one day. 

In year three at White Knoll, he led the Timberwolves to a  7-0 record and defeated his former boss at Dutch Fork 17-14 to put them in an excellent position to win the region. It was also White Knoll’s first win over Dutch Fork since 2009. 

“I actually gave him a thank you card before the game because he’s done so much for me in my career and my family,” Pelham said about Knotts. “I think he’s the greatest coach of any sport at any level. The way he’s able to motivate kids, the way he’s able to develop kids, the way he’s able to come up with game plans, he just does it all so well.”

The game certainly had its share of dramatics. Both defenses locked down the offenses for the entire first half and going into the last minute of the second quarter, White Knoll led by a small margin of 3-0.

The momentum of the game seemingly shifted when White Knoll quarterback Landon Sharpe hit Austin Cunningham with a pass in the end zone from 26 yards out to give White Knoll a 10-0 lead right before the break. The crowd at White Knoll was alive and ready to see the hard work of the three-year rebuild under Pelham result in what some would have thought unthinkable a few years ago: beating Dutch Fork.

But the Silver Foxes didn’t go gently. Maurice Anderson ran the second half kick-off back for a touchdown and before many fans were able to get to their seats after halftime, Dutch Fork got right back in it and cut the lead to 10-7.

White Knoll was forced to punt and Dutch Fork took control of the game once again with an eight yard touchdown pass from Jon Hunt (who returned to play from his injury he suffered in week zero against Colquitt County in Georgia) to Ron Di Pietro. After trailing 10-0 at the half, Dutch Fork was up 14-10 with 3:28 remaining in the third quarter.

The Timberwolves kept moving the chains once they got the ball back, eager to regain their lead. The drive took the rest of the third quarter and ended with them having the ball on the Dutch Fork 25. On the very first play of the fourth frame, Sharpe found running back Tiyon Fanning down the sideline for a touchdown to give White Knoll the 17-14 lead. 

On Dutch Fork’s next possession, they went three-and-out and gave White Knoll the ball back with a chance to make it a two-score game. 

Fanning was able to move the chains once but a fumble by White Knoll was recovered by Dutch Fork. Just like that, the Silver Foxes were granted another chance to tie the game or take the lead with 9:01 left to play.

The Silver Foxes thought they had the lead back but a 66-yard touchdown run was wiped off the board because of a holding penalty, a call that Knotts wasn’t at all too pleased about after the game.

When asked what explanation he got for the call, Knotts said he was told “assisting the runner”. 

“But, can they give me a number [of the player who committed the penalty], no. I’m sick of it. I’m just sick of it. It’s happened all year to us. We’re not playing well, but we don’t need the refs to help the other guys and that’s what’s going on,” Knotts added. 

Knotts was also not pleased with many of the other penalties Dutch Fork was called for, including a slew of offsides penalties. In total, the Silver Foxes were flagged 14 times.

“I don’t think you can clap and draw people offside. I think it’s illegal,” Knotts said. “I’m tired of getting screwed by the referees, and we’ve done it all year. You notice the only players coming out of the game for knees showing were our players. They had knees showing all night. It just breaks our rhythm and our spirit and they take points off the board for ‘assisting the runner’. Give me a break. Give me a freaking break. I’m sick of this crap,” Knotts said after the game. “And we’ve been screwed all year by referees and I’m sick of it. The high school league can do what they want. It’s ridiculous. But we didn’t play well enough to win and that’s an awesome football team. I just hope we get a chance to play them again.”

After the negated touchdown run, Hunt’s pass was intercepted by Caleb Geronomi. Once again, White Knoll had a chance to put the game away with a touchdown. 

However, they settled for a short field goal attempt. A successful attempt would give the Timberwolves a six-point advantage and force Dutch Fork to have to score a touchdown to beat them and eliminate the possibility of a game-tying field goal. However, the Silver Foxes blocked the kick and got the ball back down three with only 3:33 left.

A pass to Trent Lodge for 16 yards on third and 14 helped move the chains and get Dutch Fork closer to midfield. It felt certain that they would march into field goal range and at least get an opportunity to send the game to overtime. That never happened.

Dutch Fork fumbled the ball and it was recovered by Charles Plange with 1:51 left to play. After Jaiden Kimble picked up a first down, Dutch Fork could no longer stop the clock and the Timberwolves took a knee. The students stormed the field and the Timberwolves matched last season's win total and advanced to 2-0 in region play, signifying that they are legitimate region contenders and proved that Pelham has helped build the team to be able to contend.

What’s even more notable, is how White Knoll was able to finally beat Dutch Fork after the Silver Foxes defeated them 60-7 in Pelham’s first year and 52-0 last season. 

“First thing I said to our team afterwards was, ‘Remember the small senior classes we had our first two years here’, those were the guys in meetings after getting beat 60-0, 50-0 in games against Dutch Fork. For those seniors, we had to look in the eye and say ’Keep fighting because it’s gonna pay off at some point in time and probably for a group that’s not you’. You know how hard that is for a 17 year-old young man to just keep fighting and practicing and working and the pay-off isn’t going to be until next year or the next year after that? I wanted our guys now who are getting the benefits of the hard work over 900 days to make sure we have humility and say thank you to the first two senior classes that really led us to build a program and build the foundation to get us to this point,” Pelham said. 

For third year starters like Kimble, the turn-around resulting in a win over Dutch Fork was a direct result of the dedication to getting better despite the original undesirable circumstances. 

“It’s a wonderful feeling because we started at rock bottom,” Kimble said. “So something like this is insane to us, it’s a great feeling.”