Final · 5A Playoffs · Round 1 · Game 11, 2026
Fort Mill Ends a 28-Year Wait
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Fort Mill ended a 28-year wait for a playoff win Friday night, beating Lexington 58-21 at Bob Jones Stadium in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs. In its first home playoff game since 2014, head coach Rob McNeely’s Jackets led 35-7 at halftime and cruised from there. The rain had moved out that morning, it was 62 degrees at kickoff and dropping toward 59, and the stands were mostly in black for the blackout game.
Fort Mill won the toss and deferred, and the defense set the tone. Keegan Heisler intercepted a pass on Lexington’s third play, and three plays later Harper Love hit Nate Gerhart for a touchdown. Lexington tied it at 7-7 after a sack-fumble gave it the ball inside the five, but the Jackets pulled away.
Love found Broden Mitcheson on a 36-yard touchdown pass out of the backfield, Mason Burt intercepted a pass and returned it to the Lexington 9, and Mitcheson ran it in from there to make it 21-7.
Another touchdown pass, this one to Kieran McCormack, made it 28-7, and on 4th and 1 the quarterback dropped the snap, picked it up, and found a wide-open Jerrell Douglas for a 35-7 lead at the half.
Lexington opened the second half with a surprise onside kick that went out of bounds, and Fort Mill took over at midfield. Mitcheson ran down the left side to set up first and goal, and Noah Hardy kicked a field goal to make it 38-7. Chase Fitzgerald intercepted a pass on Lexington’s next possession, and Mitcheson capped the next drive with a stiff-arm and a touchdown run to make it 45-7.
Lexington scored twice in the fourth quarter, once on a long drive that made it 45-14 and again on a 45-yard run by #10 that made it 51-21. In between and after, Fort Mill went the other way on the ground. With backup Brody Ranucci at quarterback, Aiden Ohara scored both of the Jackets’ final touchdowns on runs, 51-14 and 58-21, the last with 1:45 left. A handful of coaches got the water bucket afterward.
Fort Mill (9-2) travels to No. 2 seed Dutch Fork next Friday in the second round.
This win has been a long time coming. From 2018 through 2024 Fort Mill went 7-58, according to MaxPreps, including a school-record 18-game losing streak that ended in 2023. This season the Jackets have won nine games, more than they won in the six seasons from 2019 through 2024 combined, and Friday’s win was their first in the playoffs since 1998.
Every photo from the game, in order,
