After coming off one of their best seasons in decades, Fort Mill Yellow Jackets football looks for continued improvement in the 2026 season.
Fort Mill finished 2025 at 5-6 with a first-round playoff loss to cross-town foe Catawba Ridge. This year, the offense is back under second year offensive coordinator Brett Story. They have key offensive weapons returning in running back Broden Mitcheson, the Jackets’ first 1,000-rusher last season in 20-years.
“You never have to worry about Broden’s work ethic,” said Fort Mill head football coach Rob McNeely. “Up front we lost three senior starter offensive linemen, but with the guys we got coming back to fill those positions, they have a lot of experience.”
Harper Love is slated as Fort Mill’s starting quarterback currently, but Brody Ranucci is also in the mix as well.
“Harper is taking the most reps with the first group, but he is getting pushed every day,” McNeely said. “We want there to be position competition. It is going to make both of them better and the team better.”
Coming back under Story’s system this year, Fort Mill is looking to put numbers on the board on offense this year.
“We are looking to take care of the football and score some points,” McNeely said. “Early on in the season we are much further along than last year. Defensively, we had a lot of guys with experience from last year.”
Guys out on the perimeter like Jameson Terrell and Jerell Douglas will help lead Fort Mill as well.
Another weapon that returns for Fort Mill, that gives them a leg up to an extent over the competition is kicker Noah Hardy. Hardy set school records last season for the longest field goal for Fort Mill, not just once, but twice with field goals of 53 and 54-yards. Hardy is listed as one of the top kickers in the state and just out of the top 30 in the country according to MaxPreps.
The Yellow Jackets will close out the pre-season at York in the Bill Pate White Rose Classic taking on Lake Wylie at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 14, before opening the regular season at home on Friday, Aug. 21 against Clover.
Fort Mill moves out of Region 3-5A and will be in Region 2-5A for the next two seasons after realignment. There will be some new region teams they aren’t used to playing often. The region will include old staples in Northwestern and Rock Hill, but the Jackets go with a Spartanburg County trio of Boiling Springs, Spartanburg High and Dorman.
The Jackets host Catawba Ridge and then travel to York, Nation Ford and Westwood in non-region action. They open their region schedule hosting Dorman, before heading to Spartanburg. The Jackets host Rock Hill and Northwestern before finishing the regular season at Boiling Springs.
2026 Fort Mill football schedule (*= region games)
Aug. 21 vs. Clover
Aug. 28 vs. Catawba Ridge
Sept. 4 Bye
Sept. 11 at York
Sept. 18 at Nation Ford
Sept. 25 at Westwood
Oct. 2 vs. Dorman*
Oct. 9 at Spartanburg*
Oct. 16 vs. Rock Hill*
Oct. 23 vs. Northwestern*
Oct. 30 at Boiling Springs*
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
