The high school football team has been competing for the title of best football program in the nation.
A poll online at contest.usatodayhss.com has allowed people to vote for their school in hopes of winning $1,000 toward their athletic program.
According to USA Today, the athletic department of the winning school with receive $1,000. Second place will win $500 and third place will receive $250. The top 10 finalists will receive a banner for their school.
“It’s a great way to help get the school and players name recognition. It also helps to show the amount of pride this community has for DHS,” said Athletic Director Russell Baldwin.
Derby was one of five schools in Kansas to be selected to compete in this competition and the only Kansas school to make it all the way to the final round.
The final results are in, and the Panther football team placed third nationally with 192,063 votes in the round.
The second place team was the Randolph Cardinals from Randolph New York with 235,817 votes, and in first place the Ocean Lake Dolphins of Virginia Beach, Va., with 247,097 votes.
The Panthers finished regular season play 8-1 with the only loss being to Maize on Sept. 7. They finished the season with a post season record of 1-1 with an overall record of 9-2.
The team’s overall rank in Kansas was 14th at the end of the 2014 season, and the national rank was 1,020th according to Maxpreps.
-Brad Brightwell
