Dymally's David Wiltz voted SBLive's California Football Coach of the Week (9/9/2023)
Flash back to five years ago, and Dymally Challengers football didn't exist.
The program started in 2014, two years after the school was founded, and shut down before the 2018 season came around. Its initial four-year run showed early promise, following up its 2-7 debut season with a 3-7 record, sweep of the Metro League, and CIFLACS D3 playoff birth.
But in 2016 and 2017, Dymally reported a total of seven scheduled games, and all of them were in forfeit losses. By the time the program folded, it had a combined 5-21 record. And when it restarted in 2019 as an 8-man program, it went 0-10.
Enter David Wiltz, who took over in the spring of 2021 when California high school sports restarted in a state of pandemic-induced chaos. Despite the unfavorable circumstances, the Challengers returned to 11-man football and went 2-1.
And the rest is history.
In Wiltz' first full season as head coach, Dymally went unbeaten through the regular season, won its second Metro League title, and qualified for the LACS Division 1 playoffs, finishing 9-1.
In 2022, Dymally went 9-3, swept the Metro League again, and got its first ever playoff win, 30-14 over Gardena, to make the Division 1 quarterfinals. In their third league title run, the Challengers defeated five opponents by a combined 256-13.
Now, Dymally is 4-0 for the second time in three seasons, and for the first time ever, a projected Open Division playoff selection. The Challengers opened with a 26-10 over Compton, against whom they lost by 30 a year ago, beat another solid Southern Section foe in Ventura, and then rolled City Section opponents Taft (52-20) and South Gate (62-0).
After Dymally's Sept. 8 win over South Gate, fans voted Wiltz as SBLive's California Football Coach of the Week for Week 3, giving him nearly 47% of the votes. The Challengers recovered five fumbles and led 48-0 at halftime. Jermaine Whiten threw two touchdown passes to Tramonte Lowe, who also ran for a touchdown. And Bryant Collins ran for 75 yards and two touchdowns on just four carries.
In Week 4, Dymally took a bye week, so it'll be fully rested for what may be the biggest in program history in Week Five – perennial Open Division contender San Pedro.
Clovis North's Mike Jacot was second with 35.48-percent of votes after his Broncos routed Central Valley Christian 48-14 to become the top-ranked team in the Central Section. Jacot was nominated again, for the week of Sept. 14-16, after Clovis North stunned Trinity League powerhouse JSerra 23-7.
To nominate a coach in future weeks, please email Lance@scorebooklive.com or tag us on Twitter or Instagram at @SBLiveCA.
