In the two years since Coach Malcolm Hilliard took over a .500 team at National Collegiate, the Panthers have progressed to a 12-0 mark, cracking The Post’s Top 20 for the first time this week.

The significant improvement is a result of several factors, Hilliard said, including the players’ growing familiarity with his system and all the work they’ve put in on their practice field, or as they call it: “Hell’s kitchen.”

“No lights,” Hilliard explained. “If we ain’t off the field by 5:30, 6 o’clock, practice is over. It’s pitch black out there, but we get it in and do what we got to do.”

The No. 18 Panthers have improved every year since their 2014 inaugural season, and as far as Hilliard is concerned, their rapid ascent is far from over. Saturday, they will face Theodore Roosevelt with the D.C. Class A state championship, and an undefeated season, on the line.

Hilliard expects to see the Rough Riders employ plenty of double-teams against his 6-foot-3 senior wideout Andre Ross Jr., who is a constant big play threat and a large target in the red zone. The Panthers, meanwhile, will try to neutralize Roosevelt’s biggest weapon on defense — 6-foot-3, 356-pound tackle Kareem Williams — by tiring him out.

“I’m going to make sure I make him chase,” Hilliard said. “He’s going to chase all day long.”