By MONTE DUTTON

Friday night K.C. Hanna Stadium is going to be packed. It will be almost impossible for anyone not in position to count the tickets sold and revenues raised to determine because there will be so many fans standing around the fences.

This game is why I walk the sidelines. Five years ago, I’d take enough photos to do me and head for the press box. Now I feel the game’s pulse on the sidelines. I’ll start out on the Laurens sideline because the sun sets behind the end of the home stands, and the lighting is better. Then I’ll wander over to the Clinton sideline because the stadium lights will take over, and photos will look a bit better with home stands in the background.

I have many memories of playing, watching and writing about the games. I’ve seen it more times than any other, more than Furman-Citadel, Clemson-Carolina and PC-Newberry (remember that?) combined.

The first time I experienced this sensation was the one time I covered The Masters. I remember writing, 42 years ago, that, walking the course, it was like being surrounded by high-school football stadiums because occasional roars went up from all directions. The course of the game can be discerned with eyes closed by the intensity of the roars and from which direction. A touchdown roar is louder than a first-down roar. A long play has a long roar that rises and falls in intensity as it takes its course. Next is the revelry surrounding the fight song. It’s a little more coarse than the old “rah-rah, sis-boom-bah!”

I wouldn’t be surprised nowadays if a preacher hollered “hell, yeah!” It’s why we ask forgiveness in our nightly prayers. Back in the 1950s, my mother and father knew a set of slightly off-color words to the Clinton fight song, sung to the Red Devils’ Notre Dame Victory March tune. Words would be a bit more difficult when applied to the Raiders’ Ohio State mimicry.

As best I can figure, hampered by the two decades chasing stock cars, Clinton leads the series, 61-32-2. The teams are 9-9 in the last 18. It’s the way many rivalries run. Clemson leads South Carolina, Texas leads Texas A&M, Alabama leads Auburn, and Furman leads The Citadel by roughly the same percentage.

Many teams have short-term rivalries. Clinton has a short-term rivalry going on versus Chapman. The Red Devils have long-term rivalries with Laurens, Woodruff, Newberry and Union County. Laurens, for now, has stopped playing Greenwood but still has a long-running current series going against Hillcrest.

This is in-county, matching teams, players and fans that know each other.

The Raiders have their backs to the wall against the devilish intruders, who have won the past two games and dominated last year’s matchup. Last week head coach Daryl Smith said he wouldn’t have to worry about his team being ready. A Clinton victory is expected, which would make a Laurens upset doubly sweet. It would cause immediate amnesia regarding the Hillcrest debacle last week. Laurens is fed up with losing. Clinton is accustomed to winning.

It was different five years ago, and it may be different five years from now.

“The names and numbers change, but it’s like a rolling stone. Go out there, boys, and win one of your own.”

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