By MONTE DUTTON

An overflow crowd, probably 5,000, rocked K.C. Hanna Stadium on Friday night. So did the Clinton Red Devils.

Elusive quarterback Tushawan Richardson and pad-popping linebacker Brett Young led the hit parade as Clinton pounded Laurens, 49-7.

In some aspects, the game precisely fit expectations. Clinton (2-0) scored 50 points in its first game, 49 in this one. Laurens (0-2) followed up nine points with seven.

“I think we improved from last week to this one,” said Red Devil head coach Corey Fountain. “We operated better on offense from the beginning of the game to the end. A lot of guys got playing time operated well. The backs blocked for one another. The offensive line blocked well.

“The defense did a heck of a job.”

Much, however, good and bad, was utterly unforeseen.

Clinton lost Jayden Robinson, who rushed for 1,125 yards a season ago, to a knee injury early in the game. The extent of his sprain will likely be known on Monday.

Laurens’ quarterback, Nick Danciu, dressed out for the second week in a row at LDHS’ stadium. A week earlier, he wore the uniform of the Hillcrest Rams. Danciu transferred to LDHS on Monday, got his eligibility approved by the S.C. High School League, and Nick Fowler moved to wide receiver, where he wanted to play anyway.

“[Fowler] is a selfless player,” Laurens head coach Daryl Smith said. “He was helping the team tremendously by playing quarterback because we just didn’t have a guy. Now he gets to play the position he loves.”

Danciu showed promise. How would you like to be introduced to an offense on Monday and run it on Friday night? Or, for that matter, a convenience store? An ornery Clinton defense made some hits on Danciu that left some marks. He scored the Raiders’ first offensive touchdown of the season – and set it up with a 67-yard gallop, right up the middle of a defense left suddenly vacant behind its line. But he hoisted 32 prayers into the heavens and had only 11 answered for a meager 109 yards.

Danciu netted 58 rushing yards – he lost 27 – and that was two more than the team.

Clinton was stout, dogged and as relentless as a Roman legion. Eleven carried the football. One, Kadon Crawford, scored the game’s first points by smoothly scooping up Kason Copeland’s fumble at the one and carrying it in. Crawford also secured all three of Richardson’s pass completions.

The junior signal caller didn’t need many. Richardson rambled loose for 118 net yards in a mere eight rushes, one for 43 yards and another for 20 and a score.

“We worked,” he said. “We worked on eliminating mistakes all during the week. The coaches preached it and preached it, we executed our offense, and we cleaned it up. I think we did it pretty good.”

Young intercepted a pass in the fourth quarter and, in his coach’s words, “was all over the field.”

“It means everything,” Young said. “You always love a shot to beat up on your rival. Everybody loves that. … It’s a physical game. It’s a man’s game. We had to bring it all night and never, ever back down.”

Clinton led, 28-7, at half, and made it 42-0 after three quarters. The Red Devils scored two touchdowns in each quarter until the fourth, when they scored one. They outrushed the Raiders, 369-56, and outgained them, 394-165, altogether.

Tempers flared on both sides. Clinton was obstinate and intent on domination. Laurens was frustrated because the game was big and both sides knew it. Clinton won for the third year in a row, pulled ahead 10-9 over the past two decades, and hiked its all-time series lead to 62-32-2.

“We’ve got to cut down on the unsportsmanlike,” Fountain said. “You’ve got to walk away. We’ve got to get that corrected, and that’s on me. I think we cut down on other penalties. Defensive penalties were pretty much in check.

“It was a ‘chippiness’ and a rivalry game. Our guys have just got to do a better job. I’ve got to do a better job of making sure they do a better job.”

The Raiders have been outscored, 104-16, in two games in their home stadium. That’ll frustrate a team.

Belton-Honea Path (1-0), which defeated Westside, visits Laurens next week.

Laurens, trudging tough early terrain, must walk before it can run, and probably run before it can win. Josh Goodwin caught five passes, and Rodrick Payne snagged three.

“I think we saw progress,” Smith said. “We’ve got to get consistent. We had some good plays, but we couldn’t string enough of them together again. I don’t think we took a step back.”

Clinton plays at Wilder Stadium for the first time, playing Newberry (1-0), idle Friday, for a big rasslin’ belt, also for the first time.

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