Football. It’s where we go. It’s what we watch on TV and listen to on the radio.

Clinton High (2-0) is trying to keep it going. Presbyterian College is getting started. Laurens High (0-2), Laurens Academy (0-2) and Thornwell (0-1) are trying to get it going.

They’re all over the map of Laurens County in more ways than one.

Clinton, ranked third in the Class 3A S.C. Media Poll, has outscored its opponents, 99-35. Laurens opponents have outscored the Raiders, 104-16. LA opponents have outpointed the Crusaders, 74-28. Thornwell is playing the same team in the same place after falling to Calhoun Falls Charter, 42-13, a week ago.

Presbyterian College is unlikely to put an end to a 10-game losing streak when it visits Murray (Ky.) State to open Steve Englehart’s second season. The Blue Hose suffered all last season with a Kevin Kelley hangover. Englehart has restored a vestige of normality to Blue Hose football. PC will be better, and only in small part because it can hardly do worse.

The Red Devils’ first home game is against Newberry (1-0), which received votes in the Class 2A poll. The Raiders’ third straight home game is against the seventh-ranked team in 3A, Belton-Honea Path (1-0).

Lest we forget, the season is young.

Newberry first played Clinton in 1920, back when the Red Devils weren’t yet the Red Devils and were hardly playing any football at all. In terms of anything approaching a season, this is Clinton’s 100^th anniversary. Clinton-Newberry rose to the occasion by putting up a gaudy belt and sponsoring a “Battle for the Belt,” which is to be awarded each season henceforth.

Clinton won last year’s game at Newberry, 34-20. Second-year head coach Cedrick Jeter opened his second season with a 47-20 victory over Union County. The Bulldogs were 4-8 but made the playoffs a year ago and won a first-round game over Batesburg-Leesville, 30-20, before bowing to the eventual 2A champion, Abbeville, by a score of 49-7.

BHP socked the Raiders, 48-20, a year ago. The Bears’ 10-2 season ended a year ago at the hands of Clinton, 28-13. Belton-Honea Path opened at home with a 43-28 victory over Westside.

Jolly Doolittle looks for his first victory at LA against Newberry Academy (1-1), which has never defeated the Crusaders in seven tries.

Charlie Washington seeks his first win in Thornwell’s first season since 2007.

Wins and losses even out in the grand scheme. All the teams in the United States combined win the same number they lose. It’s mathematical. At present, Laurens County is a combined 2-5, all by the Red Devils.

The Newberry-Clinton game is to be broadcast via WPCC (96.5 FM, 1410 AM) on Friday, followed on Saturday by “Saturday Morning Rewind” live from the Clinton Whiteford’s from 9-10:30 a.m. The BHP-Laurens game is on WLBG (104.1 FM, 860 AM). All four of the county’s high-school games begin at 7:30 p.m.

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