Todd Knight came to the Laurens County Touchdown Club on Thursday.

The winningest coach in Newberry College history is in his 15^th season and his Wolves just polished off Emory & Henry in a mere eight overtimes. Knight has taken Newberry to the NCAA Division II playoffs four times, with three South Atlantic Conference titles.

Knight stressed the importance of connections in coaching. With a photograph projected onto a screen, he recited details of long-term affiliations with each person in it.

The somewhat historic aspect of the meeting was the presence of delegations from Newberry College and Presbyterian College in the same room.

The Nearby Rivals Who Never Play were cordial. Knight stood across the sideline from Presbyterian’s Steve Englehart while the PC coach was at Florida Tech.

Newberry opened its season busing to Bridgeport, N.Y. Presbyterian has an open date Saturday in the aftermath of its 23-20 stunner over Wofford, but its next game is in Indianapolis, Ind. (Butler).

There they sit, 25 miles apart, islands separated by a sea of silly turbulence.

Later, chatting with reporters, Knight said, “If we ever play, it’ll be between that man (Englehart) and me.”

In other words, not the schools.

Here in Laurens County, the weekend offers one home football game.

It’s at Thornwell Charter School (1-3), which takes on Great Falls (1-4). The game matches Saints and Red Devils. No. Not those Red Devils. Clinton (4-1) is at South Aiken (0-5). Laurens (0-5) visits Class 5A’s fourth-ranked school, T.L. Hanna (4-1), in Anderson. Laurens Academy (2­-3) is at Jefferson Davis (4-1) in Blackville.

Guess what? Jefferson Davis Academy fields teams known as the Raiders.

Many points are likely to be scored at South Aiken. The Thoroughbreds have been outscored by an average margin of 54-25. Clinton has outscored its opponents by an average of 45-14. The Red Devils plastered Aiken County’s other Class 4A school, Aiken, 63-6, two weeks ago.

Clinton is banged up. Four players who started against Chapman are out for South Aiken.

The Great Falls Red Devils have fallen on hard times. After a 7-4 record in 2021, Great Falls, in Chester County, has gone 3-12 since. The Red Devils’ only victory this season to date is a 2-0 decision over Scott’s Branch (Summerton). The opposition has outscored Great Falls by an average of 30-9. The Saints’ norm is the down side of 42-11.

Thornwell is, however, coming off an historic 34-20 victory over Clear Dot Academy of Columbia. The Saints are playing their first season of varsity football since 2006, having been resurrected as a public charter school.

Laurens faces a longer shot than a mission to Mars. The Yellow Jackets’ average score is 33-23. The Raiders’ average falls the other way at 44-11.

A week ago, Clinton and Laurens both lost in excruciatingly close games, the Red Devils to Chapman, 22-21, and the Raiders to Union County, 20-17. No similar incidence of drama is likely this Friday night.

Clinton radio coverage from South Aiken begins at 7 p.m. Friday (WPCC FM-96.5, AM-1410), followed on Saturday by “Saturday Morning Rewind” 9-10:30 a.m., and a replay of the game afterwards. Laurens coverage from T.L. Hanna begins at 6 p.m. Friday (WLBG FM-104.1, AM-860).

Five weeks into the season, the four county games have a grand total of … oh, wait … zero common opponents to date on Friday. That changes swiftly when the region games begin next week.

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