Friends and neighbors, Friday was one miserable night of football for the fans of Laurens County.

It was no carefree night in the moonlight for the players and coaches, either.

Clinton lost. Laurens lost. Thornwell lost. Laurens Academy lost.

Good time to be Presbyterian College. The Blue Hose don’t play at all on Saturday.

A banged-up Clinton team staggered down to Aiken County, and staggered right back after South Aiken stunned the Red Devils, 41-30, on Friday night.

Neither team punted. Clinton simply could not stop the Thoroughbreds, who held the lead at the top of the stretch and maintained it.

Among the significant players absent this week due to injury were Shrine Bowler Zay Johnson, Brett Young, Carson Glenn and Zane McLendon. Their losses exceeded the sum of their parts: accounting for both sides of the ball, in terms of regular play, a defender and second-leading receiver, three linebackers and a running back.

Corey Fountain doesn’t make excuses and is a relentless proponent of the “next man up” policy, and the Red Devils played several called up from the junior varsity.

“I thought they played with a lot of grit, man,” Fountain told WPCC’s Harold Nichols afterward. “They played to the final whistle, and I’m proud of those guys. They didn’t point fingers. They just kept playing and kept plugging. We just didn’t get the job done. I take blame for that.

“We had a lot of new faces out there, and they gave their best effort, and we still had opportunities to win this football game. They gave us a shot, and they’re getting experience, and it’s going to help us with depth down the road.”

Neither team could stop the other. Clinton (4-2) fell behind as a result of losing two first-half fumbles, one in the final seconds at the end of a 50-yard Tushawan Richardson run when he was tackled at the one, fell on the ball (according to the radio account), and it squirted out of the end zone and was ruled a fumble and a touchback.

The game had a lot of oddities. Clinton has been plagued all year by penalties, but South Aiken (1-5) actually had more.

Richardson has passed effectively all season, but on this night he was 1/8, and that was a 52-yard score to Austin Boyd that was the Red Devils’ final touchdown and began with Richardson dropping a snap that he apparently wasn’t expecting. He coolly picked it up and found Boyd wide-open. Lukas Kuykendall’s extra was the final Clinton point with 10:40 left. It brought the Devils within four, 34-30.

The inexperienced defense couldn’t stop the Thoroughbreds, who cantered 80 yards in 16 plays. Terrence Smith’s two-yard, fourth-down run with 2:24 remaining scorched the Devils, who ran out of downs after their next drive opened with Richardson runs of 32 and 15 yards. Four incompletions later, in the direction of four different receivers, South Aiken ran out the final 1:34.

Nothing was wrong with the Clinton offense, which rushed for 385 net yards, led by Richardson (7 carries, 152 yards, 21.7 per carry), Tray Cook (10-96) and Javen Cook (7-70, 2 TDs.

South Aiken put up even bigger numbers against the patchwork Clinton defense. Multitalented quarterback Terrence Smith rushed for 161 yards and passed for 141, connecting on 8/10 throws.

Jevon Edwards rushed for 199 yards and three touchdowns in 35 carries. He was the Thoroughbreds’ workhorse.

By far the most spectacular play – and there were many nominated – came early when Kadon Crawford stripped the ball loose from South Aiken’s Malik Scurry and recovered at the Thoroughbred nine. Javen Cook scored on the next play and Clinton led, 6-0, with 7:50 remaining in the first quarter.

Who knew where it would go from there?

Next week Clinton opens its Region 4-3A schedule back at Wilder Stadium against Union County (1-5).

In Anderson, and in marked contrast to what was happening to the team from the other end of the county, T.L. Hanna’s 48-6 victory over Laurens had an air of inevitability.

For the second week in a row, Laurens scored first, and actually led, 6-0, at the end of the first quarter.

The Yellow Jackets, ranked fourth in Class 5A, overwhelmed the Raiders, limiting them to 87 yards of total offense while piling up 512. Hanna (5-1) rushed for 428.

The Yellow Jackets harvested 243 yards with two running backs, Vashun Burton (6-125, TD) and K.D. Patterson (6-118, 2 TDs), and two others topped 50.

Two quarterbacks combined for 7/12 completions for 84 yards. Eli Hollinger threw a touchdown pass to Burton and hit 6/8 for 70 yards. Hanna compensated for three lost fumbles and 111 yards in penalties.

Laurens opens Region 2-4A play next week at home against Greer (1-5).

Individually, there wasn’t much offense to go around for Laurens (0-6). The leading rusher was Denari Lee-Jackson, who took 22 tries to gain 45 yards. Quarterback Nick Danciu hit half his six passes for 32 yards.

The Great Falls Red Devils (2-4) defeated Thornwell, 56-0, on the Saints’ home field.

The Saints (1-4) next pay a visit to the Greenville Hurricanes (3-2), a home-schooled team.

In Blackville, Laurens Academy (2-4) scored. Jefferson Davis (5-1) won, 54-8, but the Crusaders scored.

Caleb Hardy, in fact, scored on an 87-yard kickoff return … and a two-point conversion.

Faith Christian (3-2) of Summerville visits Laurens Academy next week.

Clinton extended its junior-varsity win streak to 41 with a 32-16 decision over South Aiken on Thursday night at Wilder Stadium.

The Red Devils trailed, 16-12, at halftime but dominated the second half.

Owen Glenn threw three touchdown passes. K.J. Grant tossed another. Rhett Gilliam actually tallied via the run.

T.L. Hanna visited K.C. Hanna (Stadium) and left with a 42-6 victory over the Laurens JVs.

The Raiders fumbled the opening kickoff and the Yellow Jackets scored a touchdown on the play in the first 14 seconds.

It was mostly downhill from there as Hanna led, 28-0, at halftime.

Laurens, by contrast, scored in the game’s final 12.4 seconds. Jace Campbell threw a 35-yard TD pass to C.J. Bates.

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