It came as no surprise when a Laurens District High School player earned Player of the Week from the Laurens County Touchdown Club.
On Friday night, the Raiders were the only county team playing.
Josh Goodwin would have won it, anyway.
First of all, Laurens (1-7, 1-1 Region 2-4A) pulled off a stunner, edging Riverside, 18-17, and creating a sudden likelihood of a playoff berth.
Secondly, Goodwin caught three passes for 114 yards and a touchdown, and made an impact with three key blocks on an important scoring drive.
“Josh Goodwin is a very talented two-sport athlete, playing both football and baseball. He has great hands and speed at the receiver position. What makes him a great player, though, is he does the things that don’t show up in the stats. He works hard in the weight room, practices hard every day and blocks well for his teammates,” LDHS head coach Daryl Smith stated.
The TD Club and Farm Bureau Insurance, the award sponsor, will honor Goodwin, along with the coming week’s recipient, at the next meeting on Oct. 19, noon at The Ridge in Laurens. The speaker is Scott Earley, incoming executive director of the S.C. Athletic Coaches Association.
Tickets can be purchased at the door for $15. All meetings are at noon, with the food-service line opening at 11:45 a.m.
Clinton remains outside the top 10 in the latest Class 3A poll of S.C. media. Nothing to see there. No one in the top 10 has more than a single loss, and the Red Devils have two. Clinton will have every chance to regain its ranking if it can defeat Woodruff and seventh-ranked Chester in the next two weeks.
In Class 2A, former Clinton head coach Andrew Webb has his Strom Thurmond team ninth, and ex-Red Devil assistant Mathew Bennett has the Ninety Six Wildcats in 10th.
CLASS 5A: 1. Summerville (19) (7-0) 2. Hillcrest (7-0) 3. Byrnes (7-1) 4. T.L. Hanna (7-1) 5. White Knoll (7-0) 6. Gaffney (5-2) 7. Lexington (6-1) 8. Fort Dorchester (4-2) 9. Sumter (5-2) and 10. Ashley Ridge (6-1). Others receiving votes: Clover, Spartanburg, JL Mann and Rock Hill.
CLASS 4A: 1. South Florence (17) (7-0) 2. Northwestern (2) 3. Irmo (7-0) 4. James Island (7-0) 5. Westside (6-1) 6. Midland Valley (7-0) 7. South Pointe (5-2) 8. Lucy Beckham (6-0) 9. Myrtle Beach (6-1) and 10. York (6-1). Others receiving votes: North Augusta, Hartsville and Greenville.
CLASS 3A: 1. Daniel (18) (7-0) 2. Belton-Honea Path (1) (7-0) 3. Dillon (6-1) 4. Gilbert (7-0) 5. Chapman (6-1) 6. Crestwood (6-1) 7. Chester (7-1) 8. Broome (7-0) 9. Philip Simmons (7-0) and 10. Manning (7-0). Others receiving votes: Camden and Clinton.
CLASS 2A: 1. Gray Collegiate (12) (9-2) 2. Abbeville (7) (6-1) 3. Oceanside Collegiate 4. Silver Bluff (6-1) 5. Hampton County (7-1) 6. Woodland (6-0) 7. Fairfield Central (5-2) 8. Marion (7-1) 9. Strom Thurmond (5-2) and 10. Ninety Six (6-1). Others receiving votes: Saluda and Liberty.
CLASS A: 1. Lewisville (19) 2. Christ Church (5-2) 3. Bamberg-Ehrhardt (6-1) 4. Whale Branch (5-0) 5. Southside Christian (4-2) 6. Blackville-Hilda (7-1) 7. St. Joseph’s (7-1) 8. Lake View (5-1) 9. Hunter-Kinard-Tyler (7-1) and 10. Calhoun County (6-1). Others receiving votes: Lamar, Latta and Cross.
Clinton (10-1, 6-0) closed in on another Region 4-3A girls’ tennis title with a key 4-2 victory over Woodruff.
It wasn’t quite as close as the score indicated as the Red Devils won the first four singles flights with ease.
# 1 Singles Chandler Dailey defeated June Welch 6 – 0, 6 – 2
# 2 Singles Libby Dailey defeated Ivy Kate Rhodes 6 – 0, 6 – 2
# 3 Singles Kimora Wesley defeated Georgia Amick 6 – 0, 6 – 1
# 4 Singles Carley MacMillan defeated Genesis Murales 6 – 1, 6 – 2
# 5 Singles Peyton Nabors lost to Stella Harrison 6 – 4, 0 – 6, 9 – 11
# 1 Doubles C. Dailey & K. Wesley Did Not Play
# 2 Doubles Merin Orr & Deborah Goldman lost to Emma Vaughn & Maggie Smoak 6 – 2, 7 – 5
Presbyterian is heating up in women’s soccer. The Blue Hose blanked Winthrop on Monday in Rock Hill.
Brian Purcell’s squad hasn’t allowed a goal in 196 minutes.
Lina-Marie Muller assisted Sloan Spees on the match’s only goal. Spees scored both goals in a 2-0 victory over Gardner-Webb, earning her Big South Offensive Player of the Week designation.
Presbyterian is 3-9-1, 2-3 in the Big South, while Winthrop is 3-5-2 and 0-3-1.
Laurens cross country picked up a boys’ victory at the Star Fort 5K in Ninety Six, taking the top four spots with Cody Patterson (17:15.9), Hunter Power (17:22.7), Hayden Wham (13:32.8) and Tate Barron (17:59.1).
The girls didn’t compete as a team, but Catalina Helton (23:05.6) and Mary Ellis Power (24:31.4) took the top two spots.
Damorney Hutchinson scored twice in PC’s 4-2 men’s soccer decision at USC Upstate in Spartanburg.
Sandro Rabarivony and Carson Griffith also scored for Presbyterian (5-5-1, 2-0-1 Big South. Upstate is 3-6-2 and 0-21.
Laurens’ Jayden McGowan has caught 26 passes for 2-5 Vanderbilt but has yet to score a receiving touchdown. That happened on a 97-yard kickoff return versus Hawaii. … Another ex-Raider, Duane Martin, saw special-teams action in undefeated Louisville’s 33-20 victory over Notre Dame.
Hate to mention this, but … when Wade Hampton visits Laurens, Clinton visits Woodruff, King visits Laurens Academy and the Anderson Cavaliers visit Thornwell … it’s Friday the 13th.
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The next Fiesta Grande open mic is Wednesday, Oct. 18, at 8 p.m.
Nightrider's Lament 