It took a spirited four-set match against a familiar opponent, Cambridge of Greenwood, for Laurens Academy to nail down its second straight SCISA Class A volleyball championship.
Erskine College in Due West hosted the state championship match.
The Crusaders took wins in the first two sets, 25-20 and 25-17, but the Cougars bounced back with a 25-18 verdict in set three, but LA nailed it down with a 25-21 verdict and a 3-1 win.
Laurens Academy completed the season with a record of 28-7-2 under coach Shannon McGee.
Clinton’s Brett Young is the Laurens County Touchdown Club’s Player of the Week following a spectacular defensive performance in the Red Devils’ 14-6, region-winning victory over Chester.
Young is a junior linebacker who had 10-1/2 tackles, two of them for losses, three quarterback pressures and a sack.
Clinton (7-2, 3-0) closes out the regular season on Friday night in Greenwood against Emerald (1-8, 1-2) , which is coming off its first victory of the season, a 49-35 Region 4-3A verdict over Union County (1-8, 0-3).
Young was not alone. The Clinton defense limited a Chester offense that had averaged 36 points a game to six.
“Brett is a difference maker on the football field. He is a student of the game and has a great work ethic. I’m proud of the way he attacks each day on and off the field,” stated his head coach, Corey Fountain.
The TD Club will honor Young on Nov.2 at the bi-monthly Touchdown Club meeting. The meeting will be at noon at The Ridge in Laurens. Player of the Week awards this year are presented by Farm Bureau Insurance of Laurens County.
The next meeting features former Clemson University and Pittsburgh Steeler great Levon Kirkland. Kirkland currently is the Vice President of Development for the South Carolina Football Hall of Fame.
The Laurens County Touchdown Club meets every other Thursday in football season at The Ridge, located in Laurens at 301 Exchange Road.
The public is invited. 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.
Davidson, N.C., is a difficult place for Presbyterian to put a frustrating loss behind.
At home – in fact, Homecoming – the Blue Hose won most of the statistics but none of the scoreboard. The Marist Red Wolves, whose offense put three points on that board, nonetheless won, 19-10, on a rash of PC errors.
The Wildcats, by far the closest PFL team to Clinton, are 5-2, 4-0 in the league. Drake and St. Thomas are 4-1. Presbyterian (3-4, 1-3) is tied with San Diego and Dayton. Valparaiso is 0-4, Dayton 0-5.
The Blue Hose and Wildcats play annually for the Border Cup, alleged related to a dispute from the early years of the country, but neither school is near the Carolina border or the once-disputed area, Davidson in North and Presbyterian in South. Davidson is 41 miles away, Clinton 91.
Thornwell fell behind, 28-0, in its football game at Atlantic Collegiate Academy in Conway, but head coach Charlie Washington said he really didn’t consider it a loss.
There were extenuating circumstances.
The game didn’t start till 8:47 p.m. It ended a little after 9:30 because the facility was closing.
By all accounts, it was a nice trip, though.
Ware Shoals visits Thornwell on Friday night.
Though Presbyterian lost to Marist on Saturday, the Blue Hose’ stellar linebacker, Alex Herriott, was named Defensive Player of the Week by the Pioneer Football League.
Herriot made 16 tackles against the Red Foxes, giving him 76 (33 more than any other PC player) for the season.
Elsewhere …
Presbyterian finished 12th of 14 teams at the 53rd Furman Intercollegiate, led by Lleyton Renner, who finished 16th at even par. … Jack Wofford, a junior from Greenville, was Big South Golfer of the Week after taking first place last week in the Elon Phoenix Invitational. … Clinton was scheduled to take on Seneca, not Chapman, on Tuesday in the 3A girls’ tennis playoffs at home. The SCHSL brackets were erroneously and initially filled in as a Chapman win.
Dominic Chavez, a senior from Arlington, Texas, represents PC on the All-Southern Conference 10-member preseason list in men’s wrestling … Campbell is the preseason favorite, with VMI, PC and Bellarmine tied for seventh in the SoCon field. … The Blue Hose released their women’s wrestling schedule.Take a look by clicking here.
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nother way I can derive some revenue is if you purchase my books at MonteDutton.net. They’re quite entertaining in spite of the fellow who wrote them. Two of my novels, Cowboys Come Home and Lightning in a Bottle, are available in audio versions. The latest, The Latter Days, is about baseball.
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The next Fiesta Grande open mic is Wednesday, Oct. 25, at 8 p.m.
Nightrider's Lament 