There go the Red Devils across the lake with one more regular-season football game to go.

Clinton (7-2, 3-0 Region 4-3A) wrapped up the region with a 14-6 victory over Chester (9-1, 3-1) that restored the Red Devils to the state media rankings at eighth. Upstate teams in the 3A poll are Daniel at first, Belton-Honea Path at second, Chapman in fifth, Broome in seventh, Clinton eighth and Chester ninth.

The region is top-heavy. Chester is done. Emerald (1-8), by virtue of its 49-35 victory over Union County (1-8), should be in unless the Yellow Jackets upend Woodruff (3-6), which would leave all three schools at 1-3. An Emerald upset of Clinton would not cost the Red Devils the region title, but it would break the tie over the final playoffs slots.

Clinton is to play the winner of Fountain Inn (2-7) at Southside (0-9) at Wilder Stadium on Nov. 3. A win puts the Red Devils back home on Nov. 10, and 17, provided they advance, but the Upstate home team is from the upper side of the basket.

Yes, like last year.

The Fountain Inn-Southside game is Thursday night.

Laurens’ regular season is over, but the Raiders’ playoff assignment is still dependent on the outcome of Region 2-4A games involving games Riverside-Greer above them and Wade Hampton-Eastside below them.

Victories by Greer and Eastside would lead Laurens to a 2-2 region record along with Riverside and Eastside. In that case – Laurens beat Riverside and lost to Eastside, which lost to Riverside – points differentials decide the 2-4 seeds.

Riverside (5-4), Eastside (5-4), Greer (4-5) and Laurens (2-8) are guaranteed playoff slots. Neither is likely to linger for long.

Laurens Academy (4-6) is also headed to the SCISA Class A playoffs after the Crusaders take on Richard Winn Academy in Winnsboro.

Winn (8-1) defeated LA, 54-14, early in the season.

Thornwell (1-7) closes its first season since 2007 with a home game against Ware Shoals (1-8). The Saints have scored only six points in their last four games combined.

Ware Shoals last won on Aug. 18 over Whitmire, 38-28.

The third round of the Class 3A girls’ tennis playoffs found Clinton on Thursday afternoon at Belton-Honea Path, which blanked Walhalla while the Red Devils were defeating Seneca, 4-2.

# 1 Singles    Chandler Dailey defeated Denna Hassan  6 – 2, 6 – 1

# 2 Singles     Libby Dailey defeated  Ava Alexander  6 – 4, 7 – 5

# 3 Singles    Kimora Wesley defeated Leah Broome  6 – 2, 6 – 1

# 4 Singles    Carley MacMillan defeated Chloe Tensley  6 – 4, 6 – 2

# 5 Singles    Addy Derrick lost to Alice Story  6 – 4, 6 – 1

# 1 Doubles  C. Dailey & K. Wesley      Did Not Play

 # 2 Doubles  Peyton Nabors & Merin Orr lost to Sadie Goodre & Elly Berry   6 – 2, 6 – 2

At the Region 4-3A meet in Chester, Clinton won cross country for the third straight year, taking first, second, third and fifth places.

William Reid (16:52), followed by Sam Gearhart, Hayden Stinson and Gage Dominick.

Woodruff dominated the girls’ meet, but Clinton was second with Skyler Collins taking seventh place and Marissa Brewer ninth.

Laurens finished fourth – behind Eastside, Riverside and Wade Hampton ahead of Greer – in the in Region 2-4A meet, led by Cody Patterson (17:26.6). The LDHS girls’ team did not field a full team.

Thornwell took third in the Region 2-A meet, trailing Dixie and Ware Shoals. Leading the Saints were J.T. Shorter (19:47.15) in third and Josef Holford (22:12.99) in ninth. Emma Richardson ran alone for the Saints in the girls race, finishing 10^th at 30:01.

Blue Hose Blurbs: Women’s basketball was picked second, men last, in the preseason conference forecasts. Bryanna Brady (first team) and Tilda Sjokvist were named to the preseason all-conference squad. … The Blue Hose men will try to end an 18-game losing streak at Vanderbilt on Nov. 7. A more likely site is Templeton Center on Nov. 9 against Columbia International. … Presbyterian finished women’s soccer 3-10-3 (2-4-2 Big South with a 1-1 tie with Longwood in Clinton.

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The next Fiesta Grande open mic is Wednesday, Nov. 8, at 8 p.m.