What’s next in college athletics?

Here’s a guess. Caleb Williams is skipping Southern California’s bowl game. Another NFL quarterback goes down. Williams signs with that team and starts next Sunday.

That is against the rules. For now.

Or … Williams transfers to Florida State. Undefeated? Quarterback out? Problem solved!

Or … the Chicago Bears have the first draft pick. Williams doesn’t want to play for the Bears. I don’t blame him. He decides to come back to the Trojans, after all.

What few rules there are don’t have regulations.

Meanwhile, on the high-school front, no better demonstration of the problem regarding the competitive advance of private and charter schools could possibly exist than Christ Church Episcopal’s 67-21 demolition of tiny Johnsonvillle in the Class A finals.

I have nothing against private schools. I went to college at one. Christ Church is a fine school with an excellent athletics department, but it should not be regionally aligned with Dixie, Ware Shoals and McCormick. Nor should its power negate Johnsonville’s shot at a state title.

Something’s got to be done. Something is likely to be done. The question is whether the solution will make things better.

The General Assembly has about as much business in this matter as it does setting prices for parakeet seeds. (For all I know, it does.)

Tuesday was a big night at the Laurens District High gym, where the Raiders swept a couple razor-thin basketball games against the Hillcrest Rams. The margins in both were a single point.

After trailing by eight points after three quarters, Laurens edged Hillcrest, 52-51, in overtime in the boys’ game.

What put the game into overtime was a Hillcrest three-pointer with half a second on the clock.

The Rams even led by six points (51-45) in overtime, but Laurens stormed back and won by means of TyJ Jones’ two free throws with seven seconds remaining. The Raiders forced the Rams into a last-second shot that went awry.

Martinez Jones led Laurens with 14 points, and Jones added 10. Three players – Nick Danciu, Zakarion Simpson and Tylan Fowler – each added eight, an Nigere Brown and Mason Aiken scored two apiece.

Faith Jackson went to the free-throw line with 1.4 seconds remaining, needing 1/2 to lift Laurens past the Rams. She missed the former but made the latter, and the Raiders had a 36-35 victory.

Laurens led 29-22 entering the final quarter but needed only three minutes to run down the Rams. The final five minutes were back and forth.

Zoe Young led the Raiders with 14 points, followed by Ty Jones with six, Keyoric Yeargin and Taliyah Bullard with four each, Taliyah Bullard and Jackson three each and Taniyah Pulley with one.

Woodruff is due for a visit to Laurens on Wednesday night.

Laurens Academy pulled out the brooms in Johnston, where the boys cruised, 65-49, and the girls similarly coasted, 33-21.

It wasn’t always that way for the boys, who didn’t pull away by double figures until the fourth quarter. The Crusaders outscored the Patriots 17-9 in the final 12 minutes.

LA put four players in double figures, led by Garrison Vaughn with 17. Braydon Burke scored 15. Garrett Murphy and Hector Rubio each put in 13.

Jared Willard scored four points, and Hunter Campbell added three.

Ditto with the girls, who led only 21-18 with a quarter to play. The Crusaders also dominated the final 12 minutes.

Olivia Huck scored 12 of her 20 points in the fourth quarter.

Rylee Ballard scored five points, Hannah Erwin four and both Gracie Hall and Sadie Bruyere chipped in a couple.

Union Day School edged the Thornwell boys, 44-42, as the Saints couldn’t hold an early lead.

Thornwell was up by eight points after a quarter but trailed by four entering the last one.

The Saints got 15 points from Travious Quarles in a losing cause.

Kaevon Washington scored nine points, Kemonte Pitts eight, M.J. Anderson six and Evan Summer two.

Both Clinton basketball teams remain ranked in the S.C. Basketball Coaches Association rankings, but both have lost in the time since the latest poll was conducted.

The Clinton boys are ranked sixth, the girls eighth, in Class 3A.

Thanks so much for the recent contributions.

I used to list an address to send a check (DHK Sports, P.O. Box 768, Clinton, S.C. 29325). I finally got it through my thick head that not that many people write checks nowadays. For example, me. A more convenient means might be sending a reasonable amount to DHK Sports on Venmo.

Support the advertisers, and help keep the site – the game stories, the blogs, the photos – alive by making, if you choose, a monthly donation via Patreon. The Laurens County site is here. The Furman site is here.

Another way I can make a little 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.

Photo galleries are posted on Instagram @furmanatt and @laurenscountysports.