By MONTE DUTTON

Well, I woke up [Wednesday] morning with no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt.

I didn’t have a beer for breakfast that wasn’t bad so I had one more for dessert.

At my age, it would’ve likely made things much worse.

Apologies to Kris Kristofferson, who wrote “Sunday Morning Coming Down.”

I regret missing Presbyterian College’s win at Templeton Center against USC Upstate. I expect PC would have regretted me being there. I would’ve looked rough. Furman defeated The Citadel in overtime. It helped, watching it on TV by the miracle of ESPN+.

This morning, I awakened and thought, well, I think I might be over it. Then I stood up and realized this was not the case.

The bags under my eyes were truly awe-inspiring. You know what’s good for that? A shower.

I am better, though. I think breakfast at Steamers has more to do with it than medicine. The café on the Clinton square is an advertiser. So is Fiesta Grande, where, if I need another pick-me-up, I will undoubtedly have supper.

I appreciate the advertising, but I’m genuinely in love with both places. They are good for my soul.

Clinton and Laurens have released their football schedules on social media, where, in contrast to much that is there, they appear to be accurate.

The Red Devils’ home games have black bars, and the road games have white bars. The order of the games is left-right, left-right, left-right, left-right and left-right, respectively.

Clinton is not going quietly to Class 2A. The Red Devils are playing a tough schedule before it gets there with region games at the end. When the Red Devils roll into Liberty on Oct. 4, where other Red Devils already reside, they will already have played 3A Woodruff, 4A Laurens and 3A Union County at Wilder Stadium, and 3A Newberry, 3A Chapman and 4A Daniel on the road.

In football, Clinton is aligned with Liberty, Blacksburg, Chesnee and Landrum in Region 1-3A. In everything else, the Red Devils play in Region 3 along with Chester, Columbia, Eau Claire, Fairfield Central and Mid-Carolina.

Clinton is the only school in the state that must deal with this particular confusion.

The Raiders’ home games are in yellow for home games and green for road games. The order is left-left-left-left-left and then right-right-right-right-right.

When Laurens opens Region 1-4A play on Oct. 4 at Fountain Inn, it will have played Class 5A Hillcrest and 5A Lexington at home and 2A Clinton, 3A Belton-Honea Path and 4A A.C. Flora on the road.

In Region 1, Laurens is grouped with Emerald, Fountain Inn, Southside, Westside and Wren.

In football, neither Clinton nor Laurens has any region holdovers from last season. In sports other than football, only Chester returns from the current Region 4-3A.

Got it? Of course not. There’s plenty of time to get the hang of it.

Guess what? The Saints won. Twice!

The S.C. School for the Deaf and Blind visited Thornwell on Thursday night. The boys won 27-17, and the girls won, 22-18.

The boys are 1-11, and the girls are 1-9. It’s Thornwell Charter’s first season of varsity basketball competition.

In the boys’ game, Thornwell held the Hornets scoreless in the first quarter and led 12-8 at halftime. Evan Summer was the leading Saints’ scorer with nine points, followed by Brian Veal with eight. Other scorers were Kyshawn Webster (4), Kezavious Kinard (4), Kaevon Washington (1) and Kaleb Ward (1).

SCSDB led at halftime, 12-8, in the girls’ game after blanking the Saints in the second quarter, but Thornwell came back behind Jessie Pitts, who scored 14 points. Others were Kelyn Spurgeon (4), K.K. Watts (2) and Khloe Gaffney (2).

Thanks so much for the contributions. I’m aware that folks appreciate what I do, particularly the kids, coaches, parents and fans.

Blue, Green, Purple & Red cannot solely be funded by advertising. There’s not enough room.

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 is sending a contribution to DHK Sports on Venmo. It keeps the site going, both in the balance sheet and on the road.

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

Or, indirectly, purchase my books at MonteDutton.net. They’re 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. I’m closing in on a 10^th novel.

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