By MONTE DUTTON

Presbyterian College’s football team is 2-1, coming off a 52-0 ransacking of Virginia University of Lynchburg, and all is right with the world.

Success is fleeting. The next two Saturdays find the Blue Hose uncomfortably ensconced at home when Gardner-Webb and Davidson come to town. The Runnin’ Bulldogs (even when they pass) are former conference mates, and the Wildcats are a power in the league where the Blue Hose currently reside.

Mercer wasn’t a match one way, and VUL wasn’t the other. Gardner-Webb, what with scholarships and all, likely isn’t a match (which could have been said about Wofford last season), and then Davidson, the only close outpost in the Pioneer Football League, comes to town and, by golly, that’s a match!

On Monday, head coach Steve Englehart was both satisfied and suitably cautious.

Englehart has a team that is better than last year’s 4-7. The entire, eight-game PFL schedule lies ahead. PC is 2-1. Then again, it was 2-1 last year.

Looking back to Saturday’s mismatch, Englehart said, “It was really good, obviously. We got to play a lot of guys. We did what we were supposed to do.

“We have to just continue to build off that, continue to build off the confidence that winning provides you, but we know that we’ve got to be humble and hungry to continue to improve.”

Laurens didn’t escape Columbia with its first victory over the season, but Nehemias Fernandez did all he could.

The junior rushed for 217 yards in 26 carries and a touchdown in the Raiders’ 20-17 loss to A.C. Flora on Friday night, thus earning the weekly Player of the Week designation of the Laurens County Touchdown Club.

Fernandez, pressed into service behind center due to injuries, was a workhorse who had several long runs, including his 49-yarder run for a touchdown. He averaged 8.3 yards per carry. 

Head Coach Greg Porter stated, “Nehemias has an incredible work ethic on and off the field. Nemo has always put the team first… and when needed to play quarterback, there was no hesitation. It’s about the team from him.”

The Touchdown Club will honor Fernandez on Thursday at the third Touchdown Club meeting of the year. The meeting is at noon at The Ridge in Laurens.  The awards are presented by Farm Bureau Insurance of Laurens County.

The guest speaker is Furman University head coach Clay Hendrix.

The Laurens County Touchdown Club meets every other Thursday in football season at The Ridge, located in Laurens at 301 Exchange Road, and the public is invited.  Tickets are available at the door for $15. All meetings are at noon with the food-service line opening at 11:45 a.m.

One attribute of non-scholarship football is the fascinating story.

Presbyterian’s Nathan Levicki, a tight end, enjoyed a breakout game against VUL, catching two touchdown passes, one from Ty Englehart and the other from Collin Hurst.

“He’s a lacrosse player, you know,” said Steve Englehart.

Like Jim Brown, the NFL’s greatest runner, who was so great in lacrosse at Syracuse that the rules were changed to slow him. Levicki, a junior from Annapolis, Md., is now 6-3, 220.

“We got an email, a year and a half ago, or whatever, and it was from a kid who was playing college lacrosse, and he wanted to try to play football again. He had been a wide receiver in high school,” Steve Englehart recalled. “He had gained 25 or 30 pounds during his freshman year, got in the weight room. He came in, we took a look at him and said, ‘Let’s try him at tight end.’

“What he really picked up quickly, and surprisingly, was the blocking. He’s big, strong, but has really good hands.”

Lost in all my frivolities last week was Laurens’ 12-0 junior-varsity victory over A.C. Flora on Thursday night.

Isai Fernandez put the Raiders on top in the firs quarter with a five-yard run that capped a 76-yard drive. Buddy Cheeks ran in the second score from two yards out late in the third quarter.

Ke’Allen Blackwell had an interception for the Raiders (2-1).

I hope you like the site. (You probably do since you’re reading this.) At least one story has been posted for 48 straight days.

Advertising alone will not keep me going, but there’s room for a few more. Every ad is inset in every story.

You can support my site in several ways.

Support the advertisers. They are all fine people who support my efforts, not to mention those of the kids, coaches, parents and fans.

Please donate whatever you consider appropriate via Venmo at DHK Sports. You may also reach me by mail at 11185 Highway 56 North, Clinton  29325.

If you choose, make a monthly donation via Patreon. The Laurens County site is here. The Furman site is here.

In the off chance you’d like to read my novels and other books, they’re available on Amazon and many prominent bookseller sites. You can read them on your phones and other devices for a modest cost. I make a bit more if you purchase the actual books, but what I mainly want is for folks to read them.

Read my freewheeling tale of a young stock-car racing phenom, Lightning in a Bottle. Download it for $3.99, or order it in paperback for $15.95. An audio version is also available.

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

Thanks for putting up with me.