By MONTE DUTTON

I had an easy day on Thursday at the Laurens County Touchdown.

I first got to know the guest speaker more than 40 years ago. When Clay Hendrix played football at Furman University, I worked there. I went off to chase stock cars. Hendrix went off to coach at the Air Force Academy. Now he is the head coach at Furman. I write about Furman. We see each other once or twice a week, depending on where or not the Paladins are at home.

Pride wells in me having Hendrix speak here in Laurens County. I want others to see in him what I say throughout the fall. He may not always be right, but there is no gamesmanship in him. What Hendrix says, Hendrix believes.

He knows Furman. He loves Furman. He went to Furman. He played at Furman. He coaches Furman. He knows it better than I, and I know it well.

Hendrix, from Commerce, Ga., way back when, said Laurens County reminds him of the football atmosphere back there. The quarterback he protected on the Commerce Tigers, Bobby Lamb, is the same one he protected on the Furman Paladins. They grew up across the street from each other.

The head coach Hendrix and Lamb played for at Furman, the late Dick Sheridan, either coached or coached with every Furman head coach since Sheridan left for North Carolina State. Sheridan coached the Paladins for eight seasons. This is Hendrix’s eighth. His two most recent teams each finished 10-3 and won FCS playoff games.

This fall’s Paladins are 1-2. They are inexperienced but getting better. Hendrix is playing a freshman quarterback, Trey Hedden, who was 20/27 in last Saturday’s 48-7 victory over Stetson. Hendrix seems as excited bringing this team along as the ones that reached double digits in wins.

Everything is changing. Schools shop the transfer protocol and try to outbid one another for the talented and unhappy.

Furman loses a few, gets a few and enrolls a few grad transfers into a couple master’s programs. Most of Hendrix’s players stay there because they like the school and their coaches. Hendrix and his program swim upstream faster than most.

According to Hendrix, of 18 varsity sports, every single Furman senior athlete graduated. His football program has a cumulative grade-point average of 3.19.

“It doesn’t matter who you are,” he said. “Taking full advantage of your education creates opportunities in life.”

Hendrix isn’t just Furman. He is the best of Furman.

A pair of fierce rushers received their awards for being the TD Club’s county Players of the Week (presented by Farm Bureau Insurance) the past two weeks.

Laurens High’s Nehemias Fernandez was honored for his performance in the Raiders’ 20-17 loss at A.C. Flora, and Clinton’s Javen Cook took the accolades for a 23-14 for the Red Devils at Newberry.

Fernandez is known as Nemo, Cook as Zoom.

Laurens Academy head coach Jolly Doolittle, whose Crusaders take a 3-2 record into Friday night’s home game against King, cited a Bible verse he finds particularly applicable to football.

Let us not be weary in doing good for, at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. – Galatians 6:9

Clinton (3-1) faces Daniel (2-1) in Central on Friday night, with radio coverage on WPCC (96.5 FM, largetime.net) beginning at 7 p.m.

Laurens (0-4) has a week off before facing Lexington at K.C. Hanna Stadium on Sept. 27.

Gardner-Webb (0-3) visits Presbyterian (2-1) at Bailey Memorial Stadium on Saturday night at 7. The Blue Hose, who are not broadcast on radio, may be streamed on ESPN+.

Fountain Inn defeated Laurens, 4-2, in the Raiders’ first region match in girls’ tennis.

Ella Sanders, at No. 2, and Emily Starling, at 3, won singles matches.

No. 1 Sara Beth Field lost in a third-set tie-breaker, as did Ashlyn Messer at 4.

Keilyn Mendoza, at 3 and the 2 doubles team, Emma Welch and San Juana Cruz, lost their lines.

Southside visited LDHS on Thursday to play the Raider’s second region match at 5 p.m.

PC men’s soccer claimed two Big South weekly awards.

After his prolific goal-scoring week, senior forward Damorney Hutchinson won Offensive Player of the Week accolades. After his integral role in two Blue Hose wins, freshman midfielder Jonas Sundli-Hardig captured Freshman of the Week honors

Hutchinson is the third player in Presbyterian’s men’s soccer program’s history to earn Big South offensive honors. Sundli-Hardig is the 10th to be top freshman.

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