By MONTE DUTTON

Provided the Upstate can avoid further natural disasters, if not political ones, high-school football returns on Friday night.

This week the meteorological disaster is presumed to be hitting Florida. God bless them. What kind of name for a hurricane is Milton? At least Helene was appropriately hell.

I’ve got power. I can watch TV. I can write somewhere other than in a fast-food restaurant. Life is still a Grand Ole Uproar, but what I’m mainly looking forward to is Friday Night Lights and cool night air.

I plan to see a college game on Saturday. What a country.

Clinton and Chesnee have one common football opponent, Woodruff (5-0), which  defeated both.

The Wolverines edged the Red Devils, 40-36, on opening night at Wilder Stadium on Aug. 23, and vanquished the Eagles, 45-28, on Sept. 20.

The Red Devils and Eagles play for the third time ever – Clinton won both – at Wilder Stadium on Friday night at 7:30. It’s also the Red Devils’ first game against a foe its own size and the first Class 2A region game since the 1960s.

Thus far, Clinton has played Class 3A Woodruff, Newberry and Chapman, and 4A Laurens and Daniel.

The scheduled Region 1-2A debut, at Liberty, was postponed by Helene. The week before, a home game versus Union County was canceled. The Red Devils haven’t played since Sept. 20.

Chesnee (2-3) has victories over Walhalla (25-13) and R-S Central (28-24) of Rutherfordton, N.C., and losses to Pendleton (47-21), Broome (34-27) and Woodruff.

Clinton (3-2) has defeated Laurens (35-8), Newberry (23-14) and Chapman (49-27), and lost to Woodruff and Daniel (37-12).

I’m not in the business of predicting games – and for good reason – but Laurens (0-5) is coming off the schneid against Southside on Friday night at K.C. Hanna Stadium.

It seems as if all the Greenville County talent flows to J.L. Mann, Riverside and Greenville, not to mention the private and charter schools, thus leading the Southsides, the Carolinas, the Bereas and the Mauldins in something of a gridiron wasteland.

Laurens, with the luck of the damned, has come close to winning against a quality opponent, A.C. Flora.

Southside’s only close games were against another current have-not, Berea (26-20) and Class A Dixie (37-36). The Tigers have also fallen to Eastside (41-0), Liberty (34-14) and Carolina Academy (36-24). Southside has performed poorly against a poor schedule.

Laurens lost its head coach, Greg Porter, for nine practices and a game, not to mention its top two quarterbacks two games and part of another.

The Raiders have lost to nothing but quality teams: Class 5A Hillcrest and Lexington, 4A Flora, 3A Belton-Honea Path and 2A Clinton.

Laurens had its scheduled Region 1-4A opener, home against Fountain Inn, postponed till season’s end. It’s a good week to break the ice. A visit to Wren and a home game against Westside come next.

Laurens Academy (4-2) visits Oakbrook Prep (0-5) of Spartanburg hoping to reprise a 40-20 victory earlier in the season.

The Crusaders play five teams twice, with the latter counting in region play. Like the Red Devils and Raiders, this week is the opener by reason of postponement.

Only South Pointe (4-2), third in Class 4A, ranks higher than Clinton in any of the S.C. Media polls of teams with two losses.

The Red Devils in 2A and Bamberg-Ehrhardt (4-2) in A are both ranked fourth in their classes.

In descending order from 5A to A, the leaders are Dutch Fork (5-0), Westside (4-0), Belton-Honea Path (6-1), Batesburg-Leesville (5-0) and Abbeville (3-1).

Following a feat not performed by a Presbyterian College women’s soccer player in six years, junior midfielder Isabel Lasota is Big South Offensive Player of the Week.

Lasota propelled the Blue Hose to a 3-1 victory over Gardner-Webb, contributing to all of PC’s scores with two goals and an assist.

The last Blue to pull that trick was Mallory Hopkins against UNC Asheville) in 2018.

Presbyterian hosts Winthrop on Friday at 7 p.m.

For the second time this season, the Presbyterian men’s soccer team claimed two Big South weekly awards.

After scoring to all three goals in the win over Radford, senior forward Damorney Hutchinson is Co-Offensive Player of the Week accolades.

After scoring his first career goal in the win over Radford, freshman midfielder Morgan Dance captured Freshman of the Week.

The Blue Hose continue conference play on the road at Gardner-Webb on Saturday night at 7:30.

Clinton High is having quite the volleyball season, though the Red Devils haven’t “volleyed” since Sept. 24, when a 3-0 (25-8, 25-11, 25-16) conquest of Chester put CHS at 9-2 overall and 3-0 in Region 3-2A.

Not so fast for the Raiders, who are 2-8 and 2-2 in Region 1-4A after Westside won 3-1 (13-25, 25-15, 25-11, 25-16).

Wellpilgrim.com is back in my dingy living room, where there is both electricity and wi-fi again. For now, I have closed my offices at Zaxby’s and Bojangles’, and I wish to acknowledge restaurants and, for one day, the public library, for keeping me minimally in business.

I hate to ask for help because there are so many more needy than I, but …

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

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 NASCAR novels, Lightning in a Bottle and Life Gets Complicated, both concerning the irreverent adventurers of Barrie Jarman. Download them for your devices, or order in paperback. Lightning in a Bottle is available in an audio version.

Photo galleries are posted on Instagram @furmanatt and @laurenscountysports. Lately, there haven’t been many to take.

Thanks for putting up with me.