By MONTE DUTTON

Lest anyone fall victim to overconfidence – and what fan doesn’t? – Friday night’s football game in Landrum matches two of the top 10 in Class 2A according to the S.C. Media Poll.

What’s important is that the Red Devils themselves don’t take the Cardinals lightly.

Corey Fountain’s Red Devils rank fifth. Brent Bridges’ Cardinals are 10^th.

Landrum (5-1, 1-0 Region 1-2A) was defeating Blacksburg decisively, 28-6, while Clinton (4-2, 1-0) was dispatching Chesnee, 46-21. Both built leads in the first half, at which point the Cardinals led the Wildcats, 21-0, and the Red Devils led the Eagles, 29-7.

Titus Poore rolled up 101 yards receiving, 52 of them on one play, and also rushed for a TD. Aidan Kelley rushed for 81 yards. The Cardinals netted 213 yards on the ground.

The Landrum defense turned in five quarterback sacks, and Domanic Whiteside made 11 tackles.

Javen Cook averaged 8.1 yards for the Red Devils in the home victory over Chesnee. Quarterback Tushawan Richardson, the county Player of the Week, passed for 178 yards and was 9/14 with three touchdown tosses.

Since losing their opener, 20-14, to Walhalla, Landrum has beaten Berea (46-6), Ware Shoals (54-26), Polk County (N.C.) (43-6), West-Oak (48-0) and Blacksburg.

Clinton, which by any measure has played the tougher schedule, has beaten Laurens, Newberry, Chapman and Chesnee while falling to Woodruff and Daniel.

Not that comparing scores is often reliable, in this game there aren’t any. That’s not reliable, either. Also, the two have never met.

WPCC goes on the air and internet (largetime.net) at 7 p.m.

Little doubt exists that Wren is the favorite over Laurens (1-5, 1-0 Region 1-4A). The two play in Piedmont on Friday night.

Wren (4-1, 1-0) pounded Fountain Inn, 49-12, while the Raiders were polishing off Southside, 45-0. One difference is that the Fury is 4-2, while the Tigers are 0-6.

All four of the Hurricanes’ wins have been by a margin of at least 27 points. The lone loss was to T.L. Hanna, 36-29.

Wren is coached by Anthony Frate, previously head coach at Hillcrest and once a Laurens assistant.

Against Fountain Inn, Reese Price amassed 236 yards rushing and receiving, and Colten Bagwell threw for 166 yards and two touchdowns. As a team, the Hurricanes rushed for 334 yards.

The Raiders scored more points against Southside than the previous five losses combined.

Now healthy, LDHS quarterback Will Thompson had his best game to date under center, throwing for 129 yards.

Wren is averaging 434.2 yards of offense. Laurens’ norm is 190.3.

WLBG goes on the air and internet (wlbg.com) at 6:20 p.m.

Laurens Academy (5-2, 2-1 SCISA 8-man Region 1) seeks a sweep of Newberry Academy (2-4, 0-2) at Todd Kirk Field on Friday night.

The Crusaders won the Aug. 23 game against the Eagles, 42-25. It’s similar to the teams’ scoring averages for the season as a whole. LA averages 39.7 points per game, NA 22.8.

The Crusaders’ Garrett Murphy averages 181 rushing yards a game. Garrison Vaughan averages eight tackles and four sacks. Ethan Collins has thrown 10 touchdown passes; Caleb Hardy caught five of them.

The Eagles showed improvement while falling to Wardlaw, 32-24, last week. The Knights defeated Laurens Academy, 32-20, on Aug. 30.

The Crusaders defeated Oakbrook Prep, 50-20, last week.

Defender Slade Starnes assisted both Furman goals in the opening 14 minutes to propel the Paladins to a 2-0 victory over Presbyterian on Tuesday evening at Martin Stadium in Clinton.

The Paladins (5-3-2) opened the scoring in the eighth minute when Starnes intercepted a Presbyterian pass in his own half and triggered the counter-attack with a long pass to Lloyd Wamu Snell. The Basingstoke, England, native beat his defender down the left wing and slotted a shot into the right-side netting at the 7:53 mark.

Six minutes later, Starnes won a long throw-in in the middle of the box and played a pass forward to Ivan Agyaakwah, who held off his defender before punching a shot past the PC goalkeeper while lying on the ground to double the Paladin lead at 13:03.

Furman’s defense dominated the match as the Paladins held Presbyterian to just one shot and no shots on goal. The Paladins compiled an 8-1 advantage in total shots and 5-0 margin in shots on target.

Sophomore Aaron Salinas earned the shutout in goal for Furman while Loan Marin made three saves in a losing effort for the Blue Hose (4-4-2).

Presbyterian returns to Big South Conference play when it welcomes USC Upstate to Martin Stadium on Saturday at 7 p.m.

Presbyterian was voted eighth of nine Big South Conference members in the preseason poll for men’s basketball.

High Point is the favorite for the first time since 2015-16. The voting panel of head coaches and media gave the Panthers 17/18 first-place votes and 161 total points. HPU returns four starters and eight letter winners from a squad that won a school Division I record 27 games.

Winthrop followed in second-place with 134 points and the remaining first-place vote, followed by defending tournament champion Longwood with 121 points, UNC Asheville landed in the fourth position with 104, followed by Charleston Southern with 98, Gardner-Webb  with 63 points, Radford (56), Presbyterian (54) and USC Upstate (19).

The college basketball season tips off Monday, Nov. 4.  The first conference date is Thursday, Jan. 2, as the teams will play a 16-game schedule. The season culminates with the Hercules Tires Big South Men’s Basketball Championship, March 5-9 at Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City, Tenn.

High Point guard Kezza Giffa (Paris, France) has been voted the Big South preseason Player of the Year by the league’s head coaches and media panel.

Giffa appeared in all 36 of High Point’s games last season and averaged 16.2 points to finish third in the Big South in scoring.

He received eight first-place votes and 146 total points in the voting to earn the top spot on the preseason All-Conference team.

Also tabbed for the first team were Kelton Talford, Winthrop; Kimani Hamilton, High Point; Juslin Bodo Bodo, High Point; and Taje’ Kelly, Charleston Southern.

PC had no selections on the first or second team.

Presbyterian, which won the Big South women’s tournament last season, was also picked eighth. The women’s poll came from head coaches only.

High Point also took the women’s top spot with 76 points and five of the nine first-place.  The Panthers return two starters and seven letter winners. High Point is the preseason women’s favorite for the fourth consecutive year.

Radford is second with 57 points and one first-place vote, followed by Charleston Southern (55 points), Winthrop (53/1), USC Upstate (51), Gardner-Webb (43/1),Longwood (30), Presbyterian (23/1) and UNC Asheville (17).

Gardner-Webb guard Ashley Hawkins (Long Beach, Calif.) is women’s preseason Player of the Year.

Last year’s Big South Newcomer of the Year, Hawkins was third in the league with 15.7 points per game and first in assists with 5.6 per game.

Also on the first team are Catherin Alben, Charleston Southern; Nakyah Terrell, High Point; Jada Ryce, Winthrop; and Adriana Shipp-Davis, Radford.

Freshman Jeep Patrick finished tied for 30^th place after shooting a final round 73 (+2), with a three-round score of 216 (+3) at the Elon Phoenix Invitational in Burlington, N.C.

Presbyterian finishes its fall season at the Big South Fall Preview on Fripp Island, Nov. 2-4.

UNCG posted a three-round score of 833 (-19) to capture the team title while Longwood’s Justin Larue captured the individual title with a three-round score of 201 (-12).

The Blue Hose were 18^th.

Laurens got opposite results in its past two girls tennis matches, shutting out Westside, 6-0, in Anderson on Tuesday after being blanked by Wren, 6-0, in Piedmont on Monday.

The tour continues on Wednesday at Fountain Inn at 4:30 p.m.

By the way, I learned from watching the Furman-Presbyterian men’s soccer match on ESPN+ that the Big South’s two-time defending champion, High Point, edged the nation’s then-top-ranked team, Pittsburgh, 1-0, recently. Getting back to the S.C. Media prep poll, the top six teams in Class 5A – in order, Dutch Fork, Northwestern, Gaffney, Summerville, Irmo and Sumter – are all undefeated. Westside, which Laurens faces at home a week from Friday, leads Class 4A. Belton-Honea Path is tops in 3A, Batesburg-Leesville in 2A and Abbeville in A.

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