By MONTE DUTTON
Oh. My. God.
I have a friend who used to say that all the time.
What a rotten weekend.
It started slowly, if Friday counts. I went to see Laurens Academy play and enjoyed it. If I had known something now that I didn’t know then, I would have driven to Landrum, but I was well rested for the misery that ensued.
Homecoming isn’t supposed to cause the alumni to weep.
Western Carolina ran up the most yards in the history of the Southern Conference – 801, if you can count that high – and destroyed Furman, 52-20. I didn’t weep but left Greenville in a foul mood.
For the second week in a row, I watched the Presbyterian game on my laptop more than the Furman game below me in the Paladin Stadium press box. The Blue Hose lost in overtime, 19-16 to Drake, for the second time in three weeks.
I watched some sports on TV. All the teams I favored lost. It happens.
On Sunday morning, I backed up – the storm wrecked my garage door – and a bicycle tire that had been placed behind my pickup flattened the right-front tire of the truck.
So much for the Wendy’s drive-through.
Maybe things’ll get a little better in the morning, maybe things’ll get a little better.
A lot of football is left to be played, but let me freely admit that I was so wrong.
Thank goodness for Clinton High School (5-2) and Laurens Academy (6-2).
The Red Devils being strong doesn’t take a Nostradamus. I had confidence in the preseason that all the Laurens County teams would be better.
If you had told me that Laurens would be 1-6, I’d have played the Willie Freeman card. Freeman is an ex-Furman punter who is now a psychiatrist, and I used to have his business card.
A favorite joke of mine was to respond to someone who said something outlandish by pulling the card out of my wallet and saying, “Call this guy. He’s a friend of mine. I’m serious.”
I must have given that card to someone who didn’t give it back.
A lot can happen. Presbyterian is better. A lot better. The record doesn’t show it.
Garrett Murphy rushed for 120 yards – he’s had at least that many in six straight games – and caught passes totaling 111 as Laurens Academy (6-2) dismissed any Newberry Academy upset hopes with a 36-6 victory.
Quarterback Ethan Collins passed for 276 yards and had a completion percentage of .864, in part because many of the tosses were short, underhanded forward bloops to Murphy and Caleb Hardy.
The Crusader defense forced two fumbles, with Murphy involved in both.
Richard Winn Academy visits next, having won seven games in a row, one of them a 56-20 decision over LA on Sept. 12.
Murphy scored three rushing and one receiving touchdown. Anthony Candelas caught three passes for 92 yards and a TD. Hardy caught eight passes for 61 yards, rushed twice for 28 and made 13 tackles on defense.
Laurens Academy is playing The King’s Academy, apparently of Florence, for the SCISA Class 2A state volleyball title on Monday.
The Crusaders advanced on Saturday with a 2-0 (26-24, 25-7) victory over Charleston Collegiate.
Laurens Academy (27-3) plays for the championship against the Lions at Cardinal Newman in Columbia at 6:30 p.m.
The Lions of Florence are not to be confused with the King Academy Knights of Batesburg, a regular foe of the Crusaders.
The good news for Presbyterian men’s soccer was that Damorney Hutchinson set the modern school record for goals with his 16th.
The bad news was USC Upstate’s 2-1 victory on Saturday night at Martin Stadium.
Adrian Panaite gave Upstate (3-11, 2-3 Big South) the early lead with a penalty kick in the seventh minute.
Hutchinson converted a penalty kick, tying the score in the 27th minute. Deep in the game, the Spartans’ Shayne Abrams scored the game-winner.
In the 87th minute, USC Upstate’s Shayne Abrams scored the game-winning goal.
Presbyterian (4-5-2, 1-2-1) plays UNC Asheville in Martin Stadium on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Wellpilgrim.com is trying its best – translation: I’m trying – to describe the highs and lows and avoid the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Highs and lows are inevitable because all the games have a loser and a winner, and Wellpilgrim.com is trying its best – translation: I’m trying – to describe the highs and lows and avoid the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
Highs and lows are inevitable because all the games have a loser and a winner, and when it’s done, they are the same number.
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