By MONTE DUTTON

Clinton travels to Liberty, and the Red Devils are going to win.
The above isn’t as bold as it seems. Clinton (6-2, 3-0 Region 1-2A) and Liberty (5-3, 2-1) are both Red Devils. The region title and a preferential slot in the playoff bracket are on the line.
The game of Red Devils was postponed on Oct. 18. The S.C. High School pushed back the regular season – and the playoffs — for a week.
Everything about this football season has been unusual. Clinton is only in Region 1-2A – with Blacksburg, Chesnee, Landrum and Liberty – for football. The rest of its teams compete in Region 3 with Chester, Columbia, Eau Claire, Fairfield Central and Mid-Carolina. Clinton has never lost a game against any of the other schools in Region 1.

Clinton was in Class 3A for more than a half century until this school year.
Crossing classifications, Clinton has won 14 straight region games. It has never before played Liberty.
As is its custom, Clinton takes a prolific rushing attack to Liberty, which is in Pickens County and, like Clinton, rather removed from the rest of the region.
The Red Devils stand apart.
Five Clinton backs have rushed for 200 or more yards. Three more have topped 100. The bell cow – or, perhaps, forked devil – is junior Javen Cook, who, in eight games, has rushed 131 times for 1,031 yards and 8.2 yards a carry, scoring 12 touchdowns. Nine Clinton average at least 4.75 yards a pop.

Clinton’s senior quarterback, Tushawan Richardson, has passed for 795 yards and nine touchdowns while being intercepted only once. He is 45/87 with his arm and has 315 yards and three scores with his legs.
Chris Boyd (14 receptions) and Devin Swindler (10) are Richardson’s chief targets.
In a 45-22 victory over Blacksburg last week, Liberty achieved its widest margin of victory, amassing 278 of its 315 yards via the ground. A week earlier, Clinton defeated the Wildcats, 61-14.
Over the past three games, Clinton has averaged 54.3 points a game.
Clinton will play without its Touchstone Energy Bowl tackle, Cal Pitts, who is recovering from a knee injury likely to sideline him until the second round of the playoffs.
Clinton is fourth in the latest S.C. Media rankings, trailing, in order, Batesburg-Leesville (9-0), Barnwell (9-1) and Fairfield Central (8-1).

Because of its stiff non-region schedule, Laurens (1-8, 1-3 Region 1-4A) could make the playoffs regardless of whether or not it manages to pull a mild upset of Fountain Inn (5-4, 1-3) at K.C. Hanna Stadium.
A win gives the Raiders a No. 4 seed, while a loss could earn an at-large bid.
Don’t sleep on the Raiders. Will Thompson is coming off his best showing – 9/15, 175 yards – in a 26-17 loss at Emerald. For the season, Thompson has completed 46/85 passes for 609 yards. He has thrown one touchdown pass and three interceptions.

Nehemias (Nemo) Fernandez is Laurens’ leading rusher with 511 yards in 81 carries and two touchdowns. The leading receiver is Brayden Patterson with 16 catches for 186 yards.
Kicker Brock Franklin has hit 7/10 field goals, with a long of 43.
Quarterback Sam Holliday leads the Fury with 747 yards rushing. He has attempted only 24 passes all season, completing eight for 118 yards. He has neither a touchdown pass nor an interception.

Laurens Academy (7-3) faces Cross School, which is not in Cross but Summerton, at Todd Kirk Field in the first round of the SCISA eight-man playoffs.
About the Stingrays, little is known other than they are 2-8 and both victories came at the expense of Conway Christian.
Much is known about the Crusaders, much of it about senior Garrett Murphy, who has rushed for 1,770 yards and 22 touchdowns, with four other receiving scores.
Quarterback Ethan Collins has a completion percentage of .715, many on short forward flips to Caleb Hardy, who has 58 catches for 514 yards and five TDs.

Presbyterian (4-6, 2-4 PFL) rides consecutive victories into an open date before visiting Marist (Poughkeepsie, N.Y) and hosting Butler in its remaining games.
Juan Pablo Boada is Presbyterian College’s new head men’s tennis coach.
Boada takes the helm of a Blue Hose men’s tennis program that has won three Big South Tournament titles and three Big South regular season titles while making three trips to the NCAA Division I Tournament.

Athletics director Dee Nichols said, “Juan Pablo Boada brings a wealth of experience from his competitive tennis background and previous coaching roPles in the Big South Conference With a deep understanding of the level of play in our league, Coach Boada is well-equipped to continue building a championship culture within the program. His leadership and commitment to excellence will help elevate the team’s performance and foster a winning mindset at Presbyterian College.”

For the last three and half years, Boada has been the head tennis pro at the Evert Tennis Academy in Boca Raton, Fla., and a tennis pro at the High Performance Tennis Academy in Philadelphia, Pa.
Before becoming a tennis pro, Boada spent the 2019-20 season as a graduate assistant coach on the coaching staff of former PC coach John Collins with the Winthrop men’s tennis program.

Before starting his coaching career, he played collegiate tennis at the University of West Florida and Winthrop. He won a Big South Tournament in 2014 with Winthrop and a Gulf South Conference Tournament in 2015 at the University of West Florida. Boada was ranked No.1 in Bolivia as a junior and earned ATP points.
The La Paz, Bolivia native graduated from West Florida with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2016 and a master’s in business administration in 2020 from Winthrop.
“I am beyond excited to join the team at Presbyterian,” Boada said. “Stepping into the role of head coach is an incredible opportunity to influence the guys positively and help them reach their full potential on and off the court.”

The PC women’s wrestling team is participating in the inaugural Throwdown on the Yorktown where it takes on Campbellsville (Ky.) in the first dual duel of the young season.

One of six duals to take place on the day, Friday’s event will be hosted on the flight deck of the USS Yorktown CV-10 Essex-class aircraft carrier anchored in Charleston Harbor.

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Presbyterian-Campbellsville is the only scheduled women’s match that will occur, joining the men’s programs from The Citadel, Army, Virginia, Gardner-Webb, Lander and Newberry.
The fifth-ranked Blue Hose tangle with the Tigers at approximately 7:30 p.m.
Presbyterian also went up against Campbellsville last season, ending up on the losing end of a 31-16 decision in Kentucky.

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