By MONTE DUTTON

In Laurens County, football season is down to one team, the Clinton Red Devils, and that’s the case for the fourth straight season.
The Red Devils, 48-20 winners over Chester in the Class 2A second round, take on the state’s top-ranked school, Batesburg-Leesville, on Friday night at Wilder Stadium in the Upstate semifinals and the state quarters.
Neither Clinton (9-2) nor Batesburg-Leesville (11-0) has lost to a team from its classification. The Devils lost to Class 3A Woodruff and 4A Daniel.
The Devils lead the all-time series against the Panthers, 8-1, and opened the 2022 and ’23 seasons with victories by scores of 55-20 and 50-28. Batesburg-Leesville’s lone victory to date was 7-6 in 1953.

Clinton has won eight state titles, the most recent in 2009. The victory over Chester was Corey Fountain’s 50th in six seasons and 108th as a head coach. Fountain was 58-10 in five seasons at Lamar, winning two Class A titles.
Laurens Academy (10-4) lasted as long as it could, though the Crusaders’ bid for an eight-man state title ended badly in Batesburg on Friday night.
Presbyterian College (6-6) wound up its season on a four-game winning streak with a 30-27 victory over Butler (9-3) on Saturday.
No one expected Laurens (1-9) to win a game less than the season before in Greg Porter’s first year at the helm. Few doubt the season just ended is anything other than a bump in Porter’s road. The schedule was onerous and the injuries extensive.
Thornwell Charter opted out of fielding a varsity team, which is to return next season.
The county’s four active football programs are 26-22, with Clinton’s season still active.

In a marvelous season of eight-man football, Laurens Academy won 10 of 11 games against opponents not named Richard Winn. That’s what’s known as a small consolation.
The Eagles blasted the Crusaders three times, the last on Friday night in Batesburg with the SCISA state championship on the line. The final score was 43-6 and it was 37-0 at the half.
When the Crusaders headed down to Batesburg, they knew they were facing quite a challenge.
The Winnsboro academy played the Laurens one three times, winning 56-20 on Sept. 12 in Winnsboro, 62-12 on Oct. 25 in Laurens and finally in the title game on the neutral field of W.W. King Academy.

Being the state title game, the LA faithful hoped this one would be different, but there wasn’t much evidence to expect it.
In the three games, Winn outscored LA, 161-38. In the Crusaders’ other 11 games, they outscored the opposition, 357-263.
In all sports, Laurens Academy (10-4) boasts two notable rivals, both nicknamed Eagles. It rarely beats Winn and rarely loses to Newberry Academy. One set of Eagles has won 15 football games in a row against the Crusaders. The other has lost 11 straight.
Winn quarterback Charlie Bonds rushed for 109 yards and two touchdowns and passed for 155 and two scores.

Laurens Academy fought to the end, with the clock running without cessation, and scored with 8:35 left on Ethan Collins’ four-yard run.
Winn (12-0) didn’t shut the Crusaders down. Collins passed for 155 yards. Garrett Murphy rushed for 114. Caleb Hardy caught 10 passes, and Murphy caught four.
Over the past five seasons, Winn’s record is 42-10.
Junior lineman Carter Szydlowski is Pioneer Football League Defensive Player of the Week for his play in Presbyterian’s 30-27 upset Butler.

Szydlowski made a career-best nine tackles with a sack and a fumble recovery.
Head coach Steve Englehart’s squad closed the season on a four-game winning streak, the program’s first in 17 years. The win over the Bulldogs also confirmed PC’s first undefeated November since 2002.
Four of Szydlowski’s tackles on Saturday were on plays that went for either one yard or no gain.

Presbyterian (5-3) is off and running in basketball, most notably in the case of Quinton Ferrell’s men’s team, which just won three games in a row at the Axe ‘Em Classic in Nacogdoches, Texas, where the Blue Hose polished off, in order, Stephen F. Austin, Youngstown State and Monmouth.
The finale, on Saturday, was a 71-61 victory over Monmouth (0-8) on Saturday.
The round robin’s MVP, Kobe Stewart, led the Blue Hose 17 points, six assists and five rebounds against the Hawks.

Kory Mincy scored 16 points while grabbing five rebounds. Jamahri Harvey added 13 points. Stewart, Mincy and Harvey all connected on three three-point field goals. Jaylen Peterson 12 rebounds while scoring eight points.
Take a look at the stats here.
Behind five double-figure scorers and a dominant defensive performance, the Blue Hose (4-3) cruised past the Youngstown State Penguins (2-3), 67-42, on Friday afternoon.
Jonah Pierce led PC with 20 points and nine rebounds. Mincy added 12, Kaleb Scott and Stewart 11 apiece, and Iverson King 10.

The Blue Hose defense limited the Penguins, who scored 95 points against Syracuse earlier this season, to a season-low 42 points. PC’s defense held the Penguins to .271 shooting from the field (16/59) and .222 (6/27) from beyond the three-point arc.
The Blue Hose visit Tennessee Tech in Cookeville on Wednesday at 2 p.m.
Take a look at the stats here.

(PC photo)

First-year head coach Tiffany Sardin has lost her first six games at the helm, taking over a depleted roster in the aftermath of Alaura Sharp’s 21-15 campaign and appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Junior-college transfer Teresa Mbemba, from Benguela, Angola, and Frank Phillips College of Borger, Texas, scored nearly half of PC’s points (16) in an 81-39 setback at Davidson.
Candice Lienafa (13), Mallorie Haines (12) and Emilie Bessell (11) led Davidson (3-3) in tightly descended order.
PC shot .341 (15/44) from the floor and missed all six three-pointers, though the Blue Hose did convert 9/11 (.818) free throws. The Wildcats’ corresponding percentages were .429, .333 and .700.
The Blue Hose committed 28 turnovers and received credit for only two assists.
PC next visits East Tennessee State on Wednesday night at 7.
Take a look at the stats here.

Clinton High, whose girls’ team begins the season ranked sixth in Class 2A, fulfilled those expectations at the outset with a 68-30 victory over Catawba Ridge at the Bob Dillon tournament at Spartanburg High School.
McKenzie Clark, a junior, led the Devils with 16 points. Eighth grader Emma Patterson added 14, and sophomore Kemaria Shelton had 12.
Head coach John Gardner praised juniors Mylayja Thompson and Nah’shia Wright for the defensive prowess.
Brooke Berminzani led Catawba Ridge with 12 points, and Addi Cunningham added 11.
The Red Devils play again at 5:30 on Monday.

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