By MONTE DUTTON

A state championship carries with it inherent uncertainty. It’s similar to the way major-league baseball was before interleague play.
Clinton (11-2) and Barnwell (13-1) haven’t played … ever. Neither has played any team the other has this year. The Red Devils are the Class 2A rulers of the Upstate and the Warhorses the lords of the Low Country.
Clinton has won eight straight games. Barnwell has won 10 in a row. The Red Devils lost to Woodruff and Daniel. The Warhorses lost to South Aiken. Other than the losses, Clinton’s closest call was nine points (23-14 over Newberry on Sept. 6) and Barnwell trimmed Manning, 28-27, two weeks ago.

Barnwell has been in Class 2A since at least 2004. Clinton was assigned to 2A this season after half a century in 3A. In the past five seasons, Barnwell is 47-16; Clinton is 48-11.
Both are region and area (i.e., Upstate/Low Country) champions. The citizens of both towns are certain their team is better.
Who knows? About all the Red Devils and Warhorses have in common is that both won state titles in 1987, and both have lost to South Aiken in the past two seasons.

Clinton won its 16th Upstate title and is bidding for its ninth state crown. In their entire, century-long history, the Red Devils have had only one losing decade (2010-19), and those hard times are a distant memory. The most recent state title in 2009? That seems like yesterday. Clinton’s previous titles were in 1939, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1985, 1987 and 2009.
Barnwell is bidding for its fourth state championship; the first three were in 1969, 1987 and 2018.

Both schools have reached rarefied air. Even with 16 Upstate titles, the first was 1938 and the most recent in 2009. It’s over a span of 72 seasons.
If they plant their flag at the summit of Class 2A, they will go down in local legend. For what it’s worth, I played on a team that lost a state championship game and another that won it. I know the feeling, either way, and it doesn’t change in half a century.
Fairy tales can come true / It can happen to you / If you’re young at heart – Frank Sinatra (lyrics by Carolyn Lee)
Lord knows it’s worth a shot.

As my late, great friend Jim McLaurin used to say when all hell was breaking loose at a race track, “Other’n’at, ain’t much hap’nin’.”
All that’s happening is everything.
Thursday at 2 p.m. would be all right if it was Thanksgiving. District 56 is letting the school kids out. I hope a lot of working people find a way to get off, and I hope bosses wink when folks call in sick.
This is going to be something to see.

Clinton quarterback Tushawan Richardson is the Laurens County Touchdown Club’s Player of the Week for his fine performance in the Red Devils’ 32-21 victory over Fairfield Central in the Class 2A Upstate Championship game at Wilder Stadium.
Clinton plays Barnwell at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium on the campus of South Carolina State University on Thursday at 2 for the state championship.
Richardson, a senior, rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown and passed for 104 with two scores. He was 3/5 with his arm, averaging 34.3 yards a completion. He averaged 12.8 yards a carry with his legs.

“Tushawan is a true competitor and excels with the ball in his hand. He made plays when we needed them most with his legs and through the air. It’s been great to see him grow as a player and person,” Clinton head coach Corey Fountain said.
The TD Club’s annual banquet is on Jan. 8 at The Ridge in Laurens. The guest speaker is ex-Clemson standout Brian Mance.

The two most prominent programs in the Southeast Region will wrestle in a marquee duel Tuesday evening at Templeton Gymnasium, as the sixth-ranked Presbyterian College women square off against third-ranked King.

The duel (also a dual meet) features a combined 17 wrestlers who are nationally ranked. The match starts at 6.
Since the season began in November, Presbyterian has assembled 12 gold finishes in tournament play and a 2-0 record in standard duals (defeating Campbellsville and, most recently, Mount Olive last week).

Elsewhere in the county, Laurens Academy visited Greenville Tech on Monday and hosts New Covenant on Tuesday in basketball.

Laurens hosts Hillcrest on Tuesday and Woodruff on Wednesday. The Raiders are wrestling on Wednesday at Powdersville.
Clinton’s basketball teams are at Union County on Tuesday.
Presbyterian College’s women’s basketball team visits North Carolina Central on Wednesday at 11 a.m. The men host Columbia College at noon.
PC baseball has promoted John O’Neil to associate head coach under Elton Pollock.

“Every mile or so a sign proclaimed that Christ was coming soon, and I thought, well, man, He’d sure be disappointed if He did.” – Tom T. Hall, “Trip to Hyden”

Wellpilgrim.com is adjusting to the winter chill. The bounces of the balls are getting truer, and soon it’ll all be indoors. This is the 1,500th post.
Times are changing. I am aware of how irrelevant what I do for a living has become and thus how unimportant my efforts are. The readers appreciate them, but there aren’t enough of them. I doubt there ever will be again.

It’s what I do. It’s what I know.

Support the advertisers. They are all fine people who want their businesses associated with honest coverage of local sports.
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.

Most of the protagonists in my novels are combinations of memories and observations. Duh. I am fascinated by likeable rogues. I knew a lot of them in NASCAR. The result is my only two novels that are related to each other, Lightning in a Bottle and Life Gets Complicated, both published in 2017.
Photo galleries are posted on Instagram @furmanatt and @laurenscountysports.
Thanks for putting up with me.