No surprises. Clinton High School’s football schedule is the same as last year, when the Red Devils won the Class 2A state championship with a 35-6 victory over Barnwell in Orangeburg, except that the sites are reversed.

Clinton opens the season with road games against its historic rivals, Woodruff and Laurens, followed by a home game against another, Newberry. Then the Red Devils play Chapman and Daniel at Wilder Stadium, followed by a visit to another familiar rival, Union County. Weather prevented the last game from being played last fall.

In Region 1-2A, Clinton takes on Liberty at home, Chesnee on the road, Landrum at home and Blacksburg on the road.

Before the season begins in earnest, the Red Devils scrimmage Fountain Inn in Woodruff’s McDonald’s Kickoff Classic, Chapin in a game-type exhibition at home and go to Chapin for a jamboree.

The junior varsity schedule features the same opponents, all a day earlier and at opposite sites and starting at 6 p.m. The opener against Woodruff is technically an exhibition because no JV game counts that is held before the varsity opens its season.

Aug. 7, at McDonald’s Kickoff Classic, 6 p.m.; 11, CHAPIN, 6; 15, at Chapin Jamboree, TBA; 22, at Woodruff, 7:30; 29, at Laurens, 7:30.

Sept. 5, NEWBERRY, 7:30; 12, CHAPMAN, 7:30; 19, DANIEL, 7:30; 26, at Union County, 7:30.

Oct. 3, LIBERTY, 7:30; 10, at Chesnee, 7:30; 17, LANDRUM, 7:30; 24, at Blacksburg, 7:30, 31, bye.

Clinton (7-4, 1-2) got on the Region 3-2A baseball board with a vengeance on Tuesday night, thumping previously unbeaten Chester, 14-0, on the Cyclones’ home field.

Remarkably, the first two innings were scoreless. The Red Devils broke the ice with two runs in the third, then melted it with eight in the fourth and four in the fifth, which ended the game prematurely.

Shortstop Jaydon Glenn got Clinton started with a two-out, two-run double. It was the first of two doubles by him in the game. He drove in three runs and scored twice.

Second baseman Talan Campbell also rapped two hits and scored two runs. Camden Finley singled and tripled, scoring twice and driving in two. Maison Tinsley also doubled.

Tanner Finley went the reduced distance on the mound, allowing just two hits and striking out eight. He issued no walks.

The Cyclones (7-1, 2-1) visit Clinton on Friday night.

Led by left fielder Brett Young, Clinton traveled to Newberry and defeated the Bulldogs, 12-5, on Monday night.

In fact, the Young brothers, Brett and Luke, combined for five hits in eight at-bats. Brett was 3/4 with three runs and one RBI. Catcher Luke was 2/4 with a run and a double. Brett’s singles occurred in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.

Newberry (4-4) led, 3-1, after two innings, but the Red Devils came back with two runs in the fourth, six in the fifth and three in the sixth.

Talan Campbell was 2/4 and a run and two RBI, and Camden Finley doubled in a run and scored three times.

Isaac Cane earned the win with 4-1/3 innings of one-hit, shutout relief. He walked three and fanned four. Zack Lawson, Owen Glenn and Campbell also saw action on the hill.

Mason Mills, who took the loss, collected two hits for the Bulldogs.

Laurens (6-6, 3-1) came off the deck, too, trailing Wren by four runs early in Monday’s Region 1-4A game in Piedmont but winding up with an 8-6 victory over the Hurricanes.

Zay Pulley’s two-run double in the top of the seventh inning made the difference. Bennett Edwards and Ben Willis also doubled for the Raiders, whose nine hits made up for five errors. Jireh Brown walked three times.

Connor Rice was the winning pitcher, toiling four shutout innings in relief of Edwards, who gave up six runs – only two were earned – in three innings.

Ace Amidon, the third of four Wren (8-3, 2-2) hurlers, took the loss. Max Whitfield homered for the Hurricanes, who had no one with more than one hit.

Game two of the three-game series is at Ed Prescott Field on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

Green Upstate, which trailed Thornwell 5-0 after two innings, took care of that with nine third-inning runs and wound up defeating the Saints, 17-8, on Tuesday evening in Simpsonville.

Parker Workman had two of the Saints’ six hits. He also took the loss, pitching the first 2-2/3 innings, allowing just one hit but walking eight. Five other Thornwell (3-7) players took turns on the mound.

Oakbrook Prep defeated Laurens Academy, 8-2, in Spartanburg.

Shortstop Riley Whittaker collected two of the Crusaders’ four hits. Evan Asalone and Hack Hardy drove in the runs. Whitaker and Elias Littleton scored the runs. Caleb Hardy stole two bases for the 3-3 Crusaders.

Third baseman Dallas Collins had a pair of singles to lead the Knights. Littleton was the LA starter, allowing five runs (two earned) in 2-1/3 innings, allowing three hits and two walks.

Chattanooga, the last of three Southern Conference teams standing, made the NIT semifinals with a 67-65 victory over Bradley on Tuesday night in Peoria, Ill. The final four play at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Illinois State, which defeated Presbyterian in the first round of the CBI, defeated Incarnate Word, 73-70, in round two.

The latest threat to everyone’s well-being is microplastics. Our body absorbs them from drinking from plastic bottles, sucking on plastic straws and eating from plastic plates.

There is nothing we can do about it. We should’ve never stopped drinking Cokes from glass bottles and saving them for the deposit. We should’ve washed our dishes in the sinks and hung our clothes on a line in the backyard.

I haven’t seen a clothesline in a while.

That reminds me. I went to the laundromat on Monday. My dryer’s broke down. I’m not going to be buying a new one any time soon. I’m satisfied a repairman would tell me it’d cost less to get a new one. He’d probably have one to sell me.

Don’t mind me. I get pessimistic now and then.

Buy my books. A lot of them are on Amazon. Most of them are fiction. This website satisfies my need for real life.

Crazy of Natural Causes is about a coach who is nearly killed in an automobile accident, gets religion and finds out there’s not much religion in those who preach it for money. Forgive Us Our Trespasses is a tale of small-town corruption.