By MONTE DUTTON

CHAPIN – Gray Collegiate’s 7-0 exhibition decision over Clinton offered a complicated means of comparison on Friday evening at Chapin High School.

There were similarities. The Red Devils are the reigning Class 2A state football champions. The War Eagles won titles in that classification in 2021 and 2023.

Much has changed. Clinton was in Class 3A until last year. Gray, now in Region 4-4A, moved up two classes a year ago because the S.C. High School League adjusted the alignments based on the state’s private charter schools drawing players from outside their areas. Last season, the War Eagles’ official record was 0-7 because they were penalized for using an ineligible player and some schools elected not to play them.

Both teams played football, but most means of comparison involved apples and oranges. The apples were mostly homegrown, while many of the oranges arrived from distant groves.

Variables aside, the teams played two fierce quarters. Gray Collegiate managed to push one score across. Clinton had comparable yardage but couldn’t score. Clinton linebacker Jaydon Glenn intercepted a pass. His cousin, quarterback Owen Glenn, threw one.

“We made too many mistakes in the red zone,” said Clinton head coach Corey Fountain. “We’ve got to cap off drives. There were too many missed assignments.

“The biggest thing is we want to execute better, no matter [whom] we’re playing. There were a lot of missed assignments. We didn’t line up the way we were supposed to. We didn’t run the play we were supposed to. We still drove the ball down the field. We should have turned two long drives into scores.”

That’s what preseason scrimmages are for. Clinton had one rained out earlier in the week. Mistakes aside, the Red Devils played hard and returned home without suffering any apparent injuries.

“This was a great opportunity for us to get film, though, and to make corrections. We lost a scrimmage, and the way things are condensed now, you can’t make up scrimmages,” Fountain said.

Clinton and Gray played their allotted time without interruption, though lightning flashed a few times in the northern sky, and rain fell for much of the ride home. It was hot and humid during the scrimmage.

The season starts next Friday with familiarity succeeding the mystery of facing an opponent that is notably dissimilar. Last year Woodruff defeated Clinton, 40-36, an ambush that, in the long run, likely contributed to the Red Devils’ ninth state championship. They seldom started slowly afterward.

The only school Clinton has played more often than Woodruff comes up in game two when the Red Devils visit Laurens on Aug. 29. Clinton’s third most frequent opponent, Newberry, visits Wilder Stadium on Sept. 5.

Clinton has won four of the last five against Woodruff, four straight against Laurens and four straight versus Newberry.

Jaydon Glenn and Zy Butler were selected as Clinton’s top players on defense and offense, respectively.

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