By MONTE DUTTON

A team begins its season and, despite the best of intentions, isn’t as good as expected.

It’s a nightmarish realization for coaches. The atmosphere accelerates. Already obsessed with preparing for each week’s opponent, now the staff has to improve in a big hurry. A frantic profession becomes more so.

Such is the case with the next football visitor to Wilder Stadium. Chapman has a proud history and the expectation of success. Chapman (0-3) has fallen on hard times. Clinton has built a rivalry with the Panthers based on a tradition of fierce games.

Chapman opened its season with losses to Daniel (43-0), Saint Joseph’s Catholic (35-34) and Boiling Springs (56-0).

Mark Hodge, now at Spartanburg High, led Chapman to the Class 3A state championship in 2019. Under Harry Cabaniss for the past five seasons, the Panthers have finished, beginning in 2020, 7-1, 8-3, 8-5, 10-2 and 3-8. Undoubtedly, there is some restlessness among the natives.

Chapman first played Clinton (1-2) in 1954. Clinton leads the series, 21-6. The Red Devils are 10-3 at home and 11-3 in Inman. Clinton won the first 17 games in the series, is 4-6 since but 3-1 in the past four. In the Red Devils’ last three victories over the Panthers (twice in 2022 and last year), they have scored 49 points each time.

What is rare about Friday’s game is that Clinton and Chapman have one victory between them.

Clinton’s fine. The Red Devils play only larger schools (four 3As and two 4As) in the first six games. It is likely to prepare them well for Region 1-2A, which doesn’t get underway until Oct. 3.

The rest of the Laurens County schedule finds A.C. Flora (3-0) at Laurens High (0-3) and Richard Winn (1-2) at Laurens Academy (3-0). This is a rare opportunity for the Crusaders, who haven’t bettered the Eagles since 2009. Winn defeated LA, 43-6, in last year’s eight-man state championship game, its 15^th straight win in the series.

A year ago, LDHS put a scare into the Columbia-based Falcons before falling, 20-17.

For the first time this season, all three county high schools are at home. Presbyterian College (2-0) is also at Bailey Memorial Stadium for the first time, facing Erskine (0-1) at 7 p.m.

Head coach Quinton Ferrell announced a challenging men’s basketball schedule at PC.

The Blue Hose have 14 home games at Templeton Center and take on California, South Carolina and UCLA on the road.

 “Our non-conference schedule will challenge and prepare us for Big South Conference play,” Ferrell stated in the release. “We have some great opportunities early in the season to show what we’re capable of and the overall potential of this year’s group. We have games against teams that participated in the NCAA Tournament last season, which is always a great measuring stick.

“It’s also exciting to compete against some of the best programs in the state of South Carolina, with games against USC, Wofford and the Citadel. We are looking forward to kicking off the season on Nov. 3 in our home opener against Navy and having a great season.”

Presbyterian will see its first action with an exhibition game at Clemson on Oct. 17. The Blue Hose travel to California to play in the Empire Classic, which features road games at Sacramento State (Nov. 16), California (Nov. 18), and UCLA (Nov. 21).

The Blue Hose have road contests at East Carolina (Dec. 17) and Manhattan (Dec. 21).

Due to the Big South’s television package, all league mid-week games move from Wednesday to Thursday for the final five weeks of the regular season.

The season culminates with the Big South Conference Tournament held March 4-8 at Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City, Tenn.

Take a look at the full schedule here.

Chapman-Clinton is available on WPCC (FM 96.5, AM 1410, largetime.net) beginning at 7 p.m. Friday. Saturday Morning Rewind is at 9 a.m., followed by a replay of Friday night’s game.

Flora-Laurens will be streamed through GoLaurens.com .

For years, my site has been supported by reader contributions. If you’re interested, you can make modest monthly payments on my Patreon page or a one-time contribution via Venmo (@DHKSports). Every little bit helps.

Most of my books are available at Amazon.