By MONTE DUTTON

Behind a pristine performance from redshirt-sophomore quarterback Collin Hurst, Presbyterian rolled past Valparaiso, 43-14, on Saturday at Bailey Memorial Stadium.

Hurst, from Davie, Fla., connected on 26/32 passes for 278 yards and touchdown strikes of 17 and 18 yards to Dominic Kibby. Hurst also caught a touchdown pass of 12 yards from Ty Englehart.

Linebacker Michael Torres also picked up a Valpo fumble and turned it into a 22-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

The Blue Hose (8-1, 4-1 PFL) led, 30-0, at halftime.

Kibby, Nathan Levicki and running back Zach Switzer each snagged five of Hurst’s passes.

Presbyterian piled up 466 yards to the Beacons’ 223.

Valparaiso (1-8, 0-5) finished the afternoon with minus-2 yards rushing. Quarterback Rowan Keefe completed 17/25 passes for 225 yards while being sacked five times.

PC took sole possession of second place in the Pioneer Football League. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Drake (6-2, 5-0) defeated Butler (5-4, 3-2), 24-19, on Sunday, and Drake and PC do not play.

The Blue Hose have remaining games at Davidson, at Saint Thomas (Minn.) and Marist at home. Drake closes with Saint Thomas at home, at Dayton and Morehead State at home. Dayton, which defeated Presbyterian, lost at San Diego, (5-4, 3-2), 31-13, on Saturday.

Only two other PC teams have ever won eight of their first nine games. The Blue Hose have won their last seven home games, dating back to 2024. PC has scored over 40 points in each of this season’s five home games to date. Fifteen Presbyterian players have scored touchdowns this season.

Davidson has beaten Presbyterian four straight times. This is by far the shortest road trip for the Hose within the PFL. This may be a game of reckoning for the Wildcats (1-8, 0-5), who are riding a five-game losing skein into Saturday’s 1 p.m. game at Davidson College Stadium.

Take a look at the stats here.

The curtain fell on Laurens High’s season but not without a fight.

Emerald’s 23-17 victory put the Vikings in the Class 4A playoffs. Quarterback Beau Hite pushed into the end zone on third down and goal from a yard away with 11.7 seconds remaining, spoiling the Raiders’ upset bid.

When senior Brock Franklin blasted a school-record 52-yard field goal with 5:20 remaining in the third quarter, Laurens (1-9, 1-4 Region 1-4A) looked like a team with one last Friday night of destiny.

Once the teams fumbled back and forth to each other on consecutive plays. Twice Emerald fumbled at the end of breakaway plays. After the former, the Raiders couldn’t push the ball out of the end zone and suffered a safety. After the latter, Nehemias Fernandez dashed 94 yards for a touchdown on the next play.

Fernandez finished the night with 127 yards in 13 carries

Hite completed 7/13 passes for 151 yards, a touchdowns and two interceptions, one apiece by Fernandez and Jace Campbell. For the Raiders, Logan Bragg hit 10/16 for 72 yards, throwing one TD and one interception. Bragg’s touchdown pass to Damaija Crooks put the Raiders up, 17-9, but Emerald (5-5, 2-3) bounced back with a 69-yard scoring pass from HIte to Keirion Brown that narrowed the margin to 17-15.

W.W. King Academy handed Laurens Academy (8-2, 4-0) both its losses this season.

The first was a 60-34 shelling on Sept. 19 in Batesburg. That didn’t count as a SCISA eight-man Region 1 game. Friday night’s 44-22 decision at Todd Kirk Field wrapped up the title and top seed in the playoffs.

Three-time Laurens County Touchdown Club Player of the Week Caleb Hardy suffered a hamstring injury in the third quarter while trying to run down a Knights’ player headed to the end zone. Hardy’s availability for the playoffs is uncertain, but the Crusaders may not need him next week.

Cross Schools (0-10) is supposed to visit LA, but that school is weighing a forfeit.

Hardy has scored 26 touchdowns and amassed 2,059 all-purpose yards.

King (10-0, 4-0) running back Joseph Morse scored three first-half touchdowns of at least 39 yards, and the Knights led, 27-6, at halftime.

The Upstate bracket in the Class 2A playoffs begins with South Central of Kershaw (7-3) visiting Clinton (7-3).

Saluda (5-5) is at Mid-Carolina (5-5), Ninety Six (3-7) visits Andrew Jackson of Kershaw (6-4), Chesnee (5-5) is at Fairfield Central of Winnsboro (7-3), Blacksburg (1-9) at Chester (6-4), Eau Claire of Columbia (5-5) at Batesburg-Leesville (7-3), Chesterfield (4-6) at Strom Thurmond of Johnston (8-2) and Pelion (5-5) at Liberty (7-3).

Clinton won its fourth straight region champion and is ranked second in its classification. The Red Devils won their ninth state title last season.

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