By MONTE DUTTON
The Country Skillet was jammed late Friday afternoon. I was the only person there who didn’t know everyone else there, and they were all talking to everyone else. I sat there, reading about Rosman High’s football team in the Transylvania Times, and then I drove down the road to watch it.
The Catfish Special was excellent. One woman picked up her take-out and talked to almost everyone there before she left. I complimented her on her Red Sox cap. I wanted her to get a perfect score.
Rosman edged West-Oak, from across the border, by a score of 21-19 in a practice game. It was a shocking outcome. The Tigers only dressed 21. Four or five others were banged up, wearing their game jerseys. Junior varsity players comprised the chain crew. The Warriors were quite a bit larger in numbers and weight, but the score went back and forth all night. West-Oak had a last gasp with 2.3 seconds on the clock, but the desperation pass appeared to be intended for nobody.
I figure about a thousand folks were there. Maybe. Some bucks were raised. It cost five dollars to get in.
Why was I one of them? Well, Clinton and Laurens were scrimmaging — or jamboreeing — at Byrnes, where both won. The Red Devils defeated Riverside, 19-14, and the Raiders turned lots of heads by upending Woodruff, 35-13.
At about 3 p.m., I checked the weather: high 90s in the Upstate. Clinton was playing first, Laurens third. I figured the wet-bulb thermometers would push back the start, and I’d be damn near all night in Duncan.
Rosman is just a few miles away. I wish I’d gone to Byrnes High in retrospect, but I had a good time at Silversteen Memorial Stadium.
It’s pretty. Hills rise all around the artificial playing surface. Sunset was pretty.
It’s a different world, though.
Rosman is Joanna if it had a high school. The Carolinas are alike in that most high-school football teams make the playoffs. The Tigers won a playoff game but finished 3-9 last year. They open at home against Owen (Black Mountain) next week. The Warhorses won, 35-0, last season.
What a friendly place, though. I needed to get back in the hang of shooting photos at night games, but I mainly circulated, chatting with the referees, the Rosman trainer, a retired English teacher, a policeman, a fireman, a West-Oak lineman and several fans whose way to make a living is unknown to me.
It also pleased me to receive information of what happened at Byrnes.
The Raiders have been batted around in recent years. Their fans are going to arrive at Wilder Stadium with high hopes, which hasn’t been true in a while.
Clinton has won the past five games against Laurens by an average score of 42-13. Only so much can be learned from preseason scrimmages, but it’s clear that the Raiders are much better. It’s also clear that the Red Devils remain strong.
I was still sweating from the Rosman game when I started getting excited about Laurens visiting Clinton on Aug. 28.
Wellpilgrim.com takes its name from John Wayne, who liked the phrase, and the Kris Kristofferson song “The Pilgrim: Chapter 33, Hang on, Hopper.” The title of the site comes from my favorite song, Michael Burton’s “Nightrider’s Lament.”
I can be reached at Adventure Village #6, 15 Adventure Ridge Road, Brevard, N.C. 28712.
I’d appreciate it if you’d consider buying one or two or five of my books, which are available on Amazon and at other bookseller sites. Two novels, Cowboys Come Home and Lightning in a Bottle, are available in audible versions.
