"Why do they [write] for their money? Why do they [work] for short pay? They ain't getting nowhere and they're losing their share. They must have gone crazy back there." — Michael Burton (paraphrased)
By MONTE DUTTON Clay Hendrix is riding the comeback trail (Furman photo) Click here. Perhaps there is some consolation in Furman’s 3-8 record in football.The Paladins are hardly alone in upward or downward mobility.Arizona State improved this year from 3-9 to 11-2. Florida State fell from 13-1 to 2-10. The Seminoles are a poster child …
Continue reading Furmanology: Paladins conquer Buccaneers, 58-42
By MONTE DUTTON Click here. It’s been a great football season for Clinton. It was a great one for Laurens Academy, a good one for Presbyterian College and a disaster for Laurens High.At the beginning of the season, I thought the Raiders would have Laurens County’s most improved team. Now I think they will next …
Continue reading County Signs: The game changes as much as the games
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photo) Click here. My life is seldom mediocre. One night my old high school wins the Upstate championship game. The next morning my truck won’t start.No obvious reason except the cold. I drove straight home from Clinton High School’s Wilder Stadium on Friday night and worked till 3 a.m. on …
Continue reading Furmanology: Paladins return the Princeton favor
By MONTE DUTTON Brett Young, Jaydon Glenn team up to collar Fairfield Central's Kaden Diggs (Monte Dutton photos). Click here. High-school football is fun, but it’s hard. It’s worth it. It changed my life. Once upon a time, it made me think I could do things if I set my mind to them, and when …
Continue reading Big Red punches its ticket to the state, 32-21
By MONTE DUTTON (Furman graphic) Click here. Mid-major is an interesting term. It refers to every team that isn’t a large major. It’s sort of burger joint that calls a small drink “large” and a large one “jumbo.”No one wants to be little. Mid-major is harmless hyperbole, inspirational in its pretense.Furman (8-1) is ranked 12th …
Continue reading Furmanology: Paladins, Tigers to battle in the middle
By MONTE DUTTON Kynius Williams on the pass rush (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. Nothing could be finer than to be in Clinton, South Carolina, at least until Friday night when the Red Devils’ further fate is decided in the Upstate football championship of Class 2A.It’s at Wilder Stadium, the last home game of the …
Continue reading County Signs: Battle royal looms at Wilder Stadium
By MONTE DUTTON Ben Vander Wal became the 11th Paladin to score in double figures this season (Furman photo). Click here. It’s early in the annual basketball wars, but both Furman teams are storming the proverbial beaches so far.The men's Dins of Bob Richey and the women of Pierre Curtis are a combined 15-4, and …
Continue reading Furmanology: ‘Paladins, Paladins, where do you roam?’
By MONTE DUTTON The season is up in the air (Monte Dutton photos). Click here. The few high-school football teams left playing share a common sense of destiny.They all believe they are going to win the state championship, regardless of classification.The lads playing ball at Clinton (10-2) and Fairfield Central (12-1) are both going into …
Continue reading County Signs: Last teams playing are true believers
By MONTE DUTTON Click here. It’s funny how many times common results and scores, otherwise lesser means of comparison, are cited when the choices of who gets in and who gets left out are defended.For all the formulas and analytics, the selection committees swap more horses than the Pony Express ever did.In college football last …
By MONTE DUTTON Click here. Believe it or not, it once snowed several times a winter here. This is one aspect of climate change I do not regret. I’ve grown too old for snow. It’s all I can do to walk across a gravel parking lot in the dark.Careful. Don’t get in a hurry.I watched …
Nightrider's Lament 