New Presbyterian College head football coach Matt Rahl faces a schedule similar to the one the Blue Hose played last year. The good news is that PC enjoyed a 10-2 season in Steve Englehart’s final season at the helm. The bad news is that, for the first time since 2022, the Blue Hose have a …
Paladins set sights on UConn, Philly
By MONTE DUTTON Alex Wilkins (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. Furman University is practicing football, competing in numerous spring sports, and dancing. Basketball is not over. Not yet. The Paladins are headed to Philadelphia, Pa., City of Brotherly Love, and where Furman pulled an NCAA first-round upset of South Carolina on March 9, 1974. I’m …
Red Devils prosper in cool night air
By MONTE DUTTON Noah Hughes (12) and Clinton's Camden Finley (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. To borrow from an old country song, it was back to the basics of love On a Friday night in March, Clinton (4-1) handled Laurens (0-5), 12-6, at Ed Prescott Field. All there were appropriately bundled. The Red Devils wore …
Short-term hoops fatigue
By MONTE DUTTON Click here. “Six Days on the Road (and I’m A-Gonna Make It Home Tonight)” was written by Earl Green and Carl Montgomery. It’s my favorite trucker song. I don’t have a lot. A man who drives pickups doesn’t count as a trucker. I was, however, on the road for six days. I …
Furman closes deal with gusto, 76-61
By MONTE DUTTON Alex Wilkins (44) changed jerseys after ripping the front of his No. 10 (Monte Dutton photos). Click here. ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- The Southern Conference tournament is a meeting of warring tribes. Most times when a team pulls out a game at the end, fans take a breath, smile and say, Had it …
Wilkins leads Paladins into finals, 81-75
By MONTE DUTTON Alex Wilkins (10) conjuring up magic (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Winning the Ingles SoCon Men’s Basketball Championship requires hustle and bustle. It requires the touch of a poet and the toughness of a prize fighter. The tournament matches its home. Asheville may have more automobiles papered with bumper …
Some kind of SoCon shootout
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The basketball teams I follow can play with anybody, and anybody can play with them. Man, oh, man, did Furman and Samford ever play with each other. Don’t take that the wrong way. The shooting was out of Pleasantville. The plot was out of …
Blue Hose turn some Big South tables
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – On Saturday morning, too early, I turned on the TV in my room and East Tennessee PBS was raising money by showing a cavalcade of disco hits. I was so happy I enjoyed it. For the first time in a decade Presbyterian College won a …
I barely know where I am, but I know the way
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. This morning brings confusion, upon awakening, over where I am. I’m in Johnson City, Tenn., writing about Asheville, N.C. I really wish I were still in Asheville, where in a little over an hour, the Furman University women’s basketball team – which is seeded higher than the …
Continue reading I barely know where I am, but I know the way
If only Aminata Tal was tall
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – A lot goes on at a college basketball tournament. This one in the Big South Conference is just getting started. The games on Wednesday matched the worst teams: eighth-best versus ninth. Winning it from here is similar to plowing a field that happens to be …
Nightrider's Lament 