"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 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 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 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. I can’t move on from football. Football is too great. I love it too much.To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. – Ecclesiastes 3:1Mortals have made seasons overlap.In Clinton, the stadium is named after the quiet man who lived across the highway. …
By MONTE DUTTON Javen Cook (3) prepares to breach the wall (Monte Dutton photos). Click here. They call him Zoom, and Javen Cook is a thoroughly dangerous young man. He’s little, but he’s loud. Actually, it’s mainly the crowd that gets loud.The Clinton junior is a phenomenon. He’s so shifty they can’t tackle him and …
Continue reading Cook leads Red Devils in zoom meeting, 31-14
By MONTE DUTTON Tushawan Richardson hands off to Javen Cook (3) (Monte Dutton photos). Click here. In the first three football games of the season, Clinton got off to slow starts.“We’ve got to get better,” said head coach Corey Fountain.In all but one game since, the Red Devils have literally hit the ground running. It’s …
By MONTE DUTTON Rhett Gilliam and company ran away from Chester (Monte Dutton photo). Click here. In Laurens County, football season is down to one team, the Clinton Red Devils, and that’s the case for the fourth straight season.The Red Devils, 48-20 winners over Chester in the Class 2A second round, take on the state’s …
By MONTE DUTTON Rhett Gilliam finds a hole (Monte Dutton photos). Click here. For teams that win their regions, the first round of the football playoffs is stress-free and the second is fraught with concern.Led by an unexpected hero, hard-nosed sophomore Rhett Gilliam, Clinton still got to chill – literally – in its 48-20 conquest …
By MONTE DUTTON (PC photo) Click here. I didn’t get to watch the NFL snow game on Thursday, but I don’t think they’re actually wonderful for anyone but those watching on TV and some players.The fans in Cleveland are more acclimated, and the snow probably had something to do with the Browns’ upset of the …
Continue reading County Signs: Lumberjacks axed by Blue Hose
By MONTE DUTTON Brett Young, then wearing No. 35, rushes Chester's Trooper Floyd in last year's game (Monte Dutton photo). Click here. Chester (5-5) is neither the team ranked No. 1 in Class 2A before the season nor the one that lost its first three games.The visitor in Friday night’s playoff game at Wilder Stadium …
Continue reading County Signs: Resurgent Cyclones to blow in
Nightrider's Lament 