"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 Wilder Stadium was already packed at the opening kickoff when Laurens last visited in 2022 (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. Until time changes from Daylight Saving to Standard time, I begin Clinton High School games shooting photos on the visitors side because the lighting is better until the sun goes down. A …
Continue reading County Signs: It couldn’t get bigger … but did
By MONTE DUTTON Ian Williams scores against ETSU (Furman photo) Click here. The most inane stoppage in sport has spread to college football, which at least has the decency to call it “a two-minute timeout.” The NFL’s “two-minute warning” dates back to a time when many stadiums didn’t have visible clocks. An official trotted to …
By MONTE DUTTON Lots of flags fly above Wilder Stadium. (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. Have you ever seen a presentation of That Championship Season? It was a play and movie about old teammates getting together. That tale takes a dark turn. Nothing dark happened at Clinton High School on Saturday night. It was all …
By MONTE DUTTON Greg Porter (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. I admit it. It’s no secret. I’m getting old. Old people like things like they were before. It doesn’t mean old things are better. It just means they’re familiar. The Laurens County Touchdown Club’s first meeting was familiar on Thursday at The Ridge. Three of …
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. One gathering I miss when football ends is going every other Thursday to the Laurens County Touchdown Club. I almost always get there early. I get to almost everything early except bed. I like to mingle and interact. I’m the same way at ballgames. I chat with …
Continue reading County Signs: Where everyone scores touchdowns
By MONTE DUTTON Paris Mountain from Paladin Stadium (Monte Dutton photo) Click here. Were I a prognosticator of the sports-radio airwaves – one of those outspoken men and brassy women who tell me all about how they’re betting – I might predict a bad season for the Furman Paladins. They look at the simple math, …
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. I’m so excited. I just can’t hide it. It’s only Monday. Woodruff and Clinton played opening night for about a half century. Hillcrest and Laurens have played on opening night for as long as I’ve been back from the NASCAR wars. For years, Clinton was always Class …
Continue reading County Signs: Three rivalries to open prep season
By MONTE DUTTON Cambridge Academy, Greenwood (Monte Dutton photo) Click here. I wrote about my first football game on Friday night. It was an eight-man fray played on a quaint field with a shade tree on the home side, two sets of stairs and no grandstand. The score was 56-20. Eight-man football is soccer in …
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. Laurens football would be a question mark wrapped in an enigma, anyway. New coach with big name. Lots of new players, tough schedule. It’s not hard to figure out the Raiders are going to be better. It is to anticipate how much. Laurens has only faced another …
Continue reading County Signs: Raiders, Red Devils from a week’s distance
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. GREENWOOD -- On Friday evening, at a tidy field, Laurens Academy opened its football season with a 56-20 victory over Cambridge Academy, and the game is undefeated back in Laurens County. This was in part because it was the season’s first game and in part because the …
Nightrider's Lament 