"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 (Furman photo) Click here. Thank God it’s over.Furman head football coach Clay Hendrix knew the numbers. Few were the starters returning from consecutive 10-3 season. He thought a decent season was possible if the Paladins stayed relatively healthy.They didn’t. The thinness will thicken next year, but this was a rough one.Elsewhere among …
Continue reading Furmanology: Football was a long, hard road
By MONTE DUTTON Worth Warner enjoyed a happy conclusion to his PC career (Monte Dutton photos). Click here. To understand where Presbyterian College football has come, one has to consider where it’s been.Saturday’s 30-27 upset of Butler (9-3, 5-3 PFL) was the Blue Hose’ fourth in a row. They went from 2-6 to 6-6 and, …
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 (Furman photo) Click here. I don’t understand why so many FCS teams want to move up to FBS, though it wouldn’t break my heart if some of those state schools from the sparsely populated northern mountains and prairies would take the ski jump.Oh, wait. It could have something to do with money, …
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 Click here. The South Carolina-Clemson meeting of the Laurens County Touchdown Club – it’s held a week early because next Thursday is some holiday or something – was a civil, sportsmanlike affair at The Ridge.No one made reference to Chickens and Kittycats. Mascots didn’t square off and threaten to scuffle. No one …
Continue reading County Signs: Gamecocks, Tigers really love each other
By MONTE DUTTON Click here. On Wednesday morning, I had some time on my hands because a plumber was at the house, so while waiting to see how much the damage was – answer: a lot – I watched part of the Susan Smith parole hearing on TV.I have an offbeat memory from that time.The …
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
By MONTE DUTTON Freshman Trey Hedden stepped back into the starting lineup and led the Paladins to victory (Furman photo). Click here. I spent the first half of Sunday catching up on this site, that and watching an old film noir titled “The Big Combo,” with Cornel Wilde and Richard Conte.As a measure of how …
By MONTE DUTTON Click here. I sometimes quibble with the basic math of football coaches.A team shouldn’t go for two until it has to. On Saturday night, Missouri was down, 21-6, and scored a touchdown. The Tigers went for two and failed. They tried because they wanted to get within seven points, but missing left …
Continue reading County Signs: PC wins again; Crusaders in state finals
Nightrider's Lament 