By MONTE DUTTON Tushawan Richardson hands off to Javen Cook (Monte Dutton photos). Click here. Clinton got everything right but the final score Friday night at Wilder Stadium. Woodruff held on to defeat the Red Devils,40-36, behind 203 passing yards from T.J. Morris and 184 rushing from Aiden Gibson. Clinton (0-1) came from 13 points …
Tag: Monte Dutton
Flip the switch on the Friday-night lights
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 …
County Signs: Where everyone scores touchdowns
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
Paladins have (defensive) backs to fill
Caleb Williams blocks a V MI punt (Furman photo). Click here. Furman has been reconstructing diligently its last lines of defense, the secondary. The cornerback and safety positions sustained significant losses in experience and production following a 10-3, Southern Conference championship season. Seven lettermen in the group, including all four regulars and two others with …
Furmanology: A gleam in the air
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, …
County Signs: Three rivalries to open prep season
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
Furmanology: Green flag’s waving
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 …
County Signs: Raiders, Red Devils from a week’s distance
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
Crusaders win big for Doolittle’s 100th
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 …
Furmanology: Fight the good fight
By MONTE DUTTON (Furman photo) Click here. For the past few years, I’ve looked forward to football with buoyant expectations. For the past two seasons, I’ve been right. The Paladins have fulfilled those elite expectations. This year, I’m fascinated. The players who propelled Furman are mostly gone. The Paladins are ranked prominently in both the …
Nightrider's Lament 