"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 The Battle for the Belt went Clinton's way last year (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. Clinton is playing its third rivalry in as many weeks. Seriously. This Friday’s game is at Newberry, which, like Woodruff and Laurens, has been lining up in anger opposite the Red Devils for more than a century. …
Continue reading County Signs: Devils hope to tighten grip on Belt
By MONTE DUTTON Steve Englehart (Monte Dutton photo) Click here. What do you do? You shake hands, pick up the check and get back to work on games you can actually win. Mystery surrounds the Presbyterian Blue Hose in the aftermath of last Thursday night’s 63-10 shellacking at Mercer. The Bears won an FCS playoff …
Continue reading County Signs: How fleet is the Fleet when it flies?
By MONTE DUTTON Home never looked more welcome (Furman photo). Click here. I watched three football games, two of them, fortunately, on TV. Mercer crunched Presbyterian, 63-10, on Thursday. Clinton High raced past Laurens, 35-8, on Friday. Ole Miss destroyed Furman, 76-0, on Saturday. The combined scores were 174-18. For a Furman grad, seldom has …
By MONTE DUTTON Clinton won, 49-7, last year (Monte Dutton photo) Click here. Football rumbles down a road. Basketball’s not the same. There’s almost a game every night. Same with baseball and most sports. NASCAR rumbles, but that’s literally. Maybe it vrooms. One aspect I love about football is … it’s organized. A game is …
By MONTE DUTTON Clinton's Corey Fountain and Newberry's Cedrick Jeter show off the belt. (Monte Dutton photo) Click here. The benefits of a Wednesday trip to Newberry won’t be cashed in until next week, when thoughts turn to the Bulldogs and the Battle of the Belt. Appropriately sponsored by Clinton-Newberry Natural Gas Authority, Clinton and …
(Furman graphic) Click here. Given its history of success, it comes as no surprise that Furman cross country is ranked by the – okay, take this down -- U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. That’s USTFCCCA, which doesn’t simplify things. Women’s cross country is ranked third in the NCAA Southeast Region preseason …
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photo) Click here. Here’s a prediction that doesn’t require a soothsayer. Wilder Stadium will be packed when Laurens comes to town Friday night. Clinton’s band will be pumping out its knockoff of the Notre Dame fight song. Laurens will mimic Ohio State. It will be hot, with thunder in the …
Continue reading County Signs: All roads lead to Wilder Stadium
Injured Tyler Huff cheers on Carson Jones (5) at Chattanooga (Furman photo). Click here. The season is a week away, and Furman head football coach Clay Hendrix still weighs his options at the quarterback position. Tyler Huff’s successor remains under consideration as Hendrix and staff consider the merits of Carson Jones (6-2, 204, So.), Trey …
Continue reading Furmanology: Three in the medal round at QB
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 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 …
Nightrider's Lament 