Local Notes
Clinton HS
- Football Season Tickets… Season tickets for Red Devil football are now on sale through this Friday (August 9th) at the ticket office in the gym at Clinton HS… A season ticket will cost you $70 and will include a reserved parking pass… The ticket will let you get into any regular season football game and that includes varsity, JV and middle school games… Ticket sales will start at 8:30 am each day and conclude at 1:30 pm… Senior citizens age 62 and above may also pick up their senior passes at those times also… If you have any questions call Mrs. Kathy Schumpert (864-938-1981) or Louie Alexander (864-938-1982)…. Click here to go to the CHS website where there is more information about this.
- Red Devil Football Scrimmages and Jamborees… The following is a list of dates that the Red Devil football team will be involved in a scrimmage or jamboree:
- August 12th… Scrimmage at Chapin starting at 6:00 pm.
- August 16th… Clinton will travel to Chapin to participate in a jamboree taking on Blythewood at about 7:30 pm… Look below for more information.
- Chapin Jamboree Information… Advance tickets for Clinton’s participation are on sale at the Clinton HS ticket office in the main gym at Clinton HS and they are only $5.00 each with Clinton getting to keep all the ticket sales money… You can also buy them at the gate the night of the jamboree but they will be $7:00 each and Clinton will get only a small part of those proceeds… Obviously it will be better for Red Devil fan to get their tickets ahead of time… For more information on this, click here…. Go Big Red!
- CHS Athletic Booster Club… It’s not too early to think about joining the CHS Athletic Booster Club for next season… To learn more about the booster club and its benefits, click here… That will carry you to a form where more information is available and you can also print out and use that form to join the booster club… They really do help all the sports put the “Go” in Go Big Red!
Laurens HS
- Raiders 21 – Union 8… The raider football team traveled over to Union Friday to participate in the McDonald’s Kickoff Jamboree… The Raiders scored early and often and made the Yellow Jackets pay for their mistakes while playing with a lot of enthusiasm and having fun in the first preview of this year’s Raiders under new head coach Gregg Porter… How it happened:
- The Raiders took the opening kickoff and after a horse collar tackle on the return started on their own 46 yard line… Ten plays later quarterback Will Thompson carried it in from the 12 yard line and with Brock Franklins PAT they led 7-0 with 6:03 left in the first quarter.
- Franklin thin kicked the ball into the endzone giving the Yellow Jackets the ball at their own 20… Two plays later they fumbled and Demayjah Watts recovered the ball on the Union 18 yard line… Three plays later Nehemias Fernandez carried it in from the 2 yard line and with Franklin’s PAT the Raiders led 14-0 with 3:33 left in the first quarter.
- The Yellow Jackets were not able to move the ball on their next possession and faked a punt on fourth down and came up short.
- The Raiders took over at the Union 42 with 11:50 left in the second quarter and punted after a busted play…. Union muffed the punt return and the Raiders took over at the Union 18 once again and scored 2 plays later on an 18 yard pass from Thompson to Shawn Medlin… Again Franklin kicked the PAT and the Raiders led 21-0 with 9:25 left in the contest.
- Neither team moved the ball much the next time they had it and Union did score with about 4 seconds left against the Raider subs and made the 2-point conversion to make the final 21-8 Raiders.
- The Raiders start their regular season on August 23rd hosting the Hillcrest Rams at 7:30 in KC Hannah Stadium.
- Meet The Raiders Postponed… The 3rd Annual Meet the Raiders was supposed to take place last Friday, August 9th at KC Hanna Stadium… The rescheduling of the Union Jamboree caused it to be rescheduled until this Friday, August 16th. It will run from 6-8 pm… The cost is free and in addition to the to the parade of athletes there will be music by the Raider band, Raider gear for sale, food trucks and other activities taking place.
- Century Club Membership… The Laurens District 55 High school Athletics Booster Club is now taking applications for new Century Club membership of renewal of old memberships for the 2024-2025 school year… Asa quick reminder, joining the Century Club gets you two reserved-seat season tickets to Raider regular season home football games (during playoffs your seat is reserved but you must to get in because of SCHSL rules), a reserved parking pass and an “All-Sport” athletic pass that admits two to any Raider regular season home contest in any sport (again SCHSL rules require payment for playoffs). There are other things available to Century Club members… For much more information about the Century Club and who to contact if you have questions, click here… If join quickly you can pick up your membership packet at Meet the Raiders on August 16th… If you would like to join electronically, click here… This is the best way to show your support for the Raiders!
Laurens Academy
- Crusaders Tie Cathedral Academy 6-6… The Crusader football team participated in a jamboree at Wardlaw Academy last Friday taking on Cathedral Academy out of Charleston… The only information I have on the contest is that the two teams played to a 6-6 tie… If I get more information on this contest, I will update this. The Crusaders will travel to Cambridge Academy in Greenwood this Friday, Aug. 16yj to start their regular season.
2024 Summer Olympics… The Paris Summer Olympics actually started with some preliminary events on Wednesday, 7-24-24 and will continue through Sunday, 8-11-24…. They official opened with the Opening Ceremony on Friday, 7-26-24… If you would like to go to the official website for the Paris Summer Olympics where there is a wealth of information about the Olympic Games in Paris click here.
- Schedule of Events… On the Olympic website there are several ways to look at the schedule of events… If you click here it will carry you to a posting where you can select the day you are interested in or you can select a sport and see when competition will be taking place in that sport… Either way if you check for earlier dates it will give you the results of the completed contest… One thing to remember, Paris is 6 hours ahead of our time…Example: if it is noon here it is 6:00 pm Paris time.
- Viewing Schedule… NBC is primarily responsible for the viewing of the Olympics on TV… They have a posting on their website that list the viewing schedule not only for “over the air” viewing but also internet or other network viewing of various contest or ceremonies… Click here to go to that posting.
- Medal Count… Also on the NBC Olympic website is a posting that gives the medal count for each country… To go there click here… When you get there you can expand it to see what sport the country won the medals in… The final total medal count for the top 3 countries is as follows
- USA: 40 gold, 44 silver, 42 bronze for a total of 126
- China: 40 gold, 27 silver, 24 bronze for a total of 91
- Great Britain: 14 gold, 22 silver, 29 bronze for a total of 65
- Some Other Olympic Notes… USA Today is doing a pretty good job of covering the Olympics and if you click here it will carry you to their website where Olympic news is covered… Once you get there, you will find a number of stories about the games and results but also “back stories” from the Olympics about the athletes competing.
Pro Sports: For more information on the game(s) below, click on the scores at the start of the section.
Atlanta Braves… The Braves completed a 3-game series out in Colorado against the Rockies over the weekend
- Friday: Rockies 6 – Braves 5… The Braves started the series on Friday with a tough 6-5 loss… They trailed early in the game and came back to tie the game 5-5 in the 7th inning where they scored 3 runs but the Rockies scored a single run in the bottom of the inning and then held the Braves scoreless the rest of the way to take the 6-5 win… The Braves actually outhit the Giants 12-10 and out-homered the Giants 3-1but had trouble getting other clutch hits while the Giants did not… Marcell Ozuna (34), and Ramon Laureano (4) both had solo homeruns for the Braves while Jorge Soler (13) had a 2-run homer.
- Saturday: Braves 11 – Rockies 8…The Braves were able to turn the tables taking an 11-8 win on Saturday… The Braves had 4 homers in the game as Matt Olson (19) hit a grand slam in the 3rd inning and a solo shot in the 7th inning, Marcell Ozuna (35) a solo homer in the 5th inning and Jorge Soler (14) a solo shot in the 8th inning.
- Sunday: Rockies 9 – Braves 8… On Sunday the Braves had a meltdown in the 8th inning that allowed the Giants to score 7 runs in the inning as they took a come-from-behind 9-8 win… The Braves scored most of their runs on homers but the Rockies did not as the Braves had 4 homers in the game to the Rockies one which was a 3-run homer by the big 8th inning for the Rockies… Jorge Soler (16) had 2 of the Braves 4 homers a 3-run homer in the 7th inning and a solo homer in the 8th inning… Austin Riley (18) had a solo shot in the 1st inning and Travis d’Arnaud (12) a 2 run shot in the 4th inning.
- Up Next… The Braves will start a 4-game series with the Giants in San Francisco tonight.
- Season Schedule… If you would like to see the Braves season schedule, click here… It should also show where the game will be televised if it is televised.
- Braves Injuries… The casual Brave fan (or non-Brave fan) might ask themselves what has happened to the Braves the last couple of month… Injuries are the short and accurate answer… Click here to go to a posting about all the Brave injuries.
- Other Scores… If you would like to see the scores of other MLB games click here.
- Standings… To see the MLB Standings click here… Once you get there you will see the standing by league (American or National) and also by division.
Greenville Drive… The Drive finished their 6-game series with Dash over the weekend up in Winston-Salem, NC.
- Friday: Dash 5 – Drive 2… On Friday both teams had 6 hits with no homers but the Dash were better able to get the clutch hits as they took a 5-2 win over the Drive
- Saturday, Game 1: Dash 3 – Drive 1… On Saturday the Drive and the Dash played a pair of 7-inning games making one up that was rained out on Thursday by Hurricane Debby… The Drive outhit the Dash 7-6 but just could not get the big hit when needed playing small ball as neither team had a homer.
- Saturday Game 2: Drive 4 – Dash 3…In the other game on Saturday, the Drive took a 4-3 win over the Dash by outhitting them 7-5… The Drive scored all of their runs playing small ball as they were homerless in the game.
- Sunday: Dash 5 – Drive 0… In the game Sunday, the Dash took a 5-0 win over the Drive by holding them to just 3 hits in the game while the Dash had 9 hits one of which was a homer… A couple of Drive errors also aided the Dash… The Drive are off tonight and will star a 6-game series with the Iron Birds up in Aberdeen, Maryland.
- Season Schedule… To see the Drives season schedule, click here… Once you are there you can go back to look at scores of past games and also see what lies ahead for the Drive.
Panthers
- Patriots 17 – Panthers 3… For the casual Carolina Panther fans out there, the Panthers played their first preseason game Thursday night up in Foxborough, Mass. and lost to the Patriots by a score of 17-3… Panthers rookie head coach Dave Canales wanted to take a look at some of the younger players in game action so very few starters played very much if at all… Click on the score at the start of this section for more information about the contest.
This & That:
Laurens YMCA Soccer League… Registration is now open through August 21st for a Youth Soccer League at the Laurens Family YMCA which is being sponsored by Angela Marlett State Farm… The League will be for youth ages 3 – 12 in appropriate age groupings… The cost is $75 for Y members and $90 for non-members… For more information or answers to any questions you may have, contact Haley Queen at 864-984-2626 or email her at: hqueen@lakelandsymca.org.
Fall Baseball at City of Laurens Parks and Recreation… Registration is now open through August 23rd at the City of Laurens Parks and Recreation for Fall Baseball… There will be three age groupings: 5-7 coaches’ pitch, 7-9 kids’ pitch and 9-11 kids pitch… The cost for each registrant is $50… You can register can the City of Laurens Parks and Recreation offices at The Ridge on Exchange Drive in Laurens during their normal business hours… If you have any questions call them at 864-681-7275… Batter Up!
If you have any comments, suggestions, or want to report scores, please contact me via email at: sports@wlbg.com or text me at 864-981-3470.