Sports Report for Friday, 11-29-2024

2024 SCHSL Football Brackets… I now have all the SCHSL football brackets for all classifications available… Look over in the Featured Sports Section for a posting with them or simply click here… Enjoy

Local Notes

Clinton HS

Clinton Host Batesburg-Leesville Tonight… The Red Devils are the last Laurens County team remaining in the playoffs and they will be hosting the Batesburg-Leesville Panthers tonight at Wilder stadium with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 pm… The Panthers come into this game with a perfect 12-0 record and their head coach is Greg Lawson who was the Laurens Raider coach for 7 seasons starting in 2006… Coach Fountain actually was an assistant on his staff 2 seasons.
- The Panthers come into the contest with a 12-o record and are ranked #1 in the latest SC Media Football Poll for Class 2A… They are averaging 39-8 points per game and giving up only 7.5 points per game.
- If you would like to see their season schedule and results to date click here… If you do you will find that the closest game they have had this season is an 8-7 win over Strom Thurmond in the final game of the regular season…In the playoffs they have defeated Columbia HS 42-6 and last week they defeated Andrew Jackson 49-14.
- The Panthers are averaging 158 yards rushing per game and passing 103 yards per game… If you would like to see more team stats on the Panthers, click here.… If you would like to see team leaders in various statistical categories both offense and defense, click here.
- The other day I interviewed Coach Fountain about the win last Friday night against Chester and the game tonight… If you would like to hear that interview, click here… One thing he was quick to point out is that is the best team the Red Devils have faced so far and the Red Devils really need a large fan turnout tonight because he thinks the Panther fans will show up in mass and ALL Red Devil fans are needed there tonight to counteract the Panther fans.
- IGO BIG RED!

Ticket Information for Friday’s Football Game… As most of you already know the Red Devil football team will be hosting the Batesburg-Leesville Panthers this Friday Night at 7:30 pm in third round of the Class AA Playoffs… Ticket price for this game will be $10 and that price is set by the SCHSL… Tickets can be purchased at the game, but you can also purchase them ahead of time by clicking here… Another reminder is that only SCHSL passes will be accepted at the gate an no locally issued passes will be accepted… Everyone entering must have a ticket… All of this is per SCHSL rules and regulations… Gates will open at 6:30 pm… Go Big Red.

· Girls Basketball… I need to do some catching up with the Red Devil girls basketball team as they started their season last Saturday competing in the Bob Dillon Invitational up at Spartanburg HS….Before I recap the scores (below) I’ll tell you that the Red Devils finished third in the tournament and Nah’shia Wright was named to the All-Tournament Team… Congratulations to here and the team!

- Saturday (11-23): Clinton 68 – Catawba Ridge30… On Saturday the Red Devils opened their season taking 68-30 win over the Catawba Ridge Copperheads… The Red Devils jumped out to a 23-11 lead at the end of the first quarter and then the defense held the Copperheads to 9 points or less in each of the three remaining quarters while they scored 12 or more to take the win… MyKenzie Clark led the Red Devils with 16 points while Emma Patterson had 14 and Kemaria Shelton had 12 to give the Red Devils 3 players scoring in double-digits.
- Monday (11-25): Byrnes 54 – Clinton 32… Monday the Red Devils faced off against 5A Byrnes and the Rebels jumped out to a 19-12 lead at the end of the first quarter and rolled on to a 54-32 win over the Red Devils… Coach Gardner said the team “plated with great effort” but that Byrnes is a very good team… The leading scorer for the Red Devils was Bryanna Belton who finished with 9 points.
- Tuesday (11-26): Clinton 56 – Spartanburg 50… The Red Devils closed out their participation in the tournament on Tuesday taking on the home standing Spartanburg Vikings,,, It was a tough game that saw the Vikings jump out to a 14-11 lead after 8 minutes of play but the Red Devils came back to lead 29-24 at the half and then held on for a 56-50 win… The Red Devils were led in scoring by Mylayja Thompson with 13 points and Bryanna Belton with 10 points.
- Next… According to their schedule, the Red Devils will travel to Greenwood next week on Tuesday to take on the Vikings.

Laurens Academy

Interview with Coach Doolittle… I had a chance to talk with Coach Jolly Doolittle about the Crusaders loss to Richard Winn last Friday night in the SCISA 8-Mand Championship game but mostly we talked about what his impressions were about this past season and the future for the Crusaders… To hear that interview, click here… Again, thanks to him and congratulations to the team that finished much better than most people (except themselves) thought this past season… Go Crusaders!

Basketball… I also need to do some catching up with the Laurens Academy Crusader basketball teams as they opened their season back Monday and hen played again on Tuesday.

UPDATED Monday the Crusader basketball teams hosted the Eagles of Westgate Christian out of Spartanburg.
- Boys: Crusaders 65 – Eagles 33… The Crusader varsity boys’ team opened its season by taking a 65-32 win over the Eagles… They outscored the Eagles 17-4 in the first quarter and led 37-7 at the half with Braydon Burke leading the Crusaders scoring a game-high 19 points… Garrison Vaughn was also in double –digits with 14 points.
- Girls: Crusaders 57 –Eagles 8… Sadie Bruyere Led the Crusaders with 16 points as they defeated the Eagles 57-8… The Crusaders actually held the Eagles scoreless in the third quarter… Braylee Burke was also in double-digits with 11 points.
- MS Boys: Crusaders 51 – Eagles 12… In middle school action, the Crusaders defeated the Eagles 51-12… They outscored them 13-6 in the first quarter and that was the most the Eagles scored in a quarter as the Crusaders went on to take the one-sided win… Elias Littleton and Mason Whitaker led the Crusaders with 9 points each.
- MS Girls: Crusaders 14 – Eagles 13… In the first game of the evening, the Crusader middle school girls’ team managed to pull out a 14-13 win over the Eagles in a close one… They led 8-0 after the first quarter and did not score again until the fourth quarter where they scored their other 6 points to escape with the 1 point win… Hadley Knox and Lillie Jones had 4 points each in the Crusaders win.
Tuesday the Crusader boys hosted the Cambridge Academy Cougars while the girls hosted the Richard Winn Eagles.
- Boys: Crusaders 55 – Cougars 53… The Crusader boys team put 23 points on the scoreboard in the first quarter while the Cougars only managed 4 but don’t count your chickens before the eggs hatch as that was Crusaders best quarter and the worst for the Cougars… They started coming back in each of the three remaining quarters but good news for Crusader fans as they held on to take a 55-53 win over the Cougars… Braydon Burke turned out to be the games’ leading scorer with 31 points… Garrison Vaughn was also in double-digits with 11 points.
- Girls: Crusaders 56 – Richard Winn 34… The girls basketball team also picked up a big win as they defeated the Richard Winn Eagles by a score of 56-34The Crusader led 27-17 at the half and were never really threatened after that… The Crusaders had three players scoring in double-digits as Brooklynn Sinn finished with a game-high 16 points, Braylee Burke 12 and Sadie Bruyere finished with 10 points.

Laurens County Touchdown Club

If you would like to see information about the Laurens County Touchdown Club such as how to join, meeting dates, sponsors and guest speakers click here.… The Club’s next meeting which is the Annual Awards Banquet will be on Wednesday, January 8^th at The Ridge
The Laurens County Touchdown Club last meeting was on Thursday, 11-21-24. In addition to honoring the three latest Players of the Week and hearing from the local high school and college coaches, it was the annual Clemson-Carolina Meeting. The guest speakers were Don Munson the Voice of the Clemson Tigers and Chet Tucker Sideline Reporter for the Gamecocks. Click here to see a video of that meeting followed by a few pictures taken at the meeting. .

High School Football Scores, Schedules and Standings

Thanks to scfootballstats.com you can now see last weekend’s scores for all games by classification on Saturday or Sunday and possibly Monday… After that you will see the weeks schedule by classification… You can also see the standings in each region by classification… To see this information, click here.

Local Sports Schedules: All schedules subject to change right up to game time.

School District 55: To see the sports schedule for this week at LDHS, click here.
School District 56: To see the sports schedule for this week at CHS and CMS, click here
Laurens Academy: Click on each of the following to see their schedule: Basketball…. Also you can click on the following to see their schedule on MaxPreps: Varsity Girls and Varsity Boys. . .
Thornwell: To see the Thornwell varsity volleyball schedule and results click here
PC Sports Calendar… To see the PC athletics sports calendar, click here.

College Sports: For any game mentioned below, click on the score for more details if available.

College Football

College Preview Show… If you have been listening to the Raider football broadcast here on Real Radio WLBG, you know that as part of the Friday Night Insiders we bring you the Phil Kornblut and Sports Talk Media’s College Preview Show… Well since the Raiders just missed out on the playoffs and there is no Raider broadcast tonight, I thought I would make that available to you here on my Sports Report… If you click here you can hear that audio…Enjoy!

College Football Playoff Rankings….The latest College Football Rankings came out on 11-23-24 and these are the rankings that will be used to seed the 12 teams that make the FBS Playoffs at the end of the year… They follow the AP Poll closely but not exactly… The first 5 teams in order are Oregon, Ohio State, Texas, Penn State and Notre Dame moved into the #5 spot after Indiana lost last week… Spots 6 – 10 are held by Miami, Georgia, Tennessee, SMU and Indiana… Spots 11 and 12 are occupied by Boise State and Clemson… To see the list of the entire top 25 in the in the Playoff Rankings click here… South Carolina checks in at #15 this week.
Playoffs If Today’s Rankings Used….There is a posting on the NCAA website showing what the playoff brackets would look like if the latest rankings were used to fill the bracket… If you want to see what it would like and the why of where everyone is seeded the way they are, click here… It shows that Clemson would be the first team NOT to make the playoffs… Of course, this can change between now and December 8^th when the final rankings are produced and the bracket set… Clemson and South Carolina have lot more than just bragging rights on the line this Saturday.

FBS AP Poll… The latest FBS AP Poll (11-24-24) did have any one change in the top 5 this week… In order they are Oregon, Ohio State, Texas, Penn State and Notre Dame moving up a spot to #5 after Indiana lost… Spots 6-10 are occupied by, Georgia, Tennessee, Miami (FL), SMU and Boise State… Clemson checks in at #12 while South Carolina moved up to 16 this week … To see the entire top 25 AP Poll click here
FCS Coaches Poll… The FCS Coaches Poll (11-17-24) still has North Dakota State #1 and Montana State at #2 … In our general area, teams you often see on the schedule of some our local teams in the top 25 are Mercer at #9, SC State tied at #17 with Harvard…To see the entire FCS Coaches Poll click here.
FBS Football Scores… If you would like to see the scores for FBS schools this past week click here… Once you get there you can filter and sort several different ways and you can also click on the next week to see the FBS schedule.
FCS Football Scores… If you would like to see the scores for FBS schools this past week click here… Once you get there you can filter and sort several different ways and you can also click on the next week to see the FBS schedule.

College Basketball

Men

DI AP Poll… The latest AP Top 25 Poll (11-24-24) has Kansas, UConn, Gonzaga, Auburn and Iowa State as the current top 5 just as they were last week… To see the remainder of the top 25 click here.
DI Scores… To see the scores foe last night and also for the previous couple of days click here… You can also look ahead to the next few days to see who will be playing.
Standings by Conference… To see the conference standings for each of the DI conferences, click here… It’s a long list so if you want to see say the SEC standings, you have to scroll down a good bit.

Women

DI AP Poll… The latest AP Top 25 Poll (11-24-24) has a major change in the top 5 as South Carolina finally lost for the first time in 43 games to UCLA 77-62 last week… UCLA now holds down the top spot followed by UConn, Notre Dame, South Carolina and Texas rounding out the top 5…To see the remainder of the top 25 click here.
DI Scores… To see the scores foe last night and also for the previous couple of days click here… You can also look ahead to the next few days to see who will be playing.
Standings by Conference… To see the conference standings for each of the DI conferences, click here… It’s a long list so if you want to see say the SEC standings, you have to scroll down a good bit.

Pro Sports: For more information on the game(s) below, click on the scores at the start of the section.

NFL

Schedules and Scores… For you diehard pro football fans out there if you want to check scores or schedules in the NFL click here… Once you go to this posting on the NFL site you can filter by the week you are interested in.
Standings… If you are also curious about the NFL standings, click here,

This & That:

25^th Anniversary Reindeer Run, Sat. Dec. 14… On Saturday December 14^th, the Laurens Family YMCA will be holding its annual 5K Reiner Run and 1 Mile Fun Run… This is an annual event that helps to raise money for the YMCA’s Youth Scholarship Program… The 5K race will have 9 age groupings and prizes will be awarded for various finishers… For more information about this race and walk click here… There is a $5 discount if you register before Nov. 22^nd … To register for the 5K race online, click here … to register for the 1-Mile Fun Run, you must do that at the YMCA… No online registration for the Fun Run.

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.