Sports Report for Monday, 12-2-2024

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 31 – Batesburg Leesville 14… The Batesburg-Leesville Panthers came into Wilder Stadium last Friday night riding high and undefeated on the season… When the final horn sounded they left with 1 loss on the season and a little humbler than before the game started as the Red Devils took a 31-14 win.
- First Quarter… The first half ended in a 14-14 tie as the two teams went after each other like 2 heavy weight fighters… The Panthers got the ball first but fumbled on their own 18 yard line which the Red Devils recovered… Four plays later Javen Cook carried it in from 4 yards out and with Lucas Kuykendall’s PAT the Red Devils led 7-0 with 9:31 showing on the clock in the first quarter… The Panthers scored the next time they had the ball on a 3 yard run by Tanner Watkins to cap a 65 yard drive in 11 plays and with the PAT the score was tied 7-7 with 4:17 left in the quarter.
- Second Quarter… The Red Devils started a drive in the first quarter that carried over into the second quarter and it ended with the Red Devil’s only turnover on the night as Tushawan Richard’s pass was intercepted near the goal line and returned to the Panther 39 yard line… Ten plays later the Panthers scored on an 8 yard pass play and with the PAT led 14-7 with 5:14 left in the half… The Red Devils then drove down and faced a fourth and goal to go at the Panther 9 yard line when Richardson finding his receivers covered and went to his right and as he was tackled about the one-yard line held the ball out and knocked the pylon down to score with no time on the clock and Kuykendall then added the PAT to tie the game.. Note: Sky 4 happened to be circling above Wider Stadium at the time he scored and they have an aerial shot of that… If you click here you will go to that video and you will have to watch a sort commercial and the shot of Wilder Stadium will be in the last 2 minutes of the almost 8 minute long video .
- Third Quarter… The Red Devils got the ball first in the second half and picked up a first down but then the drive stalled… With it being fourth down and eight, Kuykendal went back to punt but the snap sailed over his head… He covered the ball but the Panthers took possession on the Clinton 18 yard line… Three plays later they fumbled and Brett Young fell on the ball to give it back to the Red Devils at their own 17 yard line… Six plays later Javen Cook scored again from the 10 and with the PAT Clinton led 21-14 with 4:34 left in the quarter.
- Fourth Quarter… The next score in the game with 7:10 left in the game when Kuykendall connected on an 18 yard field goal to make it 24-14 Red Devils… That field goal would have not been possible but for the effort and cool headedness of the holder Mason Tinsley… The snap skidded on the ground back to him and he calmly got it down in time for the kick to give the Red Devils a two-score lead… The Panthers turned the ball over on downs at the Clinton 34 and Javen Cook scored 5 plays later from the 10 and with the PAT the score stood 31-14 Red Devils… He had a 50 yard run in that drive… The Panthers then had a pass intercepted by Mason Tinsley and returned 20 yards to give the Red Devils the ball at their own 45 yard line with 1:40 left in the game… Not long after that the celebration was on as the Panthers looked shell-shocked.
- Some Stats… The Red Devil had 382 yards rushing and only 11 passing for a total of 393 yards of total offense… The Panthers had 113 yards rushing and 89 passing for a total of 202 yards of total offense… Javen Cook was the leading rusher for the Red Devils with 269 yards on 24 carries and 3 TDs… For the complete stat package and a play-by-play accounting of the game click here.
- Up Next… The Red Devils will be at home this Friday night as they take on the Fairfield-Central Griffins who defeated Central 48-28 and are 12-1 on the season… More about them later this week.

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!

Thornwell

Basketball… According to the latest basketball schedule I have from Thornwell they will open their basketball regular season tonight with the middle school teams playing at Gray Court-Owings starting at 5:00 pm and the varsity will travel to Greenwood Christian for games starting at 6:00 pm.

Middle School Basketball… All games start at 5:00 pm unless otherwise noted with girls’ game first followed by boys’ game… Note: coaches very often change schedule without telling me…Today’s games:

Dixie at LMS
Thornwell at GCO
Hickory Tavern at Sanders
Whitmire at Ware Shoals

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. .

Sports Talk Media High School Football Recap… Each week during the football season Sports Talk Media produce a recap show of high school football results from around the state… If you would like to hear that show for last Friday night, click here… It’s usually about 5 minutes long and keeps you updated on football outside our area… Enjoy!

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 basketball schedules and results click on one of the following: Varsity Girls, Boys… Also Master Schedule that includes middle school games 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 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 (11-30-24) did have some changes in the top 5 this week … Ranking last week in (parenthesis) if a change… In order they are Oregon, Texas, Penn State (4), Notre Dame (5) and Georgia (6)… Spots 6-10 are occupied, Tennessee (7), Ohio State (2), SMU (9), Indiana (10) and Boise State (11)… Clemson checks in at #18 while South Carolina moved up to 13 this week after the 17-14 win over Clemson … To see the entire top 25 AP Poll click here
FCS Coaches Poll… The FCS Coaches Poll (11-24-24) still has Montana State at #1 and South Dakota 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 at #18 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.