Local Notes
Local Basketball Games Tonight… All based on schedules available and subject to change without notification… Starting at 6:00 pm with girls’ action.
- Clinton – Varsity at Emerald
- Laurens – Varsity at Hillcrest
- Laurens Academy – All hosting Wardlaw starting at 4:00 pm
Clinton HS
- Javen Cook TD Club Player of the Week… Monday it was announced that Javen Cook
had been chosen the Laurens County Touchdown Club’s Player of the Week for his performance in the Red Devils quarterfinals 31-14 win over the Batesburg-Leesville Tigers at Wilder Stadium last Friday night… Javen ‘Zoom’ Cook is a Clinton High School junior for the Red Devils who lead the team in rushing with 269 yards on twenty-four carries and three touchdowns on the night… Cook had a long run of 50 yards and rushed for 11.2 yards per carry from his running back position… The Red Devils rushed for 393 as a team on the night… Head Coach Corey Fountain stated, “Javen has a great work ethic… His work in the weight room shows on Friday nights when he explodes down the field on big plays… He is a great young man on and off the field.”… The Laurens County Touchdown Club will honor Cook on January 8th at the Touchdown Club Annual Banquet. The Awards Banquet will be at 6 pm at The Ridge in Laurens. Player of the Week awards is presented by Farm Bureau Insurance of Laurens County in 2024.
Laurens HS
- Basketball… I need to do some catching up with the Laurens Raider basketball teams where both the girls and boys teams participated in preseason Tournaments.
- Girls… The girls’ tem participated in the Coach Varner Tipoff Classic at Woodruff HS before the Thanksgiving break… Good news to report here as they won all three of their games… They defeated Landrum 59-26, Chapin 46-44 in a close won and won the tournament with a 50-44 win over the host Woodruff HS to give them a 3-0 record.
- Boys… About the same time as the girls were up at Woodruff, the boys were traveling to Spartanburg to take part in the Sports Impact Tournament at Spartanburg Christian Academy… They defeated Irmo 60-57 in the first game but fell to Spartanburg 68-67 in double overtime… They then faced Irmo again and this time fell by a score of 44-42 in a close one o give them a record of 1-2.
- Sub-Varsity Basketball… Last night the Raider sub-varsity teams traveled up to Hillcrest to take on the Rams… Now I have no report on the JV girls but I can tell you that the C-team boys took a 49-38 win over the Rams and the JV boys won 44-30… No other details available… Good luck to the varsity teams as they travel to Hillcrest tonight.
Laurens Academy
- Basketball… The Crusader basketball teams are scheduled to host Wardlaw today starting at 4:00 pm wit middle school girls’ action.
Thornwell
- Basketball… The Saints opened their season traveling down to Greenwood Christian to take on the Hawks last night in a doubleheader of boys and girls action.
- Girls: Hawks 52 – Saints 9… The young Saints girls’ team took to the court against an experienced Hawks team last night and lost by a score of 52-9… The Hawks outscored the Saints 20-0 in the first quarter and rolled on to the win… Madi Landrith led the Saints in scoring with 3 points.
- Boys: Hawks 71 – Saints 53… In boys’ action, the Hawks took a 71-53 win… The score at the half was 19-16 Hawks and both teams picked up the scoring in the second half but the Hawks were hotter than the Saints… Zalen Washington led the Saint with a game-high 35 points.
- Up Next… The schedules I have shows the girls hosting Wagner Salley Thursday and both teams headed to Dixie Friday for their first region games.
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… To see the season master schedule click here…Yesterday’s results:
- Boys Thornwell 29 – GCO 27…The Thornwell Saints boys’ middle school team trailed 9-7 at the end of the first quarter but fought back and took a 29-27 win at Gray Court-Owings last night… At the half the Saints led the Tigers 15-14 and the game went back and forth from that point on … The Saints were led in scoring by Jaden Wilson who had a game-high 10 points… Caleb Clinkscales was close behind with 7 points… The Tigers were led by Dylan Abramowitz who finished with 9 points and Wesley Collins with 5 points.
- Hickory Tavern at Sanders… The Hickory Tavern Panthers traveled to Sanders last night to take on the Yellow Jackets… All I have is the final scores and in girls action the Yellow Jackets took a 26-12 win and in boys action the Yellow Jackets took a 48-2 win.
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 8th at The Ridge… The featured speaker for the January 8th Annual Awards Banquet will be former Clemson football great Brian Mance… Mance was named the 2023 South Carolina Football Hall of Fame “Humanitarian of the Year…”The TD Club will recognize its All-County team selection as well as Coach of the Year, Player of the Year and the Lakeland’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes Character award winners from each High School as well as Presbyterian College.
- 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!
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!
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.… You can also click here to see the master basketball schedule for the Crusade teams. .
- 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.
- 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… In the polls the number in parenthesis (?) indicates their rank in the last poll… If there is a score given or game(s) click on it to see details on the game(s).
Men
- DI AP Poll… The latest AP Top 25 Poll (12-2-24) still has Kansas as #1 but there were changes after that… Auburn (4), Tennessee (7), Kentucky (8) and Marquette (10) round 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.
Women
- DI AP Poll… The latest AP Top 25 Poll (12-1-24) has some changes in the top 5… UCLA is still #1, UConn, South Carolina (4), Texas (5) and LSU (7) …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:
- 25th Anniversary Reindeer Run, Sat. Dec. 14… On Saturday December 14th, 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. 22nd … 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.