Local Notes
Clinton HS
- Basketball… The Red Devil varsity basketball teams traveled own to Emerald HS last night to take on their former region foe the Vikings… It was the season opener for the boys’ team.
- Boys: Clinton 56 – Emerald 46… In boys’ action, the Red Devils took a 56-46 win over the Vikings…They simply outscored the Vikings by small margins in every quarter but the last where the Vikings outscored them 20-18… Sorry but I do not have any scoring details… If I get them I’ll bring them to you later…
- Clinton 43 – Emerald 26… The lady Red Devils ran their season record to 3-1 as they took a 43-26 win over the Vikings… The score was tied 12-12 at the half but the Red Devils got their act together finishing strong taking the 43-26 in… McKenzie Clark led the Red Devils with 18 points. .. Kemaria Shelton finished with 8 points, Bryanna Belton 6, Mylayja Thompson & Jakia Burton 4 each and Ja’Neshia Burton 3.
- Up Next… For those of you who have a Red Devil basketball schedule, you will see where the Red Devils are supposed to travel to Laurens Friday night… Those games have been postponed due to the football game at Clinton Friday night and they will attempt to reschedule to a later date.
- 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.
- Ticket Information for Friday’s Football Game… As most of you already know the Red Devil football team will be hosting the Fairfield-Central Griffins 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 and 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.!
Laurens HS
- Basketball… The Raider varsity basketball teams opened up their regular season last night traveling up to Hillcrest to take on the Rams.
- Girls: Hillcrest 39 – Laurens 35… The girls’ team fell for the first time this season as the Rams took a 39-35 win… The Rams jumped out to a 13-5 lead after the first quarter of play and continued to outscore the Raiders by small amounts until the last quarter… There the Raiders started a comeback and got the within 3 points with about 30 seconds left in the game but could get no closer as they were playing a little shorthanded with 2 player out… Tiyonna Jones led the Raiders with 11 points and was the only Raider in double-digits… A’Nyah McBeth and Gabby Wormley both had 4 points while Alayiah Carter finished with 2 points.
- Boys: Hillcrest 59 – Laurens 52… The Raider boys’ team lost a heart breaker to the Rams last night by a score of 59-52… The Raider led 22-19 at the half and 39-32 going into the fourth quarter… There a few too many Raider turnover and the Rams going 10 of 11 from the free-throw line doomed the Raiders… The Raiders had 2 players in double-digits as TyJ Jones finished with 15 points and Quinton Watts with 11… DJ Martin finished with 7 points, Will Thompson 6, Z. Simpson 6, Damyyo Watts 4 and RJ Brewster-Snow 3… The boys are now 1-3 on the season
- UP Next… The Raider varsity teams will travel to Woodruff tonight and the JV teams will host the Wolverines starting at 6:00 pm.
Laurens Academy
- Basketball… The Crusader basketball teams hosted the Wardlaw Patriots yesterday.
- Girls: Crusaders 42 – Patriots 29… The Crusader girls’ team continues to roll on in this young season as they defeated the Patriots 42-29… The Crusaders outscored the Patriots 10-5 in the first quarter and then were never really threatened after that… They had two players scoring in double-digits as Sadie Bruyere finished with 17 points and Braylee Burke had 10… Brooklynn Senn added 7 points, Mackenzie Runyan 5, Madisyn Graham 2 and Makayla Lindley 1… The saints are 3-0 on the young season.
- Boys: Crusaders 59 – Patriots 52… Now the boys’ game was a little closer but good news for Crusader fans as they took a 59-52 win over the Patriots… The Crusader led 24-18 at the half and then went on to take the win behind Braydon Burke’s 21 points… Garrison Vaughn was also in double-digits with 14 points… Micha Straight finished with 8 points, Garrett Murphy 6 and both Chesney Watkins and Tristan Bates finished with 5 points each… The Crusaders are 3-0.
Thornwell
- Basketball… The Saints opened their season traveling down to Greenwood Christian to take on the Hawks Monday night in a doubleheader of boys’ and girls’ action.
- Correction: 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 41 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.
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… In the polls the number in parenthesis (?) indicates their rank in the last poll if it is different from the present one.
- College Football Playoff Rankings….The latest College Football Rankings came out on 12-3-24 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, Texas (3), Penn State (4), Notre Dame (5) and Georgia (7) moved into the #5 spot… Spots 6 – 10 are held by Ohio State (2), Tennessee (8), SMU (9), Indiana (10) and Boise State (11)… Spots 11 and 12 are occupied by Alabama (13) and Miami (6)… South Carolina checked in at #14 (15) and Clemson dropped to #17 down from #12… To see the list of the entire top 25 in the in the Playoff Rankings click here… NOTE: There is a lot more about possible seeding’s and what the playoffs may look like in this posting.
- 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 it is different from the present one… 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.