Sports Report for Monday, 12-9-2024

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

Red Devils Play for State Championship… The Clinton Red Devils punched their ticket to the SCHSL Class AAA State Championship last Friday night by taking a 32-21 win over the Fairfield-Central Griffins at Wilder Stadium… They will play the Barnwell Warhorses at SC State in Orangeburg this Thursday at 2:00 pm. for the Class AA Championship.
- Total Offense and Rushing… The Red Devils had a total of 424 yards of offense with 320 of them coming on the ground… The Griffins had 340 yards of total offense with 290 of them coming on the ground… The Red Devils had 3 runners rush for over 100 yards as Rhett Gilliam led the Red Devils with 109 yards and 1 TD, Tushawan Richardson had 102 yards and 1 TD while Javen Cook finished with 101 yards rushing…The Griffins Tydarion Greer who averaged 152 yards per game this season did get 191 yards and scored 2 TDs to help keep the Griffins in the game.
- Passing…In the passing department, Tushawan Richardson completed 3 of 5 passing attempts for 104 yards with 2 TDs and no interceptions…. Devin swindler caught 2 passes for 82 yards one of which was a TD while DJ Clark caught the other pass for 22 yards and a TD… The Griffins Kaden Diggs completed 3 of 12 passes and had one intercepted and no TDs picking up only 80 yards.
- First Quarter… The Griffins won the toss and elected to defer to the second half… The Griffins were hesitant about kicking to the Red Devils as their first two kicks went out-of-bounds… after the Red Devils finally got the ball at their own 41 after Mason Tinsley returned the third kickoff 11 yards, the Red Devils scored in 4 plays as Richardson completed a 22 yard TD pass to DJ Clark and Kuykendal kicked the PAT the score was 7-0 Red Devils with 11:19 remaining in the first quarter… There was no more scoring in the first quarter.
- Second Quarter… The Red Devils started a 13 play drive late in the first quarter that culminated with a missed field goal… The Griffins then went 80 yards in 6 plays and scored on a 28 yard run by Grier… The PAT made it 7-7… The Red Devils responded going 84 yards in 6 plays with Rhett Gilliam scoring from 1 yard out… The PAT was missed so the score stood 13-7 Red Devils with a 1:10 left in the half… On the ensuing kickoff, the Red Devils forced a fumble and Austin Boyd scooped it up and scored… The two-point conversion failed making the score 19-7 Red Devils at the half.
- Third Quarter… The Griffins scored the second time they had the ball in the third quarter on a 19 yard run by Diggs and the PAT was added to make it 19-14 Red Devils which was the score going into the fourth quarter.
- Fourth Quarter… The Red Devils started a drive after the previous Griffin score that ended with 11:54 left in the game when Richardson carried it in from the 7 yard line to make it 25-14 as the two-point conversion again failed… The Griffins responded by scoring again with 9:49 left in the game and with the PAT the score stood 25-21 Red Devils… Clinton marched right back down the field going 52 yards in 7 plays with Richardson connecting with Devin Swindler on what was supposed to be a hook and ladder play…Swindler noticed no one near him so he just carried it in almost untouched from the 17… The PAT was good so the score stood 32 – 21 Red Devils with 6:33 remaining in the game… The Griffins then started back down the field with the drive stalling at the Clinton 33 where they turned the ball over on downs and Javen Cook went 24 yards for a first down, Richardson 25 yards for another and Rhett Gilliam picked up another 15 yards before the horn sounded and the celebration was on.
- More Information… To see the complete stat package for the game including a play-by-play accounting of the game, click here.

Laurens Academy

Basketball… The Laurens Academy Crusader basketball teams hosted the Spartanburg Christian Warriors last Friday night.
- Boys: Warriors 63 – Crusaders 51… The Crusader boys’ varsity basketball team fell for the first time this season as they lost to the Warriors by a score of 63-51… The Warriors outscored the Crusaders 14-11 in the first quarter and continued to outscore the Crusaders by 2 to 3 points in each of the following quarters to take the win… Braydon Burke led the Crusaders with a game-high 30 points and was the only Crusader in double-digits… Tristan Bates finished with 6 points, Eli Hornberger and Elijah Strait 5, Chesney Watkins 3 and Micah Strait 2…The team is now 3-1 on the young season.
- Girls: Warriors 50 – Crusaders 45… I hate to have to report that the Lady Crusaders also lost for the first time last Friday night as the Warriors took a close 50-45 win over the Crusaders as the Warriors Delancy Caldwell scored 24 of the Warriors points… The score was 22-21 Warriors at the half and then the Warriors outscored the Crusaders by 2 points in each of the final 2 quarters… Braylee Burke was the only Crusader scoring in double-digits 9 points scoring 14 of them in the fourth quarter… Brooklyn Senn scored 8 points, Abbey Howard 7, Mackenzie Runyons 4, Sadie Bruyere 3 and both Makayla Lindley and Madisyn Graham rounded out the Crusader scoring with 2 points each.
- Up Next … The varsity teams will be headed up to Greenville Tech Charter tonight to take on another set of Warriors with the girls’ game starting at 6:00 pm.
- MS Boys: Warriors 54 – Crusaders 18… Mason Snider led the Crusader with 7 points.
- MS Girls: Warriors 9 – Crusaders 8… Lorelai Bagwell led the Crusader scoring with 4 points.

Thornwell

Basketball… The schedules I have shows that both teams played at Dixie last Friday night but no one sent me the results.

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… NOTE…Dixie and Thornwell do NOT have middle school girls teams this season so the 5:00 pm start will be for the boys’ game.

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 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!

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 final College Football Rankings came out on 1283-24 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, Georgia (5), Texas (2), Penn State (3) and Notre Dame (4)… Spots 6 – 10 are held by Ohio State, Tennessee, Indiana (9), Boise State (10) and SMU (8)… Spots 11 and 15 are occupied by Alabama (11), Arizona State (15), Miami (12), Ole Miss (13) and South Carolina (14)… Clemson moved up t0 #16 from #17… To see the list of the entire top 25 in the in the Playoff Rankings click here… NOTE: Now due to certain rules for automatic placements into the playoffs, Clemson did make it into the playoffs but South Carolina did not (see below)… Other teams that did not make the playoffs ranked in the top 15 are Alabama, Miami and Ole Miss

2024-25 College Football Playoff Bracket… The four teams that will get a bye in the first round of the college football playoffs due to the fact they are the 4 highest rankings of the five major football conferences that won their college conference are Oregon, Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State… To see the entire playoff bracket click here… Clemson will open play on Saturday, Dec. 21^st at Texas taking on the Longhorns.

2024-25 Entire College Football Bowl Schedule & Information… After the selection Committee filled out the College Playoff Brackets other teams were quickly chosen for the myriad of bowls that are going to be held between now and the National Championship game on Monday, Jan. 20^th next year… If you click here, you will go to a posting on the NCAA website where the list of bowls is posted along with when they will be held, times, TV availability and after they are over the final score… The bowls will start this Saturday (12-14-24) with South Carolina State taking on Jackson State in the Celebration Bowl in Atlanta (noon on ABC)… Other bowls in South Carolina or involving team from South Carolina include:
- Myrtle Beach Bowl, Monday, 12-23, Costal Carolina vs. UTSA, 2:30 pm on ESPN
- Citrus Bowl, Tuesday, 12-31, #15 South Carolina vs. #20 Illinois in Orlando, 3:00 pm on ABC

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 Playoffs… The FCS playoffs are underway and have been since Dec.7^th… There are no teams from South Carolina involved and the closest team to our area is Mercer… To see the bracket and scores as the games are finished, click here.

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:

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.