Local Notes
Clinton HS
Red Devils Win Class AA Championship 36-6…If you were looking for someone in Clinton yesterday there is a good chance that you would not find them there as it seemed like most of Clinton was in the visitor stands yesterday afternoon down at SC State watching the Red Devils roll to a 35-6 win over the Barnwell Warhorses to capture their first State Championship since 2009.
- First Quarter… As Coach Fountain put it after the game yesterday, his blue-collar football team wasted little time making their intentions known as they won the coin toss and elected to receive… Then on the second play from scrimmage Tushawan Richardson broke free for a 77-yard TD run and Rhett Gilliam added the two-point conversion to put the Red Devils up 8-0…The Warhorses then answered that with a 90-yard kickoff return by Jordan Peeples but the PAT failed making 8-6 Red Devils with most of the game left… However, that would be the last time the Warhorses would put points on the board as the Red Devil defense held them scoreless the rest of the way… The Red Devils answered that going 65 yards in 9 plays with DJ Clark carrying it in from 27 yards out and Lucas Kuykendal kicked the PAT to make it 15-6
- Second Quarter… The Red Devils started a drive late in the first quarter that ended with 9:33 left in the second quarter when Rhett Gilliam carried it in from 5 yards out… A two-point attempt failed so the score stood 21-6 Red Devils… Neither team was able to score the rest of the half, but the Red Devils came close as they drove to the Barnwell 3 yard line on fourth and goal which caused them to turn the ball over on downs with just seconds left in the half.
- Third Quarter… The Warhorses were able to gain some yards after receiving the opening kickoff of the second half and went for it on fourth and two but their pass fell incomplete… The Red Devils took over on their own 23-yard line and went the distance to score on a 29-yard pass from Richardson to Devin Swindler with 4:57 left in the quarter… Kuykendall kicked the PAT to make it 28-6 Red Devils… On their next possession, the Warhorses again went for it on fourth and one and were stopped cold.
- Fourth Quarter… The Red Devil defense in the person of Austin Boyd stopped the Warhorses with a pass interception at the Clinton 45 and returned it to the Barnwell 30… Four plays later Rhett Gilliam scored again this time from 8 yards out… Kuykendall then made the PAT to make the score 35-6 Red Devils with 6:49 left in the game… The next two Barnwell possessions ended when they failed to convert on fourth down situations… As a matter of fact, the Warhorses went for it on fourth down 5 times in the game and the Red Devils denied them every time… The Red Devils took over for the last time with 1:25 left in the game and two plays later the celebration was on.
- Some Stats
- The Red Devil had 349 yds. of total offense to the Warehorses 155… 311 of Clinton’s yards came on the ground while they held Barnwell to just 35 yards rushing… The Red Devils had 2 pass completions for 28 yards with 1 TD to caught by Devin Swindler.
- Richardson wound up being the leading rusher for the Red Devils as he had 109 yards with the 1 TD of 77 yards… Javen Cook had 87 yards, Rhett Gilliam 58 and 2 TDS while DJ Clark finished with 36 yards and 1 TD.
- To see the complete stat package and a play by play accounting or the game, click here.
- Congratulations to Coach Fountain and the team for a great season!
Other SCHL Football Final Scores or Schedule
- Thursday Night: Abbeville defeated the Cross Trojans 58-20 to capture the Class A Title.
- Friday, Dec. 13: Class 5A Division I: Dutch Fork vs. Summerville, 2:06 p.m. and Class 4A: South Florence vs. Westside, 7:36 p.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 14: Class 3A: Oceanside Collegiate vs. Belton-Honea Path, 12:06 p.m. and Class 5A Division II: Irmo vs. Northwestern, 6:06 p.m.
Laurens HS
- Varsity Basketball… The Laurens Raiders hosted the Wolverines of Woodruff last Wednesday.
- Girls: Woodruff 41-39… The Lady Raiders lost a tough one 41-39… Led most of game and led 31-28 at end of 3rd… Too many turnovers down the stretch and unlike Tuesday game with Hillcrest had trouble hitting free throws hit only hit 50% and less than that in second half…Zoe Dial game-high 19 points and only raider in d-d.
- Boys: Laurens 59 – Woodruff 50… Now the news is good also where the boys are concerned as they took a 59-50 win… They led 33-18 at the half and 43-29 at the start of the 4th quarter… The Wolverines tried to come back in the 4th quarter as the raider offense went cold for a while and got to within 6 points before the Raiders stretched the lead back out… Q. Watts was the only Raider in D-D as he had 17 point including a total of 9 points from behind the 3 point line
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 12-11-24 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. 21st 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. 20th 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:
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- 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.7th… 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.
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,