Sports Report for Monday, 12-16-2024

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 Warhorses 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 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!

Basketball… The CHS athletic website calendar shows the Red Devil JV teams will be on the road traveling to Emerald tonight for a doubleheader of basketball action starting at 6:00 pm.

Laurens HS

Basketball
- The Raider varsity basketball teams are scheduled to travel to Greenwood tonight for a double-header of girls and boys basketball starting at 6:00 pm.
- The Raider JV basketball teams will be hosting Greenwood tonight starting at 6:00 pm

Laurens Academy… Last Friday the Laurens Crusader basketball teams traveled up to Spartanburg Christian Academy to take on the Warrior for the second time this season.

Boys: Warrior 57 – Crusaders 44… A slow start in the first quarter where the Warrior outscored the Crusaders 20-10 pretty much was the difference in the boys’ varsity game as the Warrior took a 57-44 win… After the first quarter the two teams played almost to a draw… Garrison Vaughn led all scorers with 20 points with Brayden Burke chipping in 9 points and Garrett Murphy 8.
Girls: Warrior 54 – Crusaders 41… The SCA Warrior took a 54-41 win in varsity girls’ action but this was just about the opposite of the boys game in that in the first 3 quarters the game was close as the Warriors only held a 37-36 lead going into the final quarter of play… Three they held the Crusader to just 5 points while they put 17 on the scoreboard to take a 54-41 win… Braylee Burke led the Crusaders with 11 points while Sadie Bruyere finished with 9 points and Brooklyn Senn 7.
Middle School Scores… In middle school action the Crusader girls fell to the Warrior by a score of 14-13 in a tight one where Lorelai Bagwell led the Crusaders with 7 points and in boys’ action the Crusaders fell 32-3.
Up Next… The schedule I have shows the Crusader middle school and varsity boys hosting Newberry Academy starting at 4:00 pm and the varsity girls hosting Abbeville at 7:00 pm.

Thornwell

Thursday, 12-12… I just found the scores on Thornwell varsity basketball from last Thursday where they traveled to the South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind to take on the Hornets… In boys’ action the Saints won 70-19 and the girls won 73-8… No scoring details on either of those games.
Today… The MaxPreps schedule for today shows the Saints will be traveling up to the Simpsonville area to take on the Green Upstate Owls.

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…. Middle school schedule for today:

GCO at Dixie
Whitmire at HT
Ware Shoals at LMS
Thornwell vs, Sanders

Other SCHL Football Final Scores

Thursday Night: Abbeville defeated the Cross Trojans 58-20 to capture the Class A Title.
Friday, Dec. 13:
- Class 5A Division I: Dutch Fork defeated Summerville 35-12
- Class 4A: South Florence defeated Westside42-41
Saturday, Dec. 14:
- Class 3A: Oceanside Collegiate defeated Belton-Honea Path 35-17
- Class 5A Division II: Northwestern defeated Irmo 34-31

Sports Talk Media Final 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

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. .

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 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. 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 (12-8-24) has a lot of changes in the top 5… Tennessee (3) is #1 followed by Auburn, Iowa State (6), Duke (9) and Kentucky (4)… Clemson cracked the top 25 coming in at #16… 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 (12-8-24) had a couple of changes in the top 5…UCLA is still #1, UConn, South Carolina, LSU (5) and Southern Cal (6)… 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:

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.