Local Notes
Clinton HS
Basketball… The Red Devil varsity teams traveled down to Newberry last night to take on the Bulldogs.
- Girls: Clinton 44 – Newberry 22… The lady Red Devil ran their record to 6-1 last night when they took a 44-22 win over the Lady Bulldogs… They led 25-6 at the half as the Red Devil defense kept the Bulldogs well in check… In the second half they continued to outscore the Bulldogs by at least 1 point in each quarter as Coach Gardner was able to get everyone into the game …The only Red Devil to score in double-digits was Mylayja Thompson who finished with 10 points… Emma Patterson was close behind with 9 points.
- Boys: Newberry 49 – Clinton 43… The news is not as good in boys’ action as a poor second quarter where the Red Devils scored only 1 point to trail 30-14 at the half put them in a hole they almost climbed out of but fell by a score of 49-43… The Red Devils fought hard in the second half but came up a little short and were led by Tushawan Richardson’s 27 points… Looks like he getting over football… J’shon Nabors was also in double-digits with 16 points The Red Devils are now 2-2 on the season.
- Up Next… The Red Devil MaxPreps schedule shows that the varsity teams will be hosting Newberry next Monday … Go Big Red!
Update on Emerald Boys Game… Yesterday I reported to you that the Red Devil boys’ basketball team took a 49-43 win over Emerald at home Tuesday night but I had no details… I can now tell you that the Red Devils outscored the Vikings 12-7 in the first quarter and led 24-18 at the half and maintained that margin in the second half to take the win… Kylen Calhoun led the Red Devils with 16 points and was the only Red Devil to score in double digits.
Jaydon Glenn TD Club Player of the Week
- Monday it was announced that Clinton’s junior defensive end Jaydon Glenn was chosen as the Laurens County Touchdown Club’s final Player of the Week for this season because of
his performance in the Red Devils 35-6 win over the Barnwell Warhorses in the Class AA State Championship game down in Orangeburg last Thursday… He led the defensive team in points as he finished the game with 4 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 4 quarterback pressures and 2 sacks of the Warhorse quarterback… The Red Devil defense held the powerful Warhorses scoreless except for 1 kickoff return for a TD. - About Jaydon Coach Fountain commented “Jaydon has been an unselfish player all year. During Region play he was moved to defensive end and never looked back. He has worked tremendously hard and been a great asset on the defensive line throughout Region play and the playoffs. His pressure on the quarterback during the State Championship kept one of their best players uncomfortable all game. I’m proud of Jaydon and look forward to seeing his continued success.”
- The Laurens County Touchdown Club will honor Glenn 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… Three of the Raider basketball teams hosted the White Knoll Timberwolves last night at LDHS.
- JV Girls: Timberwolves 25 – Raiders 20… In JV girls’ action last night, the Timberwolves jumped out to a 15-8 lead at the half and the Raiders tried to come back in the second half but came up short as the Timberwolves took a 25-20 win… T. Jenkins scored 13 of the Raiders 20 points.
- Freshman Boys: Raiders 35 – Timberwolves 29… The Raider freshman boys were also in action last night and the news is better as they took a 35-29 win over the Timberwolves… The score was tied 17-17 at the half but the Raiders came out hot in the third quarter as they outscored the Timberwolves 14-4 and cruised on to the win…One of the keys for the Raiders was they allowed the Timberwolves few second-chance shots as they out rebounder the Wolves… Sy Westfield finished with 16 points for the Raiders and Kam Moore was also in double-digits with 11 points
- Varsity Girls: Timberwolves 48 – Raiders 25… In the last game of the evening, the Lady Raider varsity basketball team took on the Timberwolves… The game was close at the half as the Timberwolves only led 17-16… The second half was a different story as the Raiders had too many turnovers and missed shots and wound up losing to the Timberwolves 48-25
- Up Next… If you have a Raider basketball schedule it shows that the Raiders are scheduled to host the Greenwood Eagles in varsity action tomorrow night… Those games have been canceled and will not be played… Both the boys’ and girls’ team will next see action when they participate in tournaments after Christmas.
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… The schedule for games tonight is supposed to be:
- Laurens Middle at GCO
- HT at Thornwell
- Sanders at Ware Shoals
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. .
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. 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 bowl games 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:
- 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..
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 (12-16-24) one change in the top 5… Tennessee is still #1 followed by Auburn, Iowa State then Kentucky moves up a spot to #4 while Duke drops a spot to #5… Clemson dropped from #16 to #25… 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 (12-16-24) had a couple of changes in the top 5…UCLA is still #1but South Carolina moved from #3 to #2… The rest of the top 5 are Notre Dame (8), UConn (2) and LSU (4)…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:
- WLBG will be carrying the Touchstone Energy Bowl this Saturday (12-21-24) starting with pregame activities at noon… The kickoff is scheduled for shortly after noon… At the half time of the game, they will be announcing Mr. Football 2024… As a reminder the Red Devils Cal Pitts will be one of the participants on the North Squad.
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.