Raiders on bye, ranked Red Devils, Lions battle, LA hosting King
Games are expected to be back on a normal Friday night schedule this week after expected rains from Hurricane Francine in the Upstate caused both Clinton’s and Laurens Academy’s games to be moved to last Thursday.
Those rains never really arrived, so the teams were saved from playing under partly cloudy skies.
This week, Laurens has a much-needed bye. The Raiders have been plagued by injuries at quarterback and other positions since its second game of the season against Clinton.
An extra week should give some of those injuries time to heal for the Raiders’ Sept. 27 home game against Lexington.
Clinton QB Tushawan Richardson (1)
Clinton (2-1) at Daniel (2-1)
The Red Devils, ranked No. 3 in Class 2A, will face Daniel, the No. 3-ranked team in Class 4A.
Both teams changed divisions this year after becoming two of the top teams in Class 3A.
Clinton is coming off a 49-27 win at rival Chapman, which wasn’t even as close as the score indicates. The Panthers added a couple of late touchdowns, but the game was never close.
The Lions are coming off a rare defeat, losing to Class 5A J.L. Mann, 28-23 on Sept. 6. They opened the season with a 41-21 win over Chapman.
Daniel had a bye this past week, so has had two weeks to prepare for Clinton.
The two teams haven’t met since a 2021 Class 3A Upper State semifinal playoff game, which Daniel won 52-7. The Lions went on to finish the season 14-0 and win the Class 3A state title.
LA QB Ethan Collins (10)
W.W. King Academy (1-3) at Laurens Academy (3-2)
The Jolly Doolittle Family Reunion Tour returns to LA’s Todd Kirk Field this Friday night.
Doolittle, who is in his second season as LA’s head coach, is a former player and coach at W.W. King.
“All of their coaches I either coached or played with,” Doolittle said. “My nephew is their starting quarterback.”
King is coming off successive losses to Richard Winn (57=6_ and Newberry Academy (26-14).
LA will try to rebound from a 56-20 loss at Richard Winn in the final nonconference game of the season for both teams.
