Clinton took a victory lap Friday night.
In an homage to Keith Richardson’s teams, the 1975 version of which will be honored at Wilder Stadium this Friday, the Red Devils did what the retired Hall of Fame coach did when his teams used to beat the Laurens Raiders in Laurens. On the 8 miles back to CHS, their bus took a lap around the iconic Laurens Square.
That was the 2025 Red Devils’ reward for a dominate-in-all-phases 50-0 win Friday at KC Hanna Stadium. The 1975 team did the same thing when they beat Laurens on their way to a AAA State Championship. The 50th anniversary of that accomplishment will be celebrated Sept. 5 & 6 as the Red Devils face powerful Newberry, a 45-0 winner over their rival, Mid-Carolina.
“I’m happy we got to bounce back (from last week’s loss at Woodruff),” said Clinton football head coach Corey Fountain, who led his team to its 5th victory in a row against Laurens and the 707th overall victory in Red Devil Football’s storied history. “Our guys prepared well. Our coaches prepared well this past week. We’ve just got to keep stacking good days of preparation and keep getting better. We are still a long, long way from where we need to be in some aspects of our game; but the effort was there. We wanted relentless effort tonight.
“Our guys gave relentless effort all night long.”
In Red Devil land, history has a way of repeating itself - the 1975 team opened its season against Woodruff, Laurens and Newberry - the 2025 is opening its season against the same 3 opponents.
Clinton got touchdowns from Javen Cook, Angelo Cromer, Zy Butler, Ajavian James, and Lincoln Alexander. Fountain said on Saturday Morning Rewind that Jaydon Glenn also scored on his 49-yard interception, but was ruled out at the 1 yard line - the Red Devils powered it in one play later. James’ TD was a fumble scoop-and-score. The Devil D held Laurens to 92 yards of total offense. Their longest play was a 13-yard pass completion.
KJ Vance AVERAGED 17.5 yards per carry in leading Clinton with 105 yards rushing. Owen Glenn completed 5 of 6 passes for 79 yards. One pass play from Glenn to Cromer accounted for 45 of those yards. Clinton had a 44-point lead at halftime.
Looking ahead, Fountain said Newberry will want to throw, “but they can run it - huge offensive line.”
The only real challenge for the Red Devils during this past rivalry weekend was for Voice of the Red Devils, Buddy Bridges. His insurance office in Laurens was “flocked” by the Laurens cheerleaders, and he had to make a $25 donation to have the flock removed. He said he was glad to make the payment in the rivalry spirit.
**Red Devil history and statistical information is from Patrick Nelson’s Clinton game notes and Statistics are from BJ Gardner.
SEPT. 2 State Media Poll
Class 2A
