Double Hall of Fame coach Buddy Pough told the Laurens County Touchdown Club on Thursday that with Clemson and Carolina having up-and-down football seasons, it’s up to South Carolina State, Presbyterian College and Newberry College to “get it done.”
SC State’s and PC’s 10 wins each and Newberry’s 12 wins were the highlights of The Palmetto State’s gridiron season. Pough said he feels a kinship with these colleges and Furman and Wofford because “my high school school coach was Dick Sheridan (Furman) and his high school coach was Cally Gault (Presbyterian). “I am kin to you guys,” Pough said to the PC Football players, coaches and administrators in attendance.
Pough was brought out of retirement as the SC State Bulldogs’ football head coach to serve a “short stint” as Athletics Director and now he has his son dealing with all the stuff that college programs have to go through, like NCAA rules compliance and the transfer portal. “And, it is a lot, I can tell you,” said Pough, whose career also includes a successful tenure at Fairfield Central High School.
He spoke directly to the high school players in attendance -- judged the best by position from Laurens District High, Clinton High and Laurens Academy -- when he advised them that if they want to play college football they should consider being a December graduate and make a commitment to their college. That way, they can enroll in January and join the off-season workouts and spring practices. This path to college has just about made what was the biggest off-season day of the year - February’s National Signing Day - a relic from the past, he said.
One All-County Team member was unable to attend Thursday’s event because he has done just that. Clinton’s Tre Aiken, who played in the Shrine Bowl, is at N.C. State beginning his freshman campaign to earn a spot on the Wolfpack’s roster.
When a player enrolls early, Pough said, “We get to train him for the whole spring.”
Highlights of the evening were the two awards that were not known in advance: Clinton running back Javen Cook as the Player of the Year and Laurens Academy mentor Jolly Doolittle as the Coach of the Year, for leading the Crusaders into the independent schools’ 8-man football state championship game. Receiving recognition as the Lakelands Fellowship of Christian Athletes Character Award Winners were: Noah Garrett, Clinton High; John Walters III, Laurens Academy; Braden Yarbrough, Laurens District High; and Warner Bush and Ty Englehart, Presbuterian College.
Bush is going to join the staff of new PC Football Head Coach Matt Rahl, and Englehart is the son of Steve Englehart who led Blue Hose Football to a 10-2 record in 2025 and now is the head coach at West Georgia.
Program Emcee Buddy Bridges asked Ty to convey to his dad how much Laurens County Football Nation appreciates what he did to bring Blue Hose Football back to relevance. In his 4 seasons at the Clinton college, Steve Englehart brought his team from a 1-10 record to a 10-2 record and a #16 national ranking. Bridges’ remarks drew a hardy round of applause from attendees at The Ridge in Laurens, homebase of the Laurens County Touchdown Club.
For his part, Rahl said Englehart called him after Rahl’s Jan. 5 introductory press conference to tell him, “They didn’t even have a press conference for me.” Rahl quipped, “Well, I’m better looking.”
Englehart hired Rahl two years ago to be the Blue Hose offensive line coach and now Rahl has been elevated from that position to Head Coach. The Blue Hose Football team came back on campus last Tuesday and hit the weightroom last Wednesday - Rahl spent part of last Tuesday, the first day of classes after winter break, handing out doughnuts to students on their way to class.
“It has been a whirlwind,” Rahl said. “I’ve reached a life-long dream of mine.” And, he reminded the Touchdown Club audience, “We are Laurens County’s D1 football program.”
Bridges also expressed the Touchdown Club’s appreciation to the county’s high school football coaches, led by Doolittle at Laurens Academy, Greg Porter at Laurens, Corey Fountain at Clinton, and Adams Dean at Thornwell Charter School.
It can be humbling, said Bridges, who is the Voice of the Clinton Red Devils, when a parent realizes that a coach can have as great an impact on a child’s life as parents do - “A coach impacts a kid more in one year that others do in a lifetime,” he said. “It can be the hardest thing to accept as a parent that a coach has as much influence as you have. We are blessed to have these leaders.”
