Two of the top teams in 3A in the Upper State will lock horns this Friday night at Wilder Stadium in Clinton. It’s a matchup that has even the most casual high school football fans salivating like southerners at an oyster roast in the fall.
Chapman will make the trip down I-26 from Inman sporting a 3-1 record that includes a 17-14 upset over Byrnes, a team ranked fifth in the latest 5A media poll. The lone blemish is 29-14 loss on the road at 5A Boiling Springs. Clinton beat the Panthers twice last season, putting up 49 points on both occasions, with the second victory coming in the third round of the playoffs.
The Panthers ground game is not what it has been in the past, but us still plenty effective. Chapman has amassed nearly 700 yards on the ground behind the two-headed rushing attack of Mathai Scott and quarterback Coleman Gray. Gray has thrown for nearly 900 yards on the season, completing about 59 percent of his passes.
The Panthers like to use the run game to create space in the middle of the field for Shawn Cunningham, an electric playmaker and Gray’s favorite target. Cunningham has caught more than half of the passes Gray has completed and has more than half of the yards in the passing game. He has also hauled in two of Gray’s six touchdown tosses.
The Red Devils come into the contest sitting at 4-0, having decimated everyone in their path so far this season. Head coach Corey Fountain thought his squad was in for a rebuilding year after losing 25 seniors off last year’s team. They returned just eight total starters in 2023. Someone forgot to that tell the Red Devils players, though.
Clinton has also shed some of the run-heavy play calling that they have become synonymous with over the years. Some of that has been forced upon the Red Devils. They lost senior leader Jayden Robinson in the Laurens game. Robinson was one of three 1,000-yard rushers in Clinton’s offense last season. The very next week against Newberry, the Red Devils lost their other running back and leading tackler from last year’s team Kason Copleand.
Junior quarterback Tushawan Richardson, who almost decided not to play football at all, has used his arm as well as his feet to lead Clinton directly through the adversity. On the ground he has rushed for 236 yards with three scores and is averaging 13.1 yards per carry. The 5-foot-11, 160-pound quarterback can also air it out. He’s 26-36 for 484 yards on the season with eight touchdowns to just one pick.
The Red Devils defense is led by three-star defensive back prospect and Cincinnati commit Zay Johnson and linebacker Brett Young. The two form the heartbeat of a stingy Red Devils defense that has given up more than seven points just once this season. The Panther offense will present the toughest test yet for Johnson, Young, and crew.
Prediction: This game sets up to be one of the best across the state this Friday night. Both teams are well coached and well prepared in addition to being enormously talented. Expect a tight, back-and-forth affair for a good portion of the game, with the teams going blow for blow. It’s an early fourth quarter turnover from Chapman that starts the Red Devils ball rolling and Clinton follows their junior quarterback to victory over Chapman, 42-21.