Monthly Archives: September 2018
BRINGING THE BALANCE
Liberty finds success on offense for win against St. Joseph’s
By Clay Counts
Special to The Courier
claycounts21@yahoo.com
LIBERTY — After struggling through a hard-fought loss against county rival Pickens, the Liberty Red Devils turned their focus to ironing out a few kinks ahead of another 
non-region tune-up game last Friday against the St. Joseph Knights.
With one last non-region battle planned this week before the heart of the schedule begins with region play, the Devils showed their progression from previous weeks against St. Joseph’s Friday night, putting together their most balanced and sharp game for a 32-16 win.
St. Joseph’s received the opening kick and drove the ball quickly down the field to gain an early 7-0 lead on the Red Devils.
The Knights’ run game appeared to be a struggle for Liberty early on, but quick adjustments by the coaching staff kept St. Joseph’s at bay most of the game.
Not to be outdone, the Red Devil offense brought out its most balanced attack of the season on its opening drive, rushing for 57 yards and going 4-for-4 through the air, with the final Carter Smith pass to Jeremy Cason ending in a six-yard touchdown. An unsuccessful two-point conversion attempt left Liberty down 7-6 with 2:10 remaining in the first quarter.
In a quick turn of events, the opening play of the Knights’ following drive was intercepted by Liberty’s Dale Gantt and returned all the way to the 1-yard line.
Clay Lollis, who led the team with 78 yards on 22 totes, punched in a touchdown on the following play to give Liberty a 12-7 lead.
The second quarter started with a successful drive for St. Joseph’s, ending with a 24-yard K.D. Boyd touchdown run. The PAT put the Knights ahead 14-12.
The following drive for Liberty showed some hope, but quickly stalled, forcing a punt.
St. Joseph’s took over with good field position at its own 46-yard line. The drive stalled after a third-down tackle for loss by Liberty senior Jack Brissey. The Knights attempted to convert on fourth down, but were stopped behind the line of scrimmage in a joint effort from Brissey and Hunter Powell.
With the ball on their own 41-yard line with only 37 seconds until halftime, the Red Devils pass game led by Smith drove the field, finding the end zone on another six-yard
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Feeling the Frustration
Pickens drops third game by one score
By Rocky Nimmons
Publisher
rnimmons@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — Frustration.
That one word best sums up the Pickens Blue Flame’s season thus far in 2018. Pickens is now 1-3, but the Blue Flame players, coaches and fans know it should be better.
The Blue Flame have lost three one-score games by a combined 14 points. In all of those losses, Pickens was in the contest until the final whistle was blown.
Friday’s game at Bill Isaacs Field was the culmination of the frustration. as the Big Blue fell to the undefeated Travelers Rest Devil Dogs by a single point, 20-19.
The Flame were hoping to end TR’s win streak, but the loss held no more anguish for the Pickens than the first two in 2018 did.
“It is pretty tough, but I wouldn’t say it was any worse than the loss to Pendleton or Easley,” Pickens coach Chad Smith said. “We are right there, but we just have to make plays. There were about 15 plays in this game that if we made them, we win the game.
“Some of them were on us as a coaching staff for not have the correct people in at certain times. Some of it was on the kids. We will get it fixed.”
Turnovers were the biggest issue. The Blue Flame fumbled the ball away five times, with the Devildogs recovering three.
“We turned the ball over, and we can’t turn the ball over, and they were sloppy turnovers,” Smith said. “Give Travelers Rest credit. They take a lot of pride in forcing turnovers, but some of these tonight were not forced. We have to take care of the ball, we have to take care of the penalties and we have to take care of our execution. That is 100 percent on us. If we take care of those things, we will be a difficult team to beat.”
Despite the mistakes, the Flame played hard, like they always do — especially defensive coordinator Eric Houston’s unit. The defense allowed TR only 278 yards of offense all
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‘Just try us’
Tigers’ secondary remains confident after shaky game
By Alex Maminakis
Courtesy The Journal
alex@upstatetoday.com
CLEMSON — It’s not often that Clemson’s defense gets gashed for 500 yards.
But Texas A&M and quarterback Kellen Mond raided the second-ranked Tigers through the air on Saturday at Kyle Field, racking up 430 passing yards and 501 total.
Most importantly for the Tigers (2-0), they were able to hold off the Aggies and escape Texas with a 28-26 win, but Clemson recognized its defense didn’t live up to its standard last weekend against a tough test.
“We didn’t finish on defense. We have to play four quarters,” Tigers coach Dabo Swinney said Sunday on his weekly teleconference. “There were a lot of positives, but I was really disappointed with the 430 yards passing, and most of that comes in the
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Hagood Mill fiddling convention gears up for first-ever 3-day event
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — This year the Hagood Mill Historic Site’s annual Ole Time Fiddling Convention will become a three-day event.
“For the first time, Hagood Mill has decided to take a one-day event and make it a two-and-a-half to three-day event,” tourism director Jay Pitts told Pickens County Council members recently.
The event is slated for this Friday through Sunday, and there will be a $5 general admission fee to the site per person per day. There will be no charge for children 10 and under and no charge for parking.
This marks the 22nd year that the mill has hosted the convention, which also plays
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Issaqueena Festival and Clemson Music Festival to join forces
SIX MILE — The Flight for the Fight and the Greater Clemson Music Festival Committees announced recently the two festivals will join forces next year on Saturday, April 6, at the usual location along Main Street in Six Mile.
Flight for the Fight is held annual alongside Six Mile’s Issaqueena Festival to raise money for breast cancer research through Dabo’s All In Team Foundation
Organizers say bringing the two festivals together will enhance Flight for the Fight’s 5K and 10K road races, drawing more participants during cooler weather and allow for an expanded musical program geared to all musical tastes. Rhythm City, a nine-piece
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Veterans Day event being planned
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
LIBERTY — Pickens County is planning a special Veterans Day program, according to county tourism director Jay Pitts.
The “Salute to Our Veterans” is part of the county’s sesquicentennial celebration events, Pitts told county council members last month.
In June, as he laid out the county’s planned 150th anniversary celebratory events, Pitts told council members that Nov. 10 and Nov. 11 would focus on celebrating the more than 7,000 veterans who reside in Pickens County.
He shared more details on the veterans event with council during a committee of the whole meeting last month.
“This will be the jewel in our crown,” Pitts said.
The celebration will be held at the Pickens County Performing Arts Center in Liberty.
“Red carpet arrivals will come into the PAC, and we’ll put on a show that will raise the
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Outdoor market set to benefit PCBDSN
PICKENS — Located at 101 Laurenwood Drive in Pickens, Looper’s Red Barn will host an outdoor market event on Sept. 22, with all proceeds going to benefit the Pickens County Board of Disabilities and Special Needs.
The funds will be used to help individuals with disabilities and their families.
The event is free and open to the public and will run from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. It will include outdoor vendors with homemade arts and crafts, Carolina Choo Choo train rides, music, fishing, special appearances by Sacred Heart Beats (drum therapy), 2018 South Carolina Jr. Miss and Miss Amazing Carrie McWhorter, bounce houses and silent auction items.
Hot dog plates and baked goods will also be available for purchase.
For vendor information, call (864) 644-2563 or (864) 644-2564 or email bleist@pcbdsn.org or reuton@pcbdsn.org.
Ride to the Rock scheduled this month
PICKENS — The Pickens Rotary Club will host the annual Ride to the Rock cycling event on Sept. 22
The ride will begin in Pickens and challenge riders with three routes to choose from: 40k, 60K and 100K rides.
The 2018 rides will leave from the Pickens Amphitheater, located at 114 W. Main St., and travel north to S.C. Highway 11 with beautiful views of Table Rock Mountain. The Metric Century (100K) also climbs U.S. Highway 178 to the Continental Divide before returning to Pickens. The rides are fully supported with a SAG (support and gear) vehicle and rest stops. Day of ride registration begins at 8 a.m. at the amphitheater,
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Payne named EHS baseball coach
By Bru Nimmons
Staff Reporter
bnimmons@thepccourier.com
EASLEY — There’s a new head man for the Easley High School baseball team, and he’s a familiar face for the Green Wave faithful.
Gill Payne was named as Easley’s new head baseball coach on Aug. 30. Payne was already serving the school as its athletic director and took over the baseball job following the sudden departure of coach Josh Warner a few weeks ago.
The Green Wave were in dire need of a coach as the school year approached and were lucky to already have the more-than-capable Payne on staff.
Payne has an extensive baseball background, with 18 years at the NCAA Division II, NAIA, NJCAA and high school levels. He was a Major League Baseball associate scout
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Lady Blue Flame volleyball defeats Eastside and Easley
PICKENS — The 7-0 Pickens High School Lady Blue Flame varsity volleyball team defeated Eastside at Pickens High School on Sept. 4. In the first meeting of the year, the scores were very close: 28-26, 28-26.
Lady Flame
“Playing at home made a big difference,” Pickens head coach Rikki Owens said of the victory over Eastside. “That, plus we are improving at every level.”
Pickens started strong and finished strong against Eastside. Owens said she felt she had some new leaders emerge during the contest and that she was excited to see that happening.
Sydney Bolding led in kills with 13, while Olivia Dow recorded 12. Lexi Wierzbicki finished with eight kills.
“Dow and her left swing were unstoppable,” Owens said. “She was on fire, down the lines, hitting corners. We have two left-handed hitters. When they are on, no one can block them.”
Wierzbick and Dow led blocks with three and two, respectively.
Kaylee Gillespie led in serves with 28, four aces and only one error. Jewell Porterfield served at 100 percent. Gillespie recorded 27 assists, while Bailee Earnhardt followed with 11. Wierzbicki led with 12 digs.
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