Football Recap: Laurens Comes Up Short + How To Watch

Laurens lost against Westside back in October of 2024 and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Friday. The Raiders were dealt a 41-9 defeat at the hands of the Rams. While losing is never fun, the Raiders can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' South Carolina football rankings (they are ranked 144th, while the Rams are ranked 47th).

Despite the loss, Laurens had strong showings from Damajia Crooks, who picked up 123 receiving yards and one touchdown, and Logan Bragg, who threw for 172 yards on 15 of 30 attempts.

Keylan Powell had another great game (as he tends to do), rushing for 230 yards and four scores while picking up 8.8 yards per carry, and also picking up 60 receiving yards for Westside. The Rams are 3-1 when Powell posts two or more rushing touchdowns, but 2-3 otherwise. Bear Woods was another key player, throwing for 248 yards and a pair of TDs while completing 75% of his passes.

This is the second loss in a row for Laurens and nudges their season record down to 1-8. Admittedly, the team was facing some tough opposition over that stretch, including 6-2 Wren (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 65.3% over those games). As for Westside, their victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 5-4.

Laurens has already played their next contest, a 23-17 defeat against Emerald on the 31st. As for Westside, they also didn't take long to hit the field again: they've already played their next game, a 21-7 win against Wren on the 30th.