FRIDAY SPORTS: HS and College Football; 49ers defeat Rams; Braves beat Phillies

*Golden Corner High School Football Friday Night features 96.3 WGOG on the road in Anderson County as we broadcast from Cunningham Stadium at Pendleton High School when the Bulldogs take on the Wildcats from Blacksburg High School. Air-time is 7:00 PM with the Northland Communications Pregame Show. Kick off is set for 7:30 PM. Elsewhere around the region Friday night:  Seneca travels to Piedmont to face Wren. Walhalla is at Belton-Honea Path, and West-Oak travels to Greenwood County to take on Emerald. Powdersville will visit Crescent. Palmetto is at Daniel. JL Mann will host TL Hanna. Landrum goes to winless Liberty and Woodmont visits winless Westside. In Northeast Georgia, Stephens County is at Chestatee. East Jackson will host Elbert County and Hart County looks to remain unbeaten as they head to Franklin County. Be sure to catch all the scores from around the state on the Edwards Auto Sales Scoreboard Show with Tony Medlin following our game broadcast.

*A big Saturday of football is coming tomorrow, as #12 South Carolina pays a visit to undefeated Central Florida. It’s the Gamecocks first trip to Orlando. That game kicks at 12:00 PM on ABC. It’s homecoming at Clemson, where the Tigers will face Wake Forst at 3:30 PM. And, #6 LSU heads to Athens to take on the ninth-ranked Georgia Bulldogs, also at 3:30 PM. On 96.3 WGOG, the Furman Paladins visit Johnson Hagood Stadium in Charleston to take on The Citadel. Airtime is 5:00 PM with the pregame show, kick off is set for 6:00 PM. Thursday night saw Virginia Tech defeat Georgia Tech 17-10 in a game played at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta.

*The San Francisco 49ers downed the St. Louis Rams 35-11 Thursday night on the road in St. Louis. 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick went 15 of 23 for 167 yards with two touchdown passes, while Rams QB Sam Bradford was 19 of 41 for 202 yards with one touchdown. Bradford also had an interception and was sacked five times.

*In the majors on Thursday, Jason Heyward had a career-high five hits, including a leadoff home run, and the Braves rode a five-run first inning to post a 7-1 win over the Phillies. That series continues Friday at 7:30 PM.

*New York Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera pitched in his final game at Yankee Stadium Thursday night in an emotional farewell that saw the all-time saves leader sobbing in teammate Andy Pettite’s arms on the mound. Pettite, who’s also retiring this year, and Yankee captain Derek Jeter, both career-long teammates of Rivera, were sent in by manager Joe Girardi to take Rivera out of the game with two outs in the ninth inning. Girardi had brought in Rivera in the previous inning even though the Yankees were losing 4-0 to the Tampa Bay Rays so the future first-round Hall of Famer could have his Yankee Stadium goodbye. Rivera, who was prefect in getting four outs, hugged Pettite for some 30 seconds, and then Jeter, as he cried, and then walked off the mound to cheers from the sell-out crowd as he wiped away the tears running down his face. After the game, Rivera said, “I was bombarded with emotions and feeling that I couldn’t describe. Everything hit at that time. I knew that was the last time. Period. I never felt like that before.” Rivera may actually pitch in another game. Even though they are eliminated from playoff contention, the Yankees have three final games to play in Houston.

*Baseball commissioner Bud Selig announced Thursday that he will retire after next season in January 2015, ending a 22-year term that’s second in length only to Kenesaw Mountain Landis’ 24 years from 1920 to 1944. Selig’s reign saw higher revenues, the expansion of the post-season, interleague play and two decades of labor peace. But he also presided over the canceled World Series in 1994 due to a lengthy strike, as well as perhaps the biggest mark on his tenure, the prevalence of performance-enhancing drugs until testing with penalties finally was instituted in 2004.