GREENVILLE—The Daniel Lions will host Clinton Friday night to determine the Upstate AAA championship.

Daniel defeated Greenville 14-7 Friday night in a game in which both of the Lions’ touchdowns came on controversial plays.

Daniel’s first touchdown came in the first half when William Wingard ran in from one yard. A few plays earlier, a Daniel running back apparently had a fumble at the end of a play, but officials ruled that he was already down when the ball came loose.

In the third quarter, DeAndre Hopkins ran a punt back 78 yards to score a second Daniel touchdown. Greenville’s coaches and players claimed that Hopkins called for a fair catch, but the referees never gave the fair catch signal. The momentary pause of the defenders was more than enough to allow Hopkins to break free for the touchdown run.

Greenville score its only touchdown of the game on a 4-yard run by quarterback Patrick Langley. The Red Raiders had one final chance to drive for a tying score in the final minute of the game, but Daniel’s Ethan White sacked Langley on a fourth-down play, ending Greenville’s scoring threat.

Clinton is the surprise team of the playoffs, entering as the fourth-seed from Region III-AAA. The Red Devils upset Fairfield Central 35-0 in the opening round of the playoffs, then topped Western AAA runners-up Belton-Honea Path 39-13.

Clinton topped Region III-AAA top seed Union County 17-14 Friday night to advance to the Upstate finals. Clinton, Union County, Riverside and Greer had finished the season in a four-way tie for first place in Region III-AAA, and Clinton had defeated Union County 13-10 in the regular season, but the tie-breaker system placed Union County as the top seed, Riverside second, Greer third and Clinton fourth.

In the Lowcountry, defending S.C. AAA champions Myrtle Beach defeated North Charleston 55-13. In Friday’s Lowcountry championship game, the Seahawks will face Marlboro County, a 26-21 winner over Lake City last week.

The game will be a rematch of last year’s Lowcountry championship, which Myrtle Beach won 51-50.

Myrtle Beach is 12-1, with its only loss coming against Big 16 powerhouse Byrnes. Marlboro County is 13-0.