Murells Inlet - Myrtle Beach High School , a tough AAAA girls soccer team, took on AAAAA powerhouse St James with the Seahawks looking for revenge on the 1-0 loss to the Sharks on Feb 24. It was not the night for Seahawks as they lost 5-0. St James entered the non-region match with a 15-3 record and are 8-0 in region play. The Seahawks fell to 12-7 overall and are 9-1 in their region.

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Florence — The top AAAA ranked South Florence Bruins ran their 2023 record to 8-0, 3-0, with a dominating 42-0 win over region foe Myrtle Beach (6-2), at home on October, 13, to stretch their win streak to 23 straight games dating back to November, 2021. This week SF will host region foe North Myrtle Beach while Myrtle Breach will host Wilson is a key region game also. The Bruins used three quarterbacks during the game, (soph Messiah Jackson , senior Brian McCart , and senior Syree Livingston ) and all three had hands in the team’s seven touchdowns. After the big win, South Florence head coach Drew Marlowe told the HSSR, “We are playing three quarterbacks right now, and we kind of have different packages for each one of them,” said Coach Marlowe. “We try to make it hard on teams preparing to play us. I have always said that your offense plays to the strength of your quarterback so we are playing three different offenses right now. “McCart has a strong arm and he has improved a lot and we are still recovering on offense from losing junior receiver Jayden Sellers for the season in the Hartsville game,” said Coach Marlowe. “We had a lot of other receivers step up tonight and hopefully in the future we will be able to open the offense a little bit more. Juan Vargas caught a couple deep balls tonight along with Linnex Valerie . “I thought the entire defense played well tonight,” said Coach Marlowe. “As long as Amare (Adams) is it makes it difficult for teams to run to his side and then you have Terrence (Moorer) on the other side and those two guys make things go for us up-front.” Coach Marlowe said Adams, among the top junior DL in the country, has offers from Alabama, Geogia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Clemson and “these are the one’s off the top of my head,” said the coach. “In the past couple years, we have clawed our way to being relevant in this very competitive region and hopefully we can stay competitive for a long time,” said Coach Marlowe. “The important thing right now if for us to keep playing well, win the region, because the number one seed in our region gets four home playoff games as long as they keep winning in the playoffs and playing well these next two games against North Myrtle Beach and West Florence is our main goal right now.” Myrtle Beach came into the game with around 9 starters out due to injuries. Head coach Mickey Wilson told the HSSR after the game, “We did have some injuries to deal with but that is no excuse for the way we played tonight,” said Coach Wilson. “We just need to keep working hard and keeping getting better. Hopefully, we can get two region wins over the next two games and finish second in the region and then we go from there. “It will be great to be home against Wilson this upcoming week and right now we just have to lick our wounds and get better in practice this week,” said Coach Wilson. “We just didn’t play well tonight and hopefully we can figure it out and get better.” South Florence scored their first touchdown on their second possession of the game when Raleigh Jett raced 58 yards for a touchdown with 6:13 left in the first period. Junior PK Evan Holland made the first of his seven PAT’s on the night to give his team an early 7-0 lead. The Bruin’s next scored on their next possession when senior WR Juan Fargas caught a 63-yard touchdown pass from McCart with 1:40 left in the opening period. The PAT made it 14-0 after the first period. A strong tackle by Bruin DL Amare Adams (6-5,290) on Seahawk junior QB Gibson Goodroe late in the first period knocked him out of the game. Goodroe was replaced by sophomore Tanner Gaddy but he was mostly ineffective against a pass rush led by Adams and senior DE Terrence Moorer who came into the game with 28 and 20 tackles respectively. Soph LB Terry Gordan , senior LB leader Noah Moore , and senior FS Dirrick Goodman came into the game as the Bruins top three tackles, stats wise, with 50, 44, and 39 respectively. They played well on defense also. SF made it 21-0 with 9:51 left in the first half when Jackson scored on a four-yard run out of the Wildcat. His TD was set up after a 41-yard burst by Jett that picked up 41-yards down to the four. The PAT made it 21-0. With 3:21 left in the second period SF went up 28-0, Livingston scored on a 30-yard keeper and he literally ran over a defender on his way to the end zone. His run capped off a 9-play drive and the PAT gave SF a 28-0 commanding lead at the half. SF added two insurance touchdowns in the third period. McCart scored on a three-yard keeper with 8:46 remaining in the third period. The Bruins final score of the game came on a four- yard pass from Jackson to junior Linnex Valerie with 1:31 left in the game. MB had several quality runs from senior leading running back Malachi Washington and junior RB Jamick Sinclair but the Seahawks were unable to ever advance into the red zone during the game. Some of the SF offensive stats leaders coming into the MB game were McCart who had completed 37-of-71 passes for 449 yards and five TD’s while Jackson had completed 11-of-19 passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns. The top three rushers prior to the MB game were junior Zion Gilbert who had 620 yards on 78 carries and five TD’s. Jett was next on the rushing index with 448 yards on 71 carries and three touchdowns. Senior Latrelle McClary had 301 yards on 50 carries and six touchdowns. Sellers ended the season with 295 rushing yards on 27 carries and six TD’s and he also had 18 receptions for 225 yards and one TD. Lesane and Fargas came into the MB game with 8 and six catches respectively for 77 and 52 yards each. After Gordan, Moore, Goodman, and Adams the next three top tacklers for the Bruins prior to the MB game, were OLB Cameron Coe (27), OLB Chantwan Harkless (25) and CB Kemonte Rose (23). Harkless and Moore were the sack leaders with four and three respectively. 

Larry Gamble Photo Editor, HSSR Photos from the Myrtle Beach vs South Florence game on 10-13. High resolution prints and digital downloads from this event are available at www.LarryGamble.com by clicking this link to the photos .

Myrtle Beach – Except for an opening in girls lacrosse, Myrtle Beach High athletic director John Cahill reports the 2023-24 varsity coaching staff is intact and ready for another competitive year in athletics. The girls lacrosse program will have a new head coach sometime in the coming weeks. The only other opening among varsity sports was boys cross country and Cahill filled that position with Rick Thompson, who will take over this fall. Mickey Wilson is set to return for his 15 th season as the head football coach. Wilson has guided the Seahawks to three state championships (2010, 2013, 2018) and two state runner-up finishes (2009, 2019). Wilson has averaged 10 wins per season and last year was his first losing season as the Seahawks finished with a 5-7 record. Myrtle Beach has won 10 or more games nine times under Wilson’s guidance. Wilson’s football staff added an offensive analyst to the staff as former player and coach Lucas Britt is returning to the program. The most successful athletic program, in terms of state championships, at Myrtle Beach is the boys tennis program. The Seahawks won the 2023 state title, going back-to-back with championships, The program has won 12 state championships over the years. Jeremy Howard is the head coach of the boys tennis team, while also coaching the varsity boys volleyball team. The upcoming fall season will be the second for the program after moving from club level to varsity level last fall. Returning as the varsity girls volleyball coach is Chynna Hunt, who guided the program to a 17-11 overall record and a 7-3 region mark in her first season as head coach. Susan Sparks is set to return as the girls tennis coach this fall while Meredith Jiorle returns as the girls cross country coach. Jiorle also is the varsity softball coach in the spring. Also in the fall, Katherine Detlaff returns to head up the boys swim program while Kaitlyn Holmes will again coach the girls swim team. Lowell Counce will again coach the girls golf team in the fall as well as the boys golf team in the spring. In basketball, Jennifer Dennison returns as the girls varsity coach, and Eric Lyons returns for his second season as the boys coach. Veteran Ken MacIver will continue his efforts with the wrestling program. Veteran Tim Christy is set to return as the head baseball coach next spring. Jason Himmelsbach heads up the boys soccer team while Kevin Widener is the girls varsity coach. Stephen Nickerson is the boys lacrosse coach.