Seniors Propel Wilson Past Myrtle Beach On Senior Night
Wilson senior Davon Bowman headed to the zone for Wilson's second TD before Myrtle Beach put points on the board.
By Scott Chancey
Special Contributor
FLORENCE – Wilson senior Kayden Bethea intercepted Myrtle Beach on Friday’s second play, and the Tigers were off and running.
Not to mention, passing and catching while building a 33-14 halftime lead on Senior Night at Tiger Stadium.
“Beautiful!” Tigers coach Brian Wilson exclaimed.
The second half? Wilson admitted his Tigers struggled. But that large halftime lead was too much for the Seahawks to overcome, especially late without injured quarterback Camden DeBruhl.
As a result, Wilson walked away with a 33-23 win.
The Tigers (5-4 overall, 3-2 Region 7-4A) next play at region champion South Florence this Friday to end the regular season.
“We’re 5-4, a winning program going into the final game of the regular season against our rival,” said Coach Wilson. “The only thing we have not done since I’ve been here is beat South Florence. We’ve beaten West Florence and we’ve won Homecoming, and we’ve beaten Dillon. That’s the last thing on this bucket list. We should make it back-to-back playoff appearances, but beating South Florence is the one we want.”
On Friday, after Bethea’s interception, the emotion of Senior Night took over.
Wilson’s only non-senior who scored a TD was sophomore running back Mark Law, who accounted for a 7-0 lead.
Senior Davon Bowman’s TD run then made it 14-0 before Myrtle Beach got on the scoreboard with a TD pass from DeBruhl to Amare Brown.
But Bethea was just warming up to catch passes from senior quarterback Ra’Sean Wilson. After catching a 22-yard TD pass, Bethea – on third and 10 – caught a pass while two Seahawk defenders closed in on him. Bethea somehow spun out of that and completed a 37-yard TD pass play that gave Wilson a 27-7 lead.
“It showed that we as a team could come out and score points and be a very productive offense,” Bethea said.
Then, with 12.1 seconds before halftime, after a Brown rushing score for the Seahawks, a 30-yard pass from Wilson sailed between two Myrtle Beach defenders and into Bowman’s hands for yet another touchdown and that 33-14 halftime lead.
“We just came out knowing we had to come in and set the tone as seniors. So, that’s what we did,” said Ra’Sean Wilson. “We were all clicking on all cylinders during the first half. The offensive line did its role. And all I had to do was get our receivers the ball. I knew they were going to make plays.”
That TD pass right before halftime was the exclamation point the Tigers needed.
“We needed that big play; (Wilson) threw the ball and I just went and got it,” Bowman said.
Wilson made a big play on the second half’s opening kickoff, but it was one for the Seahawks after a trick went awry and the ball rolled out of the end zone for a safety.
A penalty then made Wilson attempt the ensuing kick from its own 10, and Myrtle Beach quickly drove into the end zone with another Brown TD that narrowed Wilson’s lead to 33-23.
Near the end of Friday’s third quarter, Myrtle Beach went for it on fourth down, and Bowman tackled DeBruhl.
The Seahawks QB didn’t return.
Brown took over behind center, but the lack of a passing game hampered the comeback attempt by coach Mickey Wilson’s Myrtle Beach squad.
“It’s tough,” said Wilson, whose Seahawk squad is 4-5 and 2-3. “I thought (Brown) did a great job stepping into that role. He’s a great player, and he gets after it. But we made some poor decisions that put us in bad spots. We had every opportunity to get back in this game in the second half.
“And we just didn’t do it.”
