Myrtle Beach bombards Bearcats behind Golson's 7 TDs

MYRTLE BEACH -- Before answering questions about his future, Myrtle Beach High star quarterback Everett Golson answered the big question about the present.

After missing the past eight weeks because of, Golson threw six touchdown passes and ran for another to lead the Seahawks to a 70-0 victory over Brookland-Cayce in the first round of the Class AAA playoffs on Friday at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium, proving he is more than ready to lead his team into the postseason.

"It's indescribable," Golson said of getting back on the field after completing 10 of his 13 passes for 281 yards before calling it a night at halftime. "You can never look over how much your team really matters to you. Not really worrying about the game, just being back out here with the fellas felt real good."

Golson, who held a postgame press conference regarding his decision to graduate high school next month and enroll in college in January, wasted no time proving he had fully recovered from the foot and hand injuries he suffered in the Seahawks' lone loss of the season to Byrnes in Week 2. In fact, it only took three plays.

On Myrtle Beach's first play from scrimmage, Golson showed no signs of rust by hitting Jaquan Wilson on a crisp out-pattern for a nice gain. Two plays later he showed his foot was feeling better than ever, scrambling out of the pocket and weaving through the Bearcats (2-9) defense for a 22-yard touchdown run.

But most importantly, Golson's teammates appeared to raise their level of play. A simple screen pass to Daiquone Ford went 70 yards for a touchdown and a blocked punt set the table for the Seahawks deep in Bearcats' territory, which Golson capitalized on by hitting Dallas Goodman for an 8-yard TD and a 21-0 lead.

"Our goal is we want to be playing our best football in November, to peak in November, and I felt we did that tonight," Seahawks coach Mickey Wilson said. "We came out and played well early on and got after it."

Golson's arm didn't lose anything in terms of accuracy or velocity. In one of his least productive but most impressive plays of the night, Golson was still buckling his chin strap when the shotgun snap came early. He handled the ball and threw a long strike in the end zone that was dropped, and later threw an interception.

"I thought I could have done a lot better," Golson said. There were a couple timing mistakes, like on that pick. ... We'll get it together next week."

But he made up for it the next play with a 37-yard TD toss to Donte Sumpter. Golson later hit Sumpter again on an 8-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the first quarter to make it 35-0.

Myrtle Beach's Alex Holoman intercepted Jonathan Rumph's pass and scrambled 24 yards for a score and Wilson took a Golson pass 65 yards for a touchdown. The Seahawks (10-1) saved their best play of the night for the last play of the first half. After the Myrtle Beach defense stopped the Bearcats' best scoring threat of the night, Golson threw an out-route to Wilson, who pitched the ball to Ford on a hook-and-ladder. Ford weaved his way to a 61-yard TD and a 56-0 halftime lead.

Golson took his all-too-familiar spot on the bench in the second half, along with most of his fellow starters, as the Seahawks defense made the shutout stand up. Myrtle Beach added a pair of touchdown runs by Vincent Hoover to score 70 points for the second straight week. The Seahawks have won their last six games by a combined score of 364-27. They will host the winner of Friday night's Marlboro County-Cane Bay game in the second round of the playoffs next Friday night.

Brookland-Cayce coach Abby Bray announced he was stepping down from the job before the game. The Bearcats snapped a 20-game losing streak last month.