McLendon, North Myrtle Beach pull away from Marlboro County
Friday was a big day in the life of North Myrtle Beach quarterback Cason McLendon. He celebrated his 16th birthday and started his first varsity football game for the Chiefs in a 35-14 victory over Marlboro County, a game in which he threw for three scores and ran for another pair.
“This is probably the best birthday present I could ever ask for,” the sophomore quarterback said. “Everybody supported me, my coaches, my teammates, everybody supported me and we got the win. I was pretty nervous all day going into the game. I knew I had the support of my coaches and teammates who believed in me and that gave me confidence. That allowed me to execute on the field when my team needed me.”
The two-week break stemming from Hurricane Matthew made the Chiefs (7-1, 1-1 Region VII-4A) eager to hit the playing field to wash the taste of a 43-23 loss against rival Myrtle Beach from their mouths. Going against a strong Marlboro County team, which runs the ball particularly well, was no easy task for head coach Blair Hardin and his team.
“They were a lot bigger than we were, but I thought our front four (defensive linemen) got a lot better as the game wore on to free up our linebackers to make plays,” Hardin said of his defense. “Our guys made some turnovers for us to give our offense a short field and played a good game to keep a good offense from really getting going.”
Coming into the contest, North Myrtle Beach knew it had to try to slow down Dylven Covington, Marlboro County’s stud running back. While he ran for 154 yards and a touchdown on Friday, he never broke loose for a big play to turn momentum, needing 26 carries to do his damage. The North Myrtle Beach defense also forced Covington to fumble in the second half, which the Chief offense turned into a touchdown.
From the gun, the North Myrtle Beach offense used a spread option rushing attack to keep the Bulldog defense off balance. While McLendon doesn’t offer the same sizzle in the running game as senior quarterback Ronnie Bass, he carried the ball effectively around the goal line for the Chiefs. His quarterback sneak with less than two minutes in the opening quarter was the night’s first score – and his first as a varsity quarterback.
In the second quarter, Marlboro County would ride Covington and do-it-all athlete Myron Williams to a pair of rushing touchdowns and a 14-7 lead. Before the half ended, McLendon led his team down to score, this time a 6-yard pass to Tyler Gore, to tie the contest going into the break.
The Chief defense wouldn’t allow Marlboro County into the end zone for the rest of the night.
A fast-paced third quarter produced just one scoring drive, capped by another rushing touchdown for McLendon from 4 yards out. While McLendon finished the drives in the running game, his trio of backs – Kered Class (11-34), Rahsaan Vereen (8-54) and T.J. Gore (15-103) – provided the muscle for the offense.
“Everything starts up front, I was really proud of our five guys on the line,” Hardin said. “Our running backs ran with passion and our receivers made plays for our young quarterback. Collectively, as an offense, we played a complete game, something we didn’t do against Myrtle Beach a few weeks ago.”
In the final quarter, the Chief offense would find the end zone twice, another McLendon to Tyler Gore pass – this time caught one-handed – and then a strike to Reece Finch from 6-yards out.
“Cason did a good job; he came up from our (junior varsity) team and played really well,” Hardin said. “We have a good system around here, if somebody goes down the next guy will step up. I’m proud of how we managed the game and took what was given to us offensively.”
With the win over Marlboro County, Hardin and his team can control its own destiny for a home playoff game at season’s end. While the playoffs are looming for a talented North Myrtle Beach squad, the coach only looks at one game on the schedule – the next one.
“We’re healthy and going into this part of the season, that’s huge,” he said. “We just played one of our more consistent games of the season on both sides of the ball, so we’re going to try and build off that.”
North Myrtle Beach will travel to St. James next Friday for a 7:30 p.m. kick.
MC | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | — | 14 |
NMB | 7 | 7 | 7 | 14 | — | 35 |
First quarter
NMB – Cason McLendon 1-yard run (Andrew Smith kick good) 1:57
Second quarter
MC – Dylven Covington 7-yard run (Hunter Tyndall kick good) 9:26
MC – Myron Williams 3-yard run (Tyndall kick) 2:12
NMB – McLendon 6-yard pass to T.J. Gore (Smith kick) 00:27
Third quarter
NMB – McLendon 4-yard run (Smith kick) 8:34
Fourth quarter
NMB – McLendon 10-yard pass to Gore (Smith kick) 11:55
NMB – McLendon 6-yard pass to Reece Finch (Smith kick) 5:40
Individual leaders
Rushing: MC: Dylven Covington – 26-154 TD; Myron Williams 9-61 TD; Jacob Evers 2-13; Elijah Blair 1-(-2). Total 38-226 2TD. NMB: Kered Class 11-34; Rahsaan Vereen 8-54; T.J. Gore 15-103; Cason McLendon 4-3 2TD. Total 38-194 2TD.
Passing: MC: Evers 4-12-41-0-2; Williams 1-1-9-0-0. Total 5-13-50-0-2. NMB: McLendon 11-15-123-3-0.
Receiving: MC: Tony Graham 1-9; Williams 1-7; Decosta Ford 1-4; Tyrek Eaddy 1-12; Ion Williams 1-18. Total 5-50. NMB: Vereen 1-10; Class 1-4; Cullin Mitchell 1-13; Tyler Gore 4-36 2TD; Reece Finch 4-60 TD. Total 11-123 3TD.
This story was originally published October 22, 2016 at 12:36 AM with the headline "McLendon, North Myrtle Beach pull away from Marlboro County."