Myrtle Beach cruises past St. James, nears undefeated slate

The Myrtle Beach Seahawks took one more step closer to an unblemished regular season Friday night as they beat St. James in Region VII play, crushing the winless Sharks 55-3 behind the hot hand of junior quarterback Lawson Cribb, who threw for 306 yards on the night and struck for three touchdowns.

Cribb, who has now posted back-to-back 300-yard games for the Seahawks (9-0, 3-0), threw 28 times Friday while connecting on 18 tosses, eight of which went to senior wideout Will Vereen, who tallied 156 yards receiving including a 17-yard score in the second quarter.

“Me and Will have been playing together since B-team so we definitely have chemistry,” Cribb said of his favorite target. “I’m comfortable with Will and I trust him a lot. I trust everyone else too but I think that me and Will have a little better chemistry since we’ve been playing together so long.”

Cribb said his confidence is heightened as the leader of the Seahawks’ high-powered offense due to the trust that head coach Mickey Wilson has instilled in him this season and says because of that trust, he has complete confidence in himself when he throws the ball as many times as he did on Friday.

“Having coach’s trust helps a lot,” Cribb said. “At the beginning of the year he really had my back and for him to stick with me not only helps my confidence, but it really allows this team to flourish.”

Wilson said Cribb has done a tremendous job learning the system and has developed himself into a great leader on the field. He also commends Vereen on how he has come around this season to be a key part of the Seahawks’ dominant passing game.

“Will has really come on and became our go-to guy offensively and we’re really proud of him,” Wilson said of the senior. “We always knew that he could be a really good player for us and he’s really starting to show it now.”

The Seahawks had no problem defeating St. James (0-10, 0-4) as they racked up seven touchdowns on the impoverished Sharks defense and another score on defense by the hands of senior Cortez Brown, who capped off Myrtle Beach’s dominance with a 38-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

The Seahawks scored quickly and often on the Sharks, beginning with a 15-yard scamper by senior running back Jermani Green, followed by a three-yard-dive by senior Keyonte Sessions just six minutes later in the first quarter.

The second quarter saw Cribb throw two of his three touchdowns, first to Green for 27 yards and then to Vereen for a 17-yard score. In fact, Cribb gained 191 of his 306 yards in the first half alone, 105 of those yards going to Vereen.

As the Seahawks easily sped past St. James on Friday, they now have their sights on region foe Marlboro County and a chance to not only win the region but to give Wilson his first-ever undefeated season at Myrtle Beach. Wilson said playing at Marlboro County is always a good place to play and is a great environment. He hopes to win the region championship but in order to do so, the Seahawks must be consistent, something that he feels the team has lacked lately.

“We’ve been sometimes inconsistent. I think that long break we took during the storm messed us up a little bit but now it’s November and we gotta put four full quarters of football together,” Wilson said. “The biggest thing we talk about is that we have to develop a level of consistency on offense, defense and special teams and play four full quarters of consistent football.”

This story was originally published November 5, 2016 at 12:51 AM with the headline "Myrtle Beach cruises past St. James, nears undefeated slate."