It wasn't so much if, but when.
And the answer as to when Myrtle Beach would make quick work of Carolina Forest turned out to be only a few brief moments.
The Seahawks scored touchdowns on all six of their first-half possessions and went on to win their season opener 63-6 Friday night.
"We had a lot of things we wanted to achieve tonight; don't get complacent," quarterback Everett Golson said. "Sometimes, from the past, we knew if we worked hard, we were going to score (a lot)."
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No other drive exemplified Myrtle Beach's dominance over the Panthers than one in the third quarter. The Seahawks started the possession with the ball on the Carolina Forest 46-yard line.
But after an incomplete pass and a massive holding penalty, Golson and the rest of the offense was backed up to its own 29 facing a third and 36. In true Myrtle Beach fashion, though, Golson completed a 24-yard pass to Dallas Goodman - making it 4th and 9 - before launching a 44-yard scoring strike to Goodman on the very next play.
It pushed the difference in the game to six touchdowns.
Immediately after he passed the 300-yard mark (following a third-quarter pass to Dante Sumpter), he was removed from the game. In many ways, Friday night was about backing up the hoopla following Golson, the senior currently committed to North Carolina. He flashed that golden arm over and over, and at one point during the first half, he completed 10 straight passes.
And while it didn't count because of a penalty, he whizzed a 50-yard touchdown pass to Sumpter, threading the pass through a pair of defenders.
Simply, he was everything the fans - the Myrtle Beach fans, at least - who crammed into Carolina Forest Stadium hoped for. It was also a welcome sight for coach Mickey Wilson, who after not playing in Week 0, was finally able to see how this promising season was going to begin.
"We just needed to play some football," Wilson said. "We're getting kind of tired of practicing against each other. The nice thing about it, the (skill positions) are going to have to carry us because we're young in so many areas." About the only thing that slowed Myrtle Beach down was it's only ability to rack up penalty yards.
The Seahawks had 98 yards of flagged yardage, including three penalties that erased touchdowns. But, as Golson and his teammates proved, it mattered little against the Panthers. Twice, Myrtle Beach went on to score just the same.
If nothing else, it gave Wilson something to concentrate on prior to next week's game against Byrnes.
"In order to be a great team, we have to cut out on the small penalties," Golson said. "That's what it was. Unfortunately, we had a lot of touchdowns called back."
Said Wilson: "You expect that a little bit in the first game, but it was just too many. We can't have those penalties. They're stupid penalties. We've got to fix that. And we will."
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