How Green Sea Floyds made its second state championship more impressive than the first
Green Sea Floyds was a feel-good story last year when the school in the midst of farms and fields in rural western Horry County won its first state championship.
With a dominant repeat performance this season, the Trojans are turning into bullies.
Green Sea Floyds emphatically claimed its second straight S.C. Class A state title Friday night with a 48-12 win over Ridge Spring-Monetta in the championship game at Benedict College’s Charlie W. Johnson Stadium.
“We wanted to change the tradition, and we did,” GSF senior quarterback Bubba Elliott said.
Junior Jaquan Dixon gained 132 yards rushing and scored three touchdowns, Elliott gained 122 yards and scored two TDs, and the GSF defense stymied a high-scoring RSM offense in a game that was determined long before the final minutes ticked off.
“You’ve got to want it, and we’ve been wanting it for a lot of years now,” Dixon said. “We had a chance to do it last year and we did it, we had a chance to do it this year and we did it. Taking advantage of the moment means a lot to us and that’s what we did.
“It’s just fun just to play these football games and I thank God for letting us have this chance.”
The second consecutive state title comes in just the third season at GSF for head coach Donnie Kiefer, who helped resurrect a pair of high school programs in North Carolina prior to signing on with the Trojans.
“I like for the bar to be set high. I like for the standard to be high,” Kiefer said. “Why not? Why do anything if you don’t want to be the absolute best, that’s the way I look at it and that’s the way I came into this program and that’s the way I’ll continue to feel about this program. We want to be at the top of the heap and we’re going to continue to work hard to try to stay there.”
Trying to reach the top seemed like an endless journey for the first 40-plus years of a program that first fielded a team in 1976. GSF endured 13 consecutive losing seasons and has had three winless seasons, the most recent just five years ago in 2014, and for years the football program competed with the tobacco industry for players late in the summer until classes commenced.
But the core group of juniors and seniors on this repeat state championship team has stuck together and played together since they were in elementary school.
“I’ve got a bond with some brothers . . . so it’s a great feeling to go out with them on a bang,” said Elliott, who completed 2 of 3 passes for 45 yards, and like many of his teammates played on both sides of the ball Friday. “We always knew we had something special. The factor was just getting the coaching to put us in the right position and run the right plays.”
GSF (12-1) intercepted three Remedee Leaphart passes in the first half – two by sophomore Dan Johnson and one returned for a touchdown by junior Aaron Graham – and had 12 tackles for a loss of yards on RSM’s 57 offensive plays with nine sacks. Defensive linemen Tanner Cox and Xavier Edwards each had three tackles for loss for a combined loss of 27 yards.
“When we watched them play other people throughout the playoffs, a lot of people weren’t giving them any pressure,” Kiefer said. “They were just trying to cover, letting the quarterback run around and throw and getting the ball out and have all day to throw it, and that’s not our style. We’re going to try to get pressure so that’s what we did, we tried to bring a lot of heat and make him get rid of it quick and maybe make some bad decisions.”
GSF jumped on RSM, scoring on both offense and defense in the game’s opening 7 minutes to take a 13-0 lead.
RSM (10-5) had the game’s first possession and eschewed a punt on fourth-and-7 at its own 33. The Trojans stopped a pass short of the first down and they took over on the 37.
Elliott scored on a 14-yard run two plays after hitting A.J. Campbell for a 13-yard pass to convert a third-and-4 for the first score 4:17 into the game.
RSM picked up a couple first downs on its ensuing drive before junior defensive back Aaron Graham stepped in front of a long pass from the right hash mark to the left sideline and returned it 53 yards for a touchdown 6:32 into the game.
RSM reached the Trojans’ 14-yard line on its fourth possession, but it ended with a Johnson interception near the goal line that he returned to the GSF 32.
The Trojans wasted little time after the turnover, scoring in six plays on a 27-yard Dixon run around the left side of the line. He outran a couple defenders who appeared to have an angle to stop him and added a two-point conversion run to put the Trojans ahead 21-0.
Dixon extended GSF’s lead to 28-0 with a 7-yard scoring run on an inside handoff just 1:28 into the second half, capping a quick 63-yard drive.
Daniel Harris scored both of RSM’s touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters on 5- and 16-yard receptions, and they were sandwiched around a 3-yard TD run by Elliott that capped a drive that included a 32-yard catch by Dixon.
Touchdown runs by Dixon, who surpassed 1,800 rushing yards on the season Friday, and Anwain Graham in the fourth quarter closed out the scoring for GSF. The Trojans rushed for more than 4,000 yards this season.
Big defensive plays ended RSM drives in the first half. In addition to the three interceptions, a Nick Clemons sack on a third down forced a punt on fourth-and-14.
Additionally, one of Cox’s sacks on a third-and-11 forced a fumble that was picked up by RSM running back Collier Sullivan, who broke tackles to gain 28 yards and a first down before the drive ended with the first of Johnson’s interceptions.
Ridge Spring-Monetta was seeking its second state title in its first state championship game appearance since 2006. The lone title came in 1945.
GSF doesn’t plan to wait much longer for its third title. The Trojans will return up to 28 players from this year’s team.
“We have some pretty good talent coming up, and I know coach Kiefer is going to do all he can with them, he’s going to work them hard in the weight room, work them hard on the field,” Elliott said. “So I think we’re going to build a dynasty.”
Summary
Ridge Spring-Monetta 0 0 6 6 – 12
Green Sea Floyds 13 8 7 13 – 48
First quarter
GSF – Bubba Elliott 14 run (Freddy Seratto kick)
GSF – Aaron Graham 53 interception return (kick failed)
Second quarter
GSF – Jaquan Dixon 27 run (Dixon rush)
Third quarter
GSF – Dixon 7 run (Seratto kick)
RSM – Daniel Harris 5 pass from Remedee Leaphart (pass failed)
Fourth quarter
GSF – Elliott 3 run (kick failed)
RSM – Harris 16 pass from Leapart (pass failed)
GSF – Dixon 1 run (Seratto kick)
GSF – Anwain Graham 6 run (Seratto kick)
Individual leaders
Rushing – RSM: Collier Sullivan 8-65, Keflin Jones 3-36; GSF: Jaquan Dixon 15-122, Bubba Elliott 18-132, A.J. Campbell 4-41
Passing – RSM: Remedee Leaphart 12-21-3--142; GSF: Bubba Elliott 2-3-0--45
Receiving – RSM: Daniel Harris 8-71, Colbi Sullivan 3-54; GSF: Dixon 1-32, Campbell 1-13
This story was originally published December 6, 2019 at 11:12 PM.
