‘So proud’: How North Myrtle Beach topped Myrtle Beach for first trip to state title game
North Myrtle Beach made history on Friday, defeating region rival Myrtle Beach 37-10 in the Lower State Championship Game to advance to the first state championship berth in school history.
Playing in front of as packed of a house allowed under COVID regulations, the Chiefs stifled Myrtle Beach’s every advance. The defensive unit of North Myrtle Beach (9-0) cracked a code that most of Class 4A has been unable to over the past few seasons, beating Myrtle Beach (7-3) twice in the month of November by grounding the high-flying Seahawks and holding them to a combined 16 point output.
“I’m so freaking proud of my team, my staff, and my players,” said North Myrtle Beach coach Matt Reel following the program-altering win. “We work our tails off and to get this kind of reward is special. Our kids did absolutely everything we asked of them tonight and it paid off. I’m just so proud of this team and what they’ve done for this community.”
When Reel took over the North Myrtle Beach program, he challenged his defensive staff to change the culture on that side of the ball. Now, the Chiefs defense is a strength that is leading the program to its first state championship game.
“Before, we were a bend-but-don’t-break defense and that was something I didn’t want to have anymore,” Reel said. “I wanted our team to be an attacking, aggressive defense that dominates a game and dictates to our opponent what they can and can’t do. You can’t play it both ways, so we have to take some penalties that come with playing defense that way, but when it works like it did tonight, you love the results.”
Against Myrtle Beach, the Chiefs defense harassed quarterback Ryan Burger, sacking him eight times and forcing a near 50 percent completion percentage. Couple that with a non-existent Seahawk rushing attack and that’s a recipe for disaster against a strong pass defense.
“You have to give North Myrtle Beach a ton of credit for the way they played against us,” said J.J. Jones, a senior wide receiver for Myrtle Beach. “They are a very strong defense and they played fast and physical tonight. Anything we tried to do, they had any answer for it. I hate that our season ended this way, but North Myrtle Beach played really well tonight.”
The stats back up Jones’ words, as North Myrtle Beach allowed negative rushing yards with sack yardage included and only 200 yards of total offense to the Seahawks. Turning that around, the Chief offense rushed for nearly 300 yards on its own, with quarterback Cameron Freeman rushing for a trio of scores.
“Tonight, we came out and played the way we wanted to with our running game,” Reel said. “We were able to get some momentum early and have our defense and special teams set us up with short fields and good positions. We used all phases of the game to really put together a complete game.”
For Myrtle Beach, sending off nearly 20 seniors will be a tough pill to swallow, but returning are stars like Adam Randall and Burger.
“I have no doubt that these boys will be right back in the hunt next year,” Jones said of his younger teammates. “They learned last year from (losing the state championship) and this tonight; this is going to fuel them. This is going to fuel me as I continue my career at the next level (at the University of North Carolina).”
As Mickey Wilson, Myrtle Beach’s head coach, reflected on the season, he had a slight smile on his face thinking of all his team had been through.
“This was a tough year for our guys,” he said. “We were really battle tested going through the playoffs and had a chance to really get into this one tonight, we just let it get away from us. North Myrtle Beach is a really good team and they took momentum and ran with it (when the game was 16-10). They played fast and aggressive and made it tough on us.”
North Myrtle Beach will now go on to the Class 4A state championship game against A.C. Flora next Saturday at Benedict College in Columbia. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m.
MB – 0 3 7 0 – 10
NMB – 9 7 14 7 – 37
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
NMB – Cameron Freeman 25-yard run (Zane Smith kick good) 9:38
NMB – Team safety 2:01
Second Quarter
NMB – Freeman 7-yard run (Smith kick) 2:02
MB – Sullivan Hardin 42-yard field goal 00:10
Third Quarter
MB – Ryan Burger 45-yard pass to JJ Jones (Hardin kick) 9:02
NMB – Freeman 23-yard pass to Chase Simmons (Smith kick) 2:04
NMB – Devin Montgomery 4-yard run (Preston Todd kick good) 00:13
Fourth Quarter
NMB – Freeman 25-yard run (Todd kick good) 6:15
Statistical Leaders
Passing
MB – Ryan Burger 20-39-271 1TD
NMB – Cameron Freeman 4-8-50 1TD
Rushing
MB – Andrew Doss 2-4
NMB – Nyliek Livingston 28-173
Receiving
MB – J.J. Jones 5-121 1TD
NMB – Nick Moss 3-27
This story was originally published November 27, 2020 at 9:53 PM.