North Myrtle Beach proves no match for A.C. Flora in first state championship game tilt

North Myrtle Beach came into the Class 4A State Championship game with great expectations, but couldn’t match the effort of A.C. Flora, falling 42-7.

The Chiefs and Falcons were making their first appearances in the title game and were the top two teams for much of the final weeks of the regular season. In the state title game, the Falcons showed why they rose to the top of the rankings, taking North Myrtle Beach to task from the first quarter on.

“This was a great opportunity and a building block for this program,” said North Myrtle Beach coach Matt Reel. “This is what we’ve been trying to get to since we got here in (2014). Obviously, tonight hurts and it should. We got beat soundly tonight by a really good football team.”

North Myrtle Beach started the game strong, turning A.C. Flora over on the Falcons’ first offensive play and then turned that miscue into points on a Devin Montgomery touchdown run. From there, the Falcons would not let up, scoring the game’s next 42 points in route to their title.

“They set the tone with their running attack and really forced the action with their offense,” said Billy Barlow, a senior linebacker for the Chiefs. “To win in the playoffs, you’ve got to run the ball. They did that really well tonight and we couldn’t stop it. That hasn’t happened to us all year.”

In building a 20-7 halftime lead, A.C. Flora used a combination of a big-play passing game and strong running game to wear down North Myrtle Beach’s defense. Coming out into the second half, the Chiefs offense continued to sputter, going 3-and-out on the first drive of the quarter, with A.C. Flora turning in 14 points in the third quarter to build a strong lead and pull away in the contest.

“They really dominated us up front, which really hasn’t happened all year,” Reel said. “We weren’t able to establish our ground game, which is really important for us early in games. Once (A.C. Flora) did that, they were able to squeeze us in the secondary and play three on two and four on three, which really didn’t let us stretch the field at all. They did a great job all around.”

In a season in which the Chiefs ran roughshod over Region 6-4A and won all of their playoff games by double digits, the final game of the season leaves a sour taste.

“We’ve got to continue to keep building our foundation of the program, brick by brick,” Reel said. “This year, we accomplished more than any team in this program’s history. Now, we’ve got to go back to work and start working on getting back here. Culture doesn’t graduate, so we know that we’ve got the right culture and now we’ve got to have some guys step up and do the work to get us back here. We’ve got great young men and a great staff, so we’ll get back here.”

On a team with 25 seniors, the loss for the Chiefs hit hard for the coaches and players.

“I’m going to remember being out here and playing with my boys,” Barlow said. “This isn’t how we wanted this season to end, but I can’t thank these boys enough for giving me this senior year. I’m going to remember the relationships and how much we bonded together. This is a special group and it’s hard to think they we won’t be playing any more games together.”

ACF – 13 7 14 8 – 42

NMB – 7 0 0 0 – 7

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

NMB – Devin Montgomery 3-yard run (Zane Smith kick good) 8:54

ACF – Ethan Beamish 45-yard pass to Eriq Rice (Kick blocked) 7:31

ACF – Beamish 34-yard pass to Rice (Omar Shangab kick good) 2:15

Second Quarter

ACF – Matt Pack 2-yard run (Shangab kick) 00:20

Third Quarter

ACF – Markell Townsend 30-yard run (Townsend run for 2-point conversion) 5:16

ACF – Beamish 24-yard pass to Chris Lofton (Kick failed) 1:27

Fourth Quarter

ACF – Terrell Coleman 60-yard run (Chapman Lee run for 2-point conversion) 11:03

Statistical Leaders

Passing

ACF – Ethan Beamish 18-25-272 3TDs

NMB – Cameron Freeman 7-14-38 0TD 1INT

Rushing

ACF – Terrell Coleman 3-63 TD

NMB – Nyliek Livingston 14-63

Receiving

ACF – Eriq Rice 7-117 2TDs

NMB – Nick Moss 2-16

Interceptions

ACF – Max Childress 1, Jaylin Brown 1

NMB – None

This story was originally published December 5, 2020 at 10:09 PM.