North Myrtle Beach’s mistakes costly in loss to perennial power Dillon

Dillon flexed the muscle of a perennial powerhouse, cruising past North Myrtle Beach 54-14 on Friday night in the season opener for both teams.

Running back Jamison Chapman had a game-high 159 yards on 13 carries and a pair of touchdowns, Dae’Shawn Davis had two touchdowns rushing and one receiving and quarterback Avery McCall ran for two scores for the Wildcats, the three-time defending Class AA champions.

“I felt like we did a really good job on both sides of the ball,” Chapman said. “Our offensive line did an especially good job. I fell like if we have another good week of practice, we’ll be good.”

North Myrtle Beach was plagued by untimely penalties and turnovers. The Chiefs, who reached the Class AAA playoffs in 2014 in coach Blair Hardin’s first season, showed promise several times in the game, but saw penalties or turnovers that kept the defense on field or gave Dillon lopsided field position.

“Three turnovers in the red zone,” Hardin said. “Bad snaps killed us, put us in second- and third-and-long. You can’t be in second- and third-and-long against a team like Dillon.”

The Wildcats, who haven’t lost a game since early in the 2013 season, took advantage of a pair of defensive offsides penalties against the Chiefs on the game’s opening possession a drive of 65 yards capped by a 3-yard scoring run by Chapman.

After a North Myrtle Beach punt, Dillon moved quickly again, scoring on a 33-yard run by McCall to top a three-play, 50-yard drive.

The Chiefs had a chance on the next drive, but Dillon’s Xavier McMillon recovered a North Myrtle Beach fumble at the Wildcats’ 12 and returned it 58 yards. Seven plays later, McCall scored on a quarterback keeper to the left side to put Dillon ahead 20-0.

Johnny Allen’s 52-yard rush helped set up Dillon’s next score, which came on a direct snap to Davis with 8:25 left in the first half.

The Wildcats stretched lead 34-0 on a four-play drive highlighted by an 80-yard run by Chapman and topped by a 5-yard scoring run by Davis.

North Myrtle Beach finally got on the board after a long kickoff return by Kered Class and with the help of an unsportsmanlike penalty against Dillon. Ronnie Bass found Tyler Gore alone over the top for the touchdown.

Low snaps haunted the Chiefs throughout, including a pair on the first drive of the second half that stalled the possession and forced a punt. Dillon would answer that with another score, this time a 7-yard run by Chapman.

North Myrtle Beach’s next possession ended in an interception and led to another score as backup passer Austin Moody found Davis from 12 yards out, and Dillon tacked on a final touchdown when Dekendric Graves returned an interception 35 yards for a score.

The Chiefs scored late on Bass’ second touchdown pass, this time to Austin Griffin, with just over a minute remaining in the game.

“We want to be known as a great program, and we’re going to get better playing great programs, but we can’t beat ourselves,” Hardin said. “We have to limit mistakes. I’m proud of our kids. We were in position to do some good things tonight against a very good opponent. We just didn’t finish certain things at certain times.”

Despite the score, Hardin said his team showed a lot of heart and potential in the loss. He said to get better, his young team has to become more consistent and limit its mistakes.

“We were right there, and that’s the thing,” Hardin said. “Our kids know it. Our coaches know it. We played a superior team tonight, but we did some really good things against a traditional power. We don’t have any tradition, so we are going to try to start it.”

McCall 6-for-11 passing for 55 yards and ran for 71 yards on nine carries. Allen had seven carries for 92 yards.

Bass was 10-for-15 passing for 98 yards with two touchdowns and two INTs.

This story was originally published August 22, 2015 at 1:15 AM with the headline "North Myrtle Beach’s mistakes costly in loss to perennial power Dillon."