Saturday Morning QB | Conway falls to Hartsville; Georgetown bouncing back from rough season opener

When you lose your season opener, some of the luster is immediately wiped away.

When you rebound to post double-digit victories against rivals – and then take into account that the original loss was against a pretty solid team – it means folks better take notice.

That’s exactly what’s happening for Georgetown and coach Bradley Adams. The Bulldogs, after falling to Conway by nine points, have come back in successive weeks to earn wins over Andrews and Waccamaw. And while that may not mean much to the Horry County fans who only see Georgetown beating teams from smaller divisions, those two victories mean it is 2-1 overall. More importantly, the proud owners of the not-so-recognized Georgetown County championship are building some serious momentum.

With a win over Carvers Bay this week, the Bulldogs will sweep the honor for the second straight season. And after Adams’ bunch went 8-4, challenged for a home playoff game and then won one on the road in the postseason a year ago, it’s clear there may be another challenger on the block for the beach AAA region.

AROUND THE AREA

In The Sun News’ Game of the Week, Conway saw a 10-point third quarter deficit balloon into a 57-26 Hartsville win after the Tigers failed to capitalize on several Red Foxes’ mistakes and were then gashed by a high-powered rushing attack. In total, Jeff Calabrese’s team ran for 441 yards.

Myrtle Beach staved off a hard-charging Socastee team to win 34-32 in a game that featured a 280-yard rusher and a 300-yard passer (more on that later). Braves coach Doug Illing was also ejected from the contest in the opening quarter, meaning Socastee’s close call came without its top leader on the sidelines.

North Myrtle Beach, after trailing Carolina Forest by two touchdowns at halftime and without starting running back Cullen Mitchell (concussion), ripped off 22 second-half points to earn the road win and put up its first three-game winning streak since doing so twice in 2013.

Georgetown’s aforementioned win over Waccamaw moved the Bulldogs to 2-1 on the season, with a very real shot at 4-1 in the coming two weeks. Quarterback Jarvis Brown is slinging it around, and receiver/defensive back Cavonte Gamble is really starting to make a name for himself.

Aynor is really starting to feel the Latta thorn in its side. For the second time in three years, the Vikings were the first team to deliver a loss to the Blue Jackets following a 65-48 Latta win. The game was originally moved to Thursday, delayed with three minutes left in the second quarter due to lightning and then resumed Friday evening with Aynor leading 22-13. In total, the teams combined for 78 points on Friday in what amounted to 27 minutes of game time.

Carvers Bay (1-2) dropped its game against Andrews 35-14 despite two touchdown passes from quarterback Levi White.

NUMBER OF THE WEEK

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT

POWER RANKINGS (all classes)

1. Myrtle Beach

2. Conway

3. North Myrtle Beach

4. Carolina Forest

5. Georgetown

WEEK 3 GAME BALLS

Ronnie Bass, QB, North Myrtle Beach: In leading the Chiefs back from a 14-point half-time disadvantage against Carolina Forest, Bass threw for 121 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another 78 yards and two scores.

Brandon Sinclair, RB, Myrtle Beach: After going for 287 yards and five touchdowns against Socastee, the senior is just shy of 500 and eight touchdowns in the past two weeks. Considering he also had three touchdowns called back against Socastee, it’s safe to say Myrtle Beach is relying on Sinclair more than it expected.

Brandon Goswick, QB, Socastee: Remember when Braves’ quarterbacks only threw the ball when the coaching staff wanted to tinker with something? Yeah, that’s not the case anymore. Goswick threw for 303 yards and three touchdowns (and ran for 33 yards and a score) in an unexpectedly close game against Myrtle Beach.

Bryan Edwards, WR, Conway: As far as receivers go, Edwards put all three skill sets to use against Hartsville in going for a career-high 274 yards. He broke tackles, out-ran defenders and out-jumped others. After just four games, he’s closing in on 600 yards receiving and even an average game on Friday (at Marlboro County) from setting his own personal best mark for yards in a season.

This story was originally published September 12, 2015 at 6:16 AM with the headline "Saturday Morning QB | Conway falls to Hartsville; Georgetown bouncing back from rough season opener."