With uncle sidelined, sophomore QB Illing steps up for Socastee

One Illing may have been absent for Socastee on Friday night, but another one certainly came to play at the Hank Hester Sports Complex at North Myrtle Beach High.

With head coach Doug Illing sitting out a one-game suspension after being ejected from last week’s loss to Myrtle Beach, his nephew put on a show.

Sophomore quarterback Hunter Illing, starting in place of senior Brandon Goswick, who injured a knee in practice this week, completed all 13 of his second-half pass attempts for 163 yards and a touchdown to lead the banged-up Braves to their first victory of the year, 30-22 over North Myrtle Beach.

“When Brandon went down in practice this week, the one thing that impressed me about Hunter is he just stepped in,” said Braves assistant Steve Hodge, who was the acting head coach Friday. “He was calm, he was cool, he really took time to learn the game plan and he performed. When he did it in practice I felt we were all right during the game.”

Illing finished the game 21 of 27 for 253 yards with a touchdown and an interception, which came on his final pass of the first half and was his last incompletion.

“I came back from it. I knew that if I went down the team would have went down, so I had to stay up and keep this team up and be a leader,” Illing said. “Without my offensive line and without my receivers the 13-for-13 would have never happened. I give all the credit to them because they bust their butt in practice and they made me special tonight.”

Taylor Karnap had nine receptions for 88 yards and Hudson Cooke eight for 95 yards for Socastee.

The Braves (1-4) also played the entire second half with third-string running back Nick Carnucci, a sophomore who was called up from the junior varsity last week, when he practiced for the first time this season after recovering from a heart procedure this past summer.

Carnucci gained 31 yards on 11 carries, scored two touchdowns and converted a pair of two-point conversion runs. “It was awesome to come up from being on JV last year and help out,” Carnucci said. “I think our team has potential now and I think it’s awesome with me and Hunter in the backfield, two sophomores who still have two years after this.”

Carnucci replaced senior Keyon Clora, who gained 35 yards and scored a TD on 11 carries before leaving with an injury late in the first half, and he was filling in for junior starter Malachi McClendon, who watched the game with a boot-cast over an injured right ankle.

“Coach’s key word for the last three or four years has been adversity, and this is an adversity crowd,” Hodge said. “They’ve gone past that. They’ve done a great job.”

The Braves trailed 7-6 at the half, before Illing’s perfect second half.

Socastee took the lead on its first possession after halftime, as Illing was 4-for-4 for 47 yards on the 60-yard scoring drive, including a 10-yard TD pass to Hudson Cooke, and added 10 yards rushing on two carries.

Illing led the Braves on an 88-yard drive on their next possession after the Chiefs were stopped on a fourth-and-2 at the 13. He was 5-of-5 for 68 yards on the drive, which was capped by a 5-yard Carnucci scoring run. Converted two-point conversions gave the Braves a 22-7 lead early in the fourth quarter.

An interception by Socastee’s Zach Shear near midfield put the Braves in position to secure the win, but a fumble two plays later was returned 55 yards for a score by the Chiefs’ Tyler Gore.

Back-to-back Illing completions for a combined 47 yards to Cooke set up a 1-yard TD run by Carnucci and two-point Carnucci rush to give the Braves a 16-point lead with 3:50 remaining, but the Chiefs weren’t done.

After Kered Class scored on a 25-yard run and quarterback Ronnie Bass added a two-point conversion rush with 2:58 remaining, Raekwon Buck recovered a well-executed onside kick to give the Chiefs the ball on the Braves’ 46.

They got a first down to move to the 33 before turning the ball over on downs after a deep pass on fourth-and-long was defensed by Aeneas Green.

Socastee completely controlled the game early, running 22 plays to the Chiefs’ four and scoring with 8 seconds remaining in the first quarter on a 5-yard Clora run.

The score capped a 13-play, 62-yard drive that included the conversion of a fourth-and-1 at the Socastee 47 with a 10-yard Clora run.

The Chiefs (3-2) earned their inaugural first down of the game against their former Region VIII-AAA rival early in the second quarter.

The Braves had a 28-yard touchdown reception by Karnap called back on a motion penalty late in the second quarter that would have given them a two-score lead.

Mike Gore intercepted an Illing pass at the 18-yard line on a third-and-15 on the next play, and two plays later NMB running back Dequan Montgomery supplied the game’s highlight play.

He simply refused to go down after taking a short pass from Ronnie Bass in the backfield and ran through the middle of the line, breaking a couple tackles as he did. Montgomery then cut to his left, breaking a couple more tackles and stumbling but remaining on his feet. He picked up a few blocks as he turned upfield down the right sideline and stumbled through a final tackle attempt at about the 7-yard line to tumble into the end zone.

“He made a great play for us, extended the play and got into the end zone. But other than that there weren’t any positives tonight,” Chiefs coach Blair Hardin said. “They outplayed us in every facet, offensively, defensively, we just got outplayed. They did a great job. Hunter Illing, the backup quarterback, came in and played his tail off.”

This story was originally published September 19, 2015 at 12:03 AM with the headline "With uncle sidelined, sophomore QB Illing steps up for Socastee."