Green Sea Floyds’ losing streak reaches six games with loss to Hemingway

The Green Sea Floyds Trojans suffered their sixth consecutive loss Friday night and fell to 0-3 in Region VIII-A with a 40-12 defeat to Hemingway.

The past two losses are what bother Trojans coach Tony Sullivan the most – specifically the fact they came in a span of just four days.

Green Sea Floyds trailed by just six points at halftime Friday despite a pair of turnovers inside the Hemingway 10-yard line, but the Tigers (3-4, 1-1 VIII-A) dominated the beleaguered Trojans in the second half.

GSF (2-6) lost to Carvers Bay 28-0 on Tuesday in a make-up game that was originally postponed because of flooding. Sullivan took issue with playing two games with just two days in between for both competitive balance and safety reasons.

“I think it stinks. I’ll be honest with you. I think the [S.C.] High School League dropped the ball and I’m going to call them out on it,” Sullivan said. “They should have made a decision last Friday to postpone the season for another week. Those teams that played like myself, North Myrtle Beach, Waccamaw, Carvers Bay and Georgetown, we’re the ones that are really punished, nobody else.”

Hemingway was going to make up the game it missed against Creek Bridge because of the flooding in the Georgetown County area this upcoming Monday, but when the high school league decided to push the season back a week on Tuesday, the Tigers opted to move their game to the end of the season rather than play twice in a week.

Green Sea Floyds, like some other schools in the area, already had a game scheduled this past Tuesday night when the decision was announced.

“To make the decision Tuesday night an hour before kickoff I think is absurd and I think they dropped the ball on it,” Sullivan said. “They want to preach safety … yet they’re going to allow us to play two games [in four days]. I’ve got guys banged up because we’re a small squad. I’m discouraged about it and I think they dropped the ball. … It’s not sensible if you ask me.”

The Trojans did their share of dropping the ball Friday, as well. They lost four fumbles to lose the turnover ledger 4-2, and the fumbles played a significant role in the outcome.

Hemingway scored the game’s first two touchdowns. Omar Montgomery scored on the Tigers’ first possession on a 4-yard run, and Troy Singletary scored on a 3-yard run on their second possession following a 77-yard run by Matrell Davis to the Trojans’ 8.

Mahammud Graham answered for Green Sea Floyds with a 1-yard run on fourth down with 1:14 remaining. All three scores were followed by missed two-point conversion attempts.

The first half was fairly evenly played, with Hemingway making eight first downs and GSF making seven, but the Trojans went into halftime trailing 12-6 due largely to their turnovers.

GSF had the ball inside the 10-yard line twice in the game’s first 20 minutes but came away empty each time after fumbles – one on a handoff exchange on second-and-2 at the 10 and the other on a snap on fourth-and-1 at the 4.

“I thought we had some good things happen tonight and I thought we played well. But you can’t get inside the red zone and fumble the football,” Sullivan said. “You can’t fumble the football anywhere on the field and that’s what we did tonight. We had a lot of good plays on offense and defense we just turned the ball over, and when you do that you don’t give yourself a chance.”

Hemingway returned the favor in the final 30 seconds of the first half, as GSF defensive lineman Quan Jackson recovered a fumbled snap at the 1-yard line to keep the deficit at one score.

GSF fumbled two more times in the second half, and the final fumble was returned 45 yards for a touchdown by Troy Singletary for the game’s final score with 35 seconds remaining.

“In the first half I thought Green Sea did a great job of finding our weaknesses on defense, running straight at us and sticking to what was working,” Tigers coach Greg Lawson said. “They gave us some problems. It was a close ballgame.

“In the second half I think we were able to take advantage of some breaks they gave us. And I’m happy with the way our kids played tonight because we haven’t played that good all year.”

Hemingway took a 20-6 lead in the third quarter on a 1-yard Montgomery run, and that was answered by an 82-yard TD run by Wyatt Upchurch, who gained 128 yards on five carries.

Singletary had a hand in the game’s final three scores on a pair of TD passes and the fumble return.

The Trojans recorded nine sacks of Hemingway quarterbacks Keyshawn Davis and Troy Singletary, but they also gave up several big pass plays as the duo combined to go 11 for 18 for 215 yards and two touchdowns. GSF’s Jacob Green recorded the game’s lone interception.

“It was tough but we were ready for it,” Graham said of playing Hemingway with two days’ rest. “We prepared and we gave effort, we just got outplayed tonight. We knew what we had to do coming into this game. We just came off the road against Carvers Bay and we knew we had to turn around and play them. We just had to do with what we had and get ready for a football game.”

This story was originally published October 17, 2015 at 12:59 AM with the headline "Green Sea Floyds’ losing streak reaches six games with loss to Hemingway."