Saturday Morning QB | Week leaves logjam below Myrtle Beach in Region VII-AAA

For casual observers or area high school football fans without a rooting interest, the logjam for second place of Region VII-AAA heading into the final week is football gold.

For the coaches, players and fans, it’s anything but.

Courtesy of the results of the three games in that region on Friday night, there is a four-way tie for the No. 2 spot. Myrtle Beach (4-0) clinched the championship. But St. James, Georgetown, North Myrtle Beach and Lake City all know they could all finish with either a home playoff game or no postseason at all based on how Week 10 shakes out.

And while some numbers – primarily head-to-head record – can give teams a clue of who has any sort of upper hand, it’s essentially a useless venture to crank figures. Here’s why.

St. James has a head-to-head tie-breaker over North Myrtle Beach and still plays Lake City.

North Myrtle Beach has a head-to-head tie-breaker over Lake City.

Georgetown has the head-to-head over North Myrtle Beach and St. James, but lost to Lake City.

As we found out last year, there’s a pretty solid chance that head-to-head may not cut it. A year ago, Georgetown and North Myrtle Beach swapped the second and third playoff seeds in the late hours of Halloween when the points tie-breaker was needed. Chances are, that will happen again.

So, with St. James heading to Lake City, Myrtle Beach heading to North Myrtle Beach and Wilson heading to Georgetown, appreciate the drama that is about to happen.

AROUND THE AREA

▪ Conway pulled away from South Florence in the fourth quarter to earn a 50-29 win and move to 3-0 in Region VI-AAAA one week ahead of the showdown at Sumter that will determine the division title.

▪ Carolina Forest struggled with field position and then lost a no-doubt, 38-3 game at Sumter. The Panthers got 198 rushing yards from tailback Dyverse Simmons, but none of those led to an appearance in the end zone.

▪ Myrtle Beach scored three touchdowns in each half en route to a 42-7 win over Georgetown. The win gave the Seahawks the outright Region VII-AAA championship with a week of the regular season left to play, while Georgetown fell into a four-way tie for second place.

▪ Helping that logjam in Region VII-AAA was St. James’ 17-7 victory over North Myrtle Beach. The Sharks got 111 yards and two touchdowns from running back Jay-Mion Pressley and locked down the normally dangerous Chiefs’ offense.

▪ Waccamaw scored its final points at just the right time in a 20-14 win over Marion. The Kelton Grant touchdown run with 40 seconds left in the game kept the Warriors very much alive for a playoff berth with two regular-season games to go.

▪ Aynor fell 16-14 to Mullins in a game that dropped the Blue Jackets into last place in Region VIII-AA. There will be plenty of movement in the next two weeks, but Jody Jenerette’s team must win Friday at Loris to even be in the postseason conversation.

▪ Dillon did to Loris what is has so many other this year, winning 52-0. The Wildcats – the state’s consensus No. 1 team in Class AA – are considered the favorites to win their fourth straight state championship.

▪ Green Sea Floyds snapped a six-game losing streak with a 44-16 win at Creek Bridge.

▪ Carvers Bay dropped its second straight Region VIII-A game, this time a 22-8 loss to Latta. That came on the heals of a narrow defeat against Lake View a week ago.

▪ On Thursday, Socastee started off the week’s action with a 34-21 road victory at West Florence. It was the Braves’ first Region VI-AAAA win this year, and the team’s second overall win in 2015.

Number of the week

Quote of the week

POWER RANKINGS (all classes)

1. Conway

2. Myrtle Beach

3. Georgetown

4. Carolina Forest

5. St. James

WEEK 9 GAME BALLS

Drayton Arnold, QB, Myrtle BeachL In what may be his best game of the season so far, Arnold was 24-of-28 for 303 yards and three touchdowns. Two of his four incompletions were receiver drops.

Malachi McClendon, RB, Socastee: McClendon turned into the workhorse the staff hoped he could be, rushing 29 times for 213 yards in the Braves’ win over West Florence. The total included an 81-yard touchdown run.

Kevin Gasque, RB, Waccamaw: Finally at 100 percent after an early injury, Gasque showed why he was so dangerous last year, going for 141 yards and a touchdown in the Warriors’ huge win over Marion.

This story was originally published October 24, 2015 at 2:33 AM with the headline "Saturday Morning QB | Week leaves logjam below Myrtle Beach in Region VII-AAA."