Myrtle Beach early scoring blitz catches most off guard

“Three plays and a punt.”

Over the past several weeks, the phrase has become a common refrain for Myrtle Beach head coach Mickey Wilson. With so much young talent on the offensive side of the ball, it is not difficult to understand why he would take on such a conservative approach.

So when his Seahawks scored the first 28 points Saturday evening against perennial powerhouse Byrnes, Wilson found himself just as perplexed as anyone else.

“Jumping out to a 28-point lead ... it was just simply amazing,” he said. “I would have never thought that, and just to hang on and get the ‘W’ is great.”

Scoring 28 points in the game’s first 18 minutes, Myrtle Beach would manage only a touchdown in the final 30. It wouldn’t matter though, as the damage had already been done.

Three turnovers during that span led to points, including a mishandled snap on a punt attempt recovered by the Seahawks and a 55-yard interception return for a score by cornerback Chris Weston.

“We got some breaks early on,” Wilson said. “Thought we had a couple of situations there where I thought we could have punched it in and we didn’t, leaving some points off the board offensively. So those points were huge.”

Though basking in the moment, Myrtle Beach all-purpose man Keyonte Sessions — who scored two touchdowns in the game — said the team did what it could to remain grounded, knowing what type of team was on the opposite sideline.

“It was a big lead, so we had to stay humble on the sideline so they couldn’t come back and catch up to us,” he said. “We stayed humble and still fought and didn’t fold, so we stuck together.”

Under similar circumstances, Byrnes head coach Brian Lane was juggling relatively new personnel. Though returning only five starters, the belief by many is that the Rebels don’t restock — they simply reload.

On Saturday night, however, Lane’s team found itself in the unenviable position of being on the wrong side of a season-opening loss — the type few, if any saw coming.

“We have juniors and sophomores playing and we just have to overcome it and keep going,” he said. “When you dig yourself a 28-point hole that’s tough to get out of and we’ve just got to do a better job executing. Anytime you’re young and everybody’s new, it is what it is. I just expect us to get out there and play.”

This story was originally published August 21, 2016 at 3:17 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach early scoring blitz catches most off guard."