By Chris Sokoloski

csokoloski@gtowntimes.com

Mistakes by Georgetown High’s special teams unit led to a Myrtle Beach safety and touchdown in the first quarter in the Bulldogs’ 18-0 loss last week.

“We didn’t play a very good football game in the special teams area at all, way too many turnovers to beat a very good football team,” Georgetown coach Bradley Adams said.

Both defenses battled for the first eight minutes of the game before the Seahawks blocked a Josh Huneault punt for a safety and the 2-0 lead.

Myrtle Beach got the ball back, but a sack by Dominick Wigfall on third down forced the Seahawks to punt. Tarik Tucker fumbled the punt and Myrtle Beach recovered on the Georgetown 6-yard-line.

Two plays later the Seahawks extended the lead to 9-0.

Myrtle Beach had another scoring opportunity at the end of the first half but Max Huggins missed a 34-yard field goal.

After a Huggins’ punt pinned Georgetown at its own 2-yard-line with less than two minutes left in the third quarter, quarterback Caleb Hughes was sacked in the end zone for Myrtle Beach’s second safety of the game.

The Seahawks wrapped up a 14-play, 80-yard drive in the fourth quarter with a touchdown for the 18-0 final.

Myrtle Beach ran 76 plays for 303 yards of offense. Georgetown ran 44 plays for 120 yards. The Seahawks dominated time of possession 28:59 to 19:01.

“You can’t take anything away from Myrtle Beach but we just shot ourselves in the foot,” Adams said.

Michael Billings led the Georgetown rushing attack with 39 yards.

Hughes was 10-for-20 passing for 93 yards. Cannon Ballard was the leading receiver with 37 yards. Daquan Gibson added 24 yards.

Gerald German led the Georgetown defense with 14 tackles and a sack. Jordan Ward had 12 tackles and recovered a fumble; Wigfall had 11 tackles, two sacks and forced a fumble; Keith Collins had 10 tackles; Denzell Archie had eight tackles and forced a fumble; Gibson and Anthony Blair had six tackles each; Billings recovered a fumble; and Bernie keith recovered a fumble.

“Our defense played their butts off,” Adams said. “If we continue to play defense like that and not continue to create mistakes like we did, we’ll be OK.”

Georgetown (5-4) has a short week before taking on Wilson on Thursday in Florence. The game was moved up a day because the Tigers share a stadium with two other schools.

Wilson (3-6) beat Columbia 14-0, Darlington 29-24 and North Myrtle Beach 17-13, and lost to South Florence 42-0, Crestwood 31-7, West Florence 42-22, Myrtle Beach 54-21, St. James 42-21 and Socastee 42-7.

Georgetown, Wilson and St. James are battling for the third spot in Region VII and a guaranteed spot in the playoffs. The Bulldogs can clinch a spot with a victory.

“The kids are going to come to work and the coaches are going to come to work to do the best we can to win it,” Adams said.

Wilson came to Georgetown on the last day of the regular season last year and beat the Bulldogs 34-27 in double overtime. The loss dropped Georgetown to a fourth seed and sent them to Bluffton in the first round of the playoffs, where they lost 69-27.