Myrtle Beach running back goes 99 yards for TD

For the second time this season, a South Carolina running back broke off a 99-yard touchdown run.

This time it was Myrtle Beach's Daiquone Ford who did it. The Seahawks stopped Socastee at the goal line on fourth down, giving Myrtle Beach the ball in a tight game. Ford lined up for the shotgun snap, planning to run a sweep to the right.

"When we called the play, they had two defenders on the right side where we were running the sweep to," coach Mickey Wilson said. "He cut it back to the left side."

He found a crease, hit his "fifth gear," as Wilson called it, and outran the defense to the end zone. There was one spot, around the Myrtle Beach 40-yard line, where Ford almost got tripped. He stumbled, but found his balance and kept running for the score. That point swing helped the Seahawks push the game to a blowout, as they won 62-7.



Earlier this year, Carvers Bay's Tevin Richard also had a 99-yard touchdown run.

Here are some more tidbits concerning South Carolina football:

2. Brookland-Cayce stops streak: The Brookland-Cayce (Cayce) Bearcats needed a score in the final minute of Friday's game to snap a 20-game losing skid. They got it when quarterback Jonathan Rumph connected with B.J. Dewalt with 32 seconds left. Dewalt was in double coverage, but grabbed the ball and ran 20 yards in for the score. The Bearcats beat Lower Richland 14-7.

"It feels like we just won the Super Bowl," Brookland-Cayce coach Abby Bray told The State. "We were very fortunate. That was a great football game."

3. Golson's mark in jeopardy due to injury: Myrtle Beach quarterback Everett Golson hasn't played since the first week of the season and his hold on the state's record for passing touchdowns in a career is in jeopardy. Golson, who started the season with 126, threw for four scores in the opening game. He was injured in the Seahawks' second game against Byrnes and hasn't played since.

Northwestern (Rock Hill) quarterback Justin Worley has played all season and is gaining ground on Golson.
Worley threw for four scores last week and now has 124 career touchdowns.

4. Chesterfield gets back into title form: The Chesterfield Golden Rams have won three straight 1A Div. I state championships and during a stretch this season lost three consecutive games. The past two weeks, though, have been more like the Golden Rams of the past few years. They've routed their first two Region III-1A opponents 106-0.

5. Peake earns South Carolina's first U.S. Army All-American Bowl berth: Last week Dorman (Roebuck) wide receiver Charone Peake became the first South Carolinian to be named to the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. Peake, who missed some time this season with an ankle injury, has 28 catches this season for 485 yards and three scores.



There are a couple of other players in the state who are expected to be named to the team later this season.
The game will kick off at 1 p.m. on Jan. 8, 2011 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, and will be televised on NBC.

STARS FROM LAST WEEK
* Belton-Honea Path (Honea Path) quarterback Cody Spence kept the Bears undefeated with a 69-7 win over Pickens. He threw for 225 yards on 7 of 9 passing with four touchdowns.

* Devontre Parnell of Fairfield Central (Winnsboro) returned a kickoff and an interception for scores in a 39-22 win over York. He returned a kickoff 85 yards and the interception 87 yards.

* Gaffney quarterback DeEdward Burris led the Indians to a 41-27 defeat of previously undefeated Clover by running for three scores and throwing for two others. He ran for 129 yards and threw for 248 yards.

RECRUITING NEWS
Lake City running back Shon Carson verbally committed to the South Carolina Gamecocks on Sunday, the day after they shocked then No. 1 Alabama 35-21 in Columbia, S.C. Carson will play baseball and football for the Gamecocks, according to the Florence Morning News. Carson told Palmetto Sports, "I wanted to keep my talent in South Carolina. They use their running backs a lot. They gave Marcus Lattimore a chance to play his freshman year and I can take some of the pressure off him." Carson has rushed for 1,232 yards and 20 touchdowns. He chose the Gamecocks over offers from Clemson, North Carolina, East Carolina, Florida State, Tennessee, Alabama, Southern Cal, Kentucky, UCLA and Auburn.

ON DECK THIS WEEK
There are three great conference matchups this week involving undefeated teams going against one-loss teams.

* South Pointe (Rock Hill) (6-1) at Fairfield Central (7-0): The South Pointe Stallions dropped a classification this season due to realignment and find themselves in a tough conference. The Griffins, behind quarterback Danny Miller's 1,583 passing yards and 15 touchdowns, have averaged 39.7 points per game. The Stallions are running a wing offense led by quarterback Tay Hicklin, who threw for 119 yards and ran for 113 yards last week with four combined scores.

* Hemingway (7-0) at Johnsonville (6-1): The Johnsonville Flashes have had a bye week to try and figure out how to score on Hemingway, something that hasn't been done often this season. The Tigers have posted four shutouts and allowed just 20 points in their seven wins. Last season, Hemingway shut out Johnsonville in the regular season (27-0) and the playoffs (14-0).



* Lake City (6-1) at Timberland (St. Stephen) (7-0): The Timberland Wolves come into the game with a 33-game regular season winning streak. Four of their seven wins this season have been by seven points or less. Lake City, on the other hand, has four wins in which the Panthers outscored opponents by more than 20 points. The Panthers lost in Week 3 to South Florence (5-2).

Jason Gilmer is an award-winning writer who has covered football in South Carolina for more than a decade. He does a statewide high school football blog on GoUpstate.com. You can reach him at palmettofootballtalkblog@gmail.com.