What We Saw: Pee Dee/Grand Strand Scrimmage

With one school backing out, another stepping into its place and then a weather-related delay that pushed it back three days, Carolina Forest was finally able to host a four-team scrimmage. At this point, it seems realistic that the Panthers and Monday’s fellow squads - Socastee, South Florence and North Myrtle Beach - could all be playoff bound in 2021. What makes us say that? We got plenty of evidence of that in this scrimmage. Here’s some of what we saw out of each of the four. <strong>CAROLINA FOREST</strong> With two-way standout <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="89329" first="Luke" last="Janack"]</strong> sticking to defense Monday, first-year starting quarterback <strong>Scott Saylor</strong> was the featured threat for the Panthers in what was essentially his first significant varsity action against live competition. Saylor doesn’t have the arm strength of former Carolina Forest quarterback <strong>Mason Garcia</strong> or the pure athleticism of last year’s starter, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="91642" first="Kyle" last="Watkins"]</strong>. However, Saylor did link up with receivers for a pair of touchdowns against South Florence and later showed off his ability to tuck it and run on a long play against North Myrtle Beach. A few plays later, Saylor made a 35-yard deep route look easy, resulting in another score. <strong>NORTH MYRTLE BEACH</strong> The Chiefs defense may still be a bit of a work in progress after losing a handful of future college athletes from last year’s state runner-up squad. What North Myrtle Beach does have coming back, though, is a pretty good core. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="91208" first="Elijah" last="Vereen"]</strong> lined up at safety, linebacker and even in direct coverage. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="89308" first="Chandler" last="McCall"]</strong>, who looks like he’ll also be used much more on offense this year, was shifting from huddle to huddle throughout and rarely came off the field for more than a few snaps at a time. Offensively, the Chiefs are also a much different team than they were in the spring, when quarterback <strong>Cam Freeman</strong> was busy with baseball. Freeman was a solid play last year, but his arm strength has clearly improved on the mid-range and out routes, specifically. <strong>SOCASTEE</strong> The Braves are calling sophomore <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="139313" first="Rocco" last="Wojcik"]</strong> their starting quarterback, but it’s also clear second-year coach Ben Hampton isn’t done making sure. Wojcik, <strong>Jake Marlow</strong> and <strong>Steven Greene </strong>(pictured above) all got their looks, and each brought something special to the table against North Myrtle Beach and then South Florence. Wojcik appears to be most comfortable running both parts of the offense, and his receivers, namely <strong>Trae Grant</strong> and <strong>Wesley Eason</strong>, moved well awaiting his scrambling ability to take over. Marlow, the 6-foot-3 junior, also linked up with his two tall receivers, including a solid scoring drive early. And Greene (pictured above) broke free on several designed runs. Even if it is Wojcik’s job to lose, the other two should get their opportunities.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span> <strong>SOUTH FLORENCE</strong> On back-to-back possessions, the Bruins had the two most impressive plays of the first half (against Carolina Forest). We’ll start with the latter, when sophomore safety <strong>Quincy Rhodes</strong> - who was one of a handful of freshmen to get significant playing time in the back half of 2020 - high-pointed a pass from Saylor, outleaping both a Panther receiver and one of his own teammates to come down with the pass. It was reason enough to get the Bruins fired up, but it was more of an exclamation point for what preceded it by mere minutes. Running on offense, starting quarterback <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="146356" first="LaNorris" last="Sellers"]</strong> handed off to senior <strong>Malik Terry</strong>. That’s when the fireworks started. Terry broke two tackles, spun out of a third and then juked his way into the end zone. The only reason it didn’t go for the proverbial six (the teams weren’t keeping score) is that in the middle of it all, a Carolina Forest defender ripped off Terry’s helmet.