Wilson’s Career Game Powers North Myrtle Past St. James

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>MURRELLS INLET | </strong>The moment felt like a turning point.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>North Myrtle Beach tailback [player_tooltip player_id='1824442' first='Jayden' last='Wilson'] had ripped off back-to-back 11-yard carries to open the Chiefs' first series of the second half, then chased it with a six yarder and then a four, and a loss of one. Maybe, after 20 carries, he was going to run out of gas.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Fat chance.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The senior continued to beat down the St. James defense en route to the type of night you'd think he'd remember for a long time, but might ultimately start to look like more of his status quo.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“It wasn't adrenaline. It was more me playing my game,” Wilson (pictured) said after his team's 41-24 win to open region play. “The way I play my game, I wear my opponents down until they can't go no more. I've done that the past four games. In the fourth quarter, I feel like I'm unstoppable. I know a lot of people don't want to stop me; they don't want to tackle me.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>St. James certainly looked like they wanted to.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Actually getting him to the ground was a different story.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Wilson finished off Friday's victory with 29 carries for 258 yards and a pair of touchdowns. It was everything he struggled to do during a junior season in which he put up a respectable 497 yards and five touchdowns.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Namely, prove to his coaches that he could be the guy.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>After sitting out the season opener with a minor knee tweak (first-year coach Perry Woolbright said Wilson would have played if it was a bigger game), the tailback has now put up 677 rushing yards in four games. He's a patient runner who trusts in his line to do their job.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>And while he did bounce it outside a couple times, most of his carries were up the guy behind guards <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1817615' first='Robert' last='Haltiwanger']</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1822552' first='Michael' last='Jezierski']</strong> and center <strong>Wyatt Shemanskis</strong> - all seniors. Tackles <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1817718' first='Owen' last='Grall'] </strong>and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1822555' first='Kaedyn' last='Smith']</strong> did their part to push out would be rushers more often than not, but it wasn't like Wilson needed huge holes.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>His reel is going to show him breaking a lot of tackles, including on his 46-yard touchdown run that started the scoring early in the second quarter and then on his 45 yarder that all but ended the game with 6:46 to go.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In between, North Myrtle was far from perfect. Starting quarterback <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1823442' first='Mason' last='Walker']</strong> was picked off twice (although one of them was a tipped pass from a receiver) and the Sharks and [player_tooltip player_id='2404696' first='Cody' last='Peterson'] were seemingly staying in the fight. Peterson (more on him below) landed a few body blows with his legs.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>But none of them sent the Chiefs to the mat.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Wilson said it was part of North Myrtle Beach's new M.O. They know they don't have to be lights out to win a game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“That's the difference between us,” Wilson said, drawing contrasts to his first three seasons. “Sometimes it gets down. But, me being the senior on this team, it's my job to get the guys back together. We've got a brotherhood. We've got a great connection here.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><em>OTHER NORTH MYRTLE BEACH STANDOUTS</em></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1817711' first='Nico' last='Miller']</strong> K, 2028 - Miller continued to rejuvenated hot start by putting all but one of his kickoffs into the end zone. On the one he didn't, both teams almost seemed surprised by St. James returning it. Miller also lined up for a 52-yard field goal in the third quarter - he'd made a couple from north of 55 yards during warm ups - but it fell just short of the cross bar.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1664629' first='Jaden' last='Chestnut']</strong> WR/DB - Chestnut has been the team's leading receiver this season, and he showed Friday why he doesn't need a long pass to make a long gain. Mere seconds into the fourth quarter, he took a quick Walker pass to the top of the field and hit the after burners, splitting defenders en route to a 42-yard touchdown that pushed North Myrtle Beach's lead to 11 points with under 12 to play.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["1816392"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-6aae0fc7ab371"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Jordan is an explosive defender who does so many different things well despite not being the biggest dude on the field. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Against the Sharks, he recovered a fumble, recorded two tackles for loss, made a fourth-down stop for no gain and broke up a pass in addition to being in on a bunch of other tackles. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>From his outside backer spot, Jordan is left to assess and attack, and the strategy looks to be working just fine. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><em>ST. JAMES STANDOUTS</em></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2404696' first='Cody' last='Peterson']</strong> QB, 2028 - Peterson is still developing as a passer, and while he's highly adaptable to throwing on the run, what makes him so dangerous his his legs. He finished the game with 13 carries for 127 yards. He had four carries of at least 17 yards and three north of 25.&nbsp;He also threw for another 128 yards in the loss.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1822114' first='Jake' last='Early']</strong> ATH, 2027 - Early certainly put something on film that future opponents are going to have to pay attention to, or get burned the same way North Myrtle Beach did. Early, who often lines up as a receiver (he caught a 38-yard touchdown after the game was decided) did his biggest damage earlier when he threw twice on trick plays. The first was a jet sweep in which he fired a strike downfield for a 42-yard gain. Not terribly long after, he ran an option play, took the pitch from Peterson and then completed a 31-yard touchdown pass to <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1822118' first='Woods' last='Herring']</strong> (2027 WR).&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2404700' first='Coslyn' last='Ward']</strong> LB, 2028 - Ward and his linebacking mates probably aren't too thrilled with Wilson's rushing production, but his 14 tackles in the game were exactly what we're starting to expect from him each night. He's now sitting at north of 60 stops so far this year in five games. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1819556' first='Rome' last='DeRenzo']</strong> DL, 2027 - DeRenzo is known more for his baseball acumen, but he's pretty good on the football field, too. His night included three tackles for loss and a sacks, including on back-to-back late in the second quarter that clearly rattled the Chiefs' offense. On the next play, St. James forced an interception, which led to...</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Logan Amor</strong> K, 2028 - Amor gave some fans of specialists reason to cheer when he drilled a 44-yard field goal as time expired leading into the halftime break. Amor's boot was a no doubter from that distance. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["1858396"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-6aae0fc7ab3e0"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">White was forced into action as the Sharks' starting left tackle this year when the team's expected started gave up the game mid-summer. White isn't as big, but his active hands and feet have been vital, especially with how much Peterson is scrambling or executing designed runs.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>What few have seen so far is that White is also an excellent center. He continues to be the team's back-up at that position and even during pregame we could the fluidity to his snaps and his control of the rhythm of the game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>If someone on the roster is able to hold down the left tackle spot consistently, don't be shocked if he ends up in the thick of the line. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block -->