Game 30 Report – Coastal Carolina Chanticleers

Pregame

Georgia Southern (6-4; 4-2 Sun Belt) at Coastal Carolina (5-5; 2-4 Sun Belt)
November 23th, 2024, 3:30 PM ET
Brooks Stadium, Conway, South Carolina
Weather – Mostly Sunny, 63 degrees

Game Recap

Georgia Southern 26 – Coastal Carolina 6

Georgia Southern started this game hot and made the Chanticleers play catch up the entire time. It started with the Eagles scoring a field goal on their first possession. After a quick Coastal Carolina three-and-out, Georgia Southern hit quick with a touchdown to take a 10-0 lead.

The only other scores in the first half were field goals by both teams to give the Eagles a 13-3 lead going into the break. The third quarter was slow. The Chanticleers scored the only points on a field goal to go into the fourth quarter at 13-6.

In the fourth quarter things fell apart more for Coastal Carolina then worked better for Georgia Southern. On the Chanticleers final four possessions they had a fumble, an interception, a turnover on downs, and a second interception. There is no chance to come back and win with all of those turnovers.

Georgia Southern turned all of those turnovers into thirteen fourth quarter points. This easily put the game away and led to the fans filing out of the stands early.

Final: Georgia Southern 26 – Coastal Carolina 6

Stadium Overview

Brooks Stadium, like a lot of the other buildings on the Coastal Carolina campus, looks brand new. It has been a FBS school for only a few years.

The stadium was a smaller one. There was a one-tier horseshoe format for seating. The two sidelines did have a second tier. There was a medium-sized video board in the south end zone. There were runner boards between the tiers on the west side of the stadium.

For this game the Chanticleers did a military appreciation day. One of the things this included was pregame where they had a military motorcycle group come out on the field. The team then came out through the middle of the bikes.

From a concession standpoint, there was mostly just the regular concession stands. There was one area where they sold Chick Fil A. There were also a couple of food trucks, one for Bojangles and one for Mr. Softee ice cream that was popular with the kids.

The one thing that seemed a little over the top was the pricing for parking. It cost $25 to park in once of the campus parking lots that was still a hefty hike to the stadium. From what I read it was the first year that they started charging for this lot and it seemed like an excessive cost. Where the campus sits makes it hard to find any non-campus parking though.

Hot dog – $4.00

Fountain Soda – $5.00

Canned Domestic Beer – $9.00

Other Sporting Event – Women’s Basketball

#25 Augusta (4-0) at Francis Marion (2-1)

There were no other sporting events going on at Coastal Carolina while I was in town, so I started looking at other schools in the area. Since I was already in Florence for the day, I came across Francis Marion University. It is a Division II school.

It was interesting to see the differences between a Division I and Division II atmosphere. First was the attendance. The attendance for this game was 189. On top of that, there was just a person taking the $10 cash for entry at a table by the door.

The arena was attached to the Smith University Center. There were seats on all four side of the court with two small video boards on two baseline corners. There was also a small scoreboard on one side at center court with one small video ad board.

The game ended up going quicker as well because timeouts were much shorter. Technically, the game was aired on a stream but they still started play a lot quicker.

As for the game itself, it was a very exciting game and a back-and-forth affair. Francis Marion got off to a fast start in the first and finished the quarter with a 21-13 lead. Augusta found their footing in the second and outscored the Patriots by ten in the second to take a two-point lead into the half.

The game stayed tight to the end. Augusta had a seven-point lead with about seven minutes remaining but Franics Marion clawed their way back. Kiana Lee hit two free throws to put the Patriots up three with 23 seconds left. The Jaguars missed a three but got fouled on the rebound and was able to hit their free throws, but it left them just short on the scoreboard.

Final Score: Francis Marion 61 – Augusta 60.

Campus Overview

The Coastal Carolina campus is in an interesting location. Although it is considered to be in Conway, but it’s really about halfway between Conway and Myrtle Beach. It officially became as a stand-alone university in 1993, after originally being founded as a community college in 1954.

Because it is a newer university, a majority of the building on campus are much newer. There are pros and cons to that. On one side, everything looks new. With that, though, everything looks the same. There were not any buildings that stood out as special.

With that said, the grounds of the campus were beautiful. They had many fountains across the area. There was also a nice creek going through the middle of campus where people could sit and relax with a couple of food trucks around as well so people could eat lunch.

The campus was also fairly self-contained. There were no roads going through campus, which is one thing I always look for. The athletic facilities are also all on campus, which means they are easy for students to access.

Attractions

Brookgreen Gardens

When I heard of Brookgreen Gardens, located a bit south of Myrtle Beach, I thought it would be just like any normal botanical gardens I have visited in the past. It ended up being a great place to visit and walk around. It made sense why this place was voted one of the top ten botanical gardens in the country.

First off, the place is huge. You a pay a fee as you drive in and the ticket is good for a week if you wanted to make multiple visits out of it.

The main attraction is the statue garden in the main area of the park. There were many marble statues throughout and they were all amazing pieces. In total, between the sculptures and the other art pieces, there are over 2,000 pieces in the collection.

On top of the statue garden, there is also a small zoo that is part of the facility. It is not something you would go out of your way to see by itself, but it is a nice part of the gardens. They had a petting zoo area, a couple aviaries, and some otters that were at play as well.

This was a place that I would definitely spend more time at if I could. Especially on a day with beautiful weather, this would be a fun place to walk around and enjoy the fresh air.

Myrtle Beach State Park

Of course, you cannot go to Myrtle Beach and not spend at least some time on the beach. Instead of finding a place in the city itself, I decided to go to Myrtle Beach state park instead. There is a cost to get in the park and it is good for both Myrtle Beach state park and Huntington Beach state park if visiting on the same day.

It was very chilly the day I visited. Although the temperature was in the 50s, there was a strong wind due to a cold front that went through. That probably kept a lot people away. There were some people on the beach, but not very many.

The beach was well kept. The sand was pretty and very fine, which made it easy to walk through the area. During the summer I would imagine the place would be packed.

One other part of the park was a large tier attached to the gift shop. The tier was free for people to walk down. There were several people along the tier fishing with a lot of gear on hand. You could tell they were people that came out all the time to fish.

Ripley’s Aquarium

Ripley’s Aquarium is one of many attractions and restaurants at Broadway on the Beach. Since it was still very cold outside, the boardwalk area was pretty empty. There were quite a few people inside the aquarium though.

The first thing about this aquarium is it was definitely designed more for kids and families. There was a large play area and other things set up for children through the facility.

That doesn’t mean there still weren’t cool exhibits in the facility. They had a large penguin exhibit. You were able to get closer to the penguins here than at most other places I have been. With a couple of them right next to the window where I was standing. It is probably the most detailed look I have had at a penguin.

One of the other cool areas was the shark tank that you could go underneath. On one side of the path there was a moving walkway so you could just stand on it and have it ride you through the area. You could still walk on the other side if you wanted to get a closer look at anything.

Overall, it was a cool place to visit, but something that would be much better if you’re visiting with your entire family.

Kalmia Gardens – Hartsville

By the name and location, I expected Kalmia Gardens to be a small botanical garden. Instead, it ended up being much closer to a nature center. There were not many flowers, but there were a lot of walking trails to hike.

It had rained most of the morning, so the wood of the stairs and platforms were still very wet and thus slippery. I did slip a few times which meant having to be very careful with my steps.

Once you crossed the boardwalk across Black Creek there were a couple miles of additional hiking. I did walk some of those additional trails but ended up turning back after a while instead of walking the entire trail.

There was also a canoe dock along the creek. Because of the rain and the quiet this trip became one of the most peaceful parts of my trip. I took some time to just sit on the dock and take everything in. This would be a place I would spend a lot of time to relax if I lived in the area.

Florence County Museum – Florence

I had a couple hours to kill in Florence before going to the Francis Marion basketball game. Because of that, I decided to check out the Florence County Museum downtown. It is a small museum that is free to the public.

The museum was basically split into two parts. On one half they had art exhibits. The main art display was on Edward Gay. He was a popular landscape artist who had family that lived in the South Carolina area.

The second side of the museum dealt more with the history of Florence county. In one area they had all the major cities and talked about the history of each and how it became incorporated. They also spent time talking about the economic history of the area.

Overall, for a small museum I felt they did a good job with how it was set up. Nothing worth going out of your way to see, but a nice way to spend a couple hours to see into the past of where I was visiting.

Dining

Sea Captain’s House

Seafood is a must when you are visiting the coast, especially in a town like Myrtle Beach. After looking at several restaurants I decided to go with Sea Captain’s House. Being it was the off-season it was easy to get parking and there was no wait at the restaurant.

There were a couple of options that looked good, but I decided to go with the Carolina seafood platter. It came with fried shrimp, scallops, and flounder. It came with a side of slaw and a cup of hush puppies.

All of the seafood was pretty good. They brought cocktail sauce and tarter sauce along with it that added extra flavors. At the end of the day, I would say it was a good meal but definitely not the best seafood I’ve had.

While I was there, my waiter asked why I was visiting and I told him about my college football trips. He was very surprised and started asking about the places I have visited. A couple at another table also overheard and started talking to me as well. That was one of the coolest conversations I have had on any of my trips so far!

Chuck Wagon

I was looking for a good burger place to go to so started looking at some smaller restaurants nearby. Chuck Wagon showed up very close to my hotel so I decided to try it out.

The restaurant was off the main highway a few blocks. You could easily tell this was a family-owned restaurant as you walked in. The woman at the counter was friendly and willing to help with the menu and walked through all the current specials.

On top of burgers, they had a large selection of hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, baked potatoes, and even a few dinner plates as well. Since I already knew I wanted a burger, I chose the Buffalo Bill. It was topped with buffalo sauce, blue cheese crumbles, lettuce, and onion. (As usual for me, hold the tomato.)

I really enjoyed this burger. The burger is made fresh to order and was cooked well. The combination of buffalo sauce and blue cheese worked together. I had an order of tater tots to go along with the burger and those were tasty as well.

This is one of those places that you could find multiple favorites. Plus, with changing specials all the time there is always something new to try as well.

Grumpy Monk

Grumpy Monk is a sports bar with three locations around the Myrtle Beach area. As you walk in, you can see televisions from wall-to-wall making this a great place to visit on the weekend while games are going on.

As you would expect in most sports bar, there was a large list of burgers and other sandwiches to choose from. They also had a few full plate selections to choose from.

Since I had a burger the day before, I wanted to try something different and not fried. Because of that, I went with the mahi-mahi tacos along with mac and cheese and a side Caesar salad.

The tacos were topped with a tropical pico and tequila-lime slaw. The main issue was also the pico and slaw made the tortillas very wet and hard to pick up to eat. Because of that, I ended up using a fork to eat the tacos and just ignored the tortillas.

Getting past that issue, the flavor of the fish and pico was great. If it was a dish by itself on a plate, I think it would have been much better served. The mac and cheese was also good, although maybe a little smaller than I would have expected, especially since there was an upcharge for it compared to other sides.

Red Bone Alley – Florence

The outside of Red Bone Alley is very unassuming. It is part of a large shopping center and plain looking. But, on the inside, the décor is setup as a large Charleston neighborhood. They also had a large bar attached but not directly inside the restaurant.

There was a large menu to choose from, including some lunch specials. The cuisine was definitely Southern in nature. Some of the interesting items included Voo doo pasta and pimento cheese salmon.

I chose the Chicken Leo. It was a plate of fettuccine alfredo top with fried chicken, ham, and mozzarella cheese. It was served with a side salad as well. The meal was served very quickly after being ordered.

This was a great dish. Pasta is always one of my favorites and this was the first time I had fettuccine alfredo in quite a while. The fried chicken topped with the ham and cheese added a nice difference in texture and was cooked perfectly.

Yogi Bear’s Chicken – Hartsville

Yogi Bear’s started in the late 1960s and was a popular chain with many locations in the South. Unfortunately, the chain did not survive and all the restaurants end up closing except this one location in Hartsville, South Carolina. I thought it would be interesting to try it out and see what honey-fried chicken was about.

The restaurant itself did feel pretty dated as you walked in. With that said, it was definitely a popular place. There were quite a few people in line as well as cars picking up to-go orders through the drive-thru.

Although they also sold things like pork chops and bologna sandwiches, the chicken was the reason for the visit. I went with the three drumstick combo. It came along with two sides, for me mashed potatoes and gravy and macaroni and cheese, a roll, and a drink.

First, I got four drumsticks instead of three which was a nice bonus. The chicken was good, but nothing mind-blowing. The mashed potatoes and mac and cheese were also good, but the same as you would get at any other chicken restaurant.

Overall, it was cool to visit to say I was part of the history of the place, but it was definitely not somewhere you need to go out of your way to visit.