Brevard, N.C. – The Brevard College football team suffered a heart-breaking loss in their home opener at Brevard Memorial Stadium on Saturday night, as they fell to the visiting Shorter College Hawks in the closing seconds of what was a hard fought and tight game throughout.

  

Brevard College started off the scoring in the first quarter as running back John Taylor punched the ball in from one yard out to give the Tornados an early 6-0 lead. 

 

Taylor’s touchdown run was set in place by the Tornados defense on the previous play, as linebacker ReShaun Parks forced and recovered a Jonathan Ray fumble on the one yard line.

 

On the point after attempt, freshman Evan Selman had his kick blocked by the Hawks field goal special team unit, holding the score at 6-0.

 

Late in the second quarter, with only 4:41 remaining in the half the Brevard College offense took the field looking to increase their lead going into the break. From the first play of scrimmage, Taylor broke through the left side of the Hawks defense, cutting through their secondary and rumbled for a 70-yard touchdown run, giving the Tornados a two score lead at 12-0. The 70-yard touchdown run was the longest Taylor has had as a Tornado and is the longest touchdown run for Brevard College since re-establishing their program in 2006. 

 

After Selman’s point after attempt sliced through the uprights, the Tornados had a 13-0 lead, their largest lead of the young 2007 season.

 

Yet the Hawks continued to hover as the first half winded down. With only :11 seconds remaining in the first half, the visiting team got on the scoreboard as wide receiver Kevin Cone caught a one yard touchdown pass from quarterback Drew Elrod, capping off a drive of 65 yards on 16 plays. Kicker Lucas Gonzales extra point was good, making the score 13-7 in favor of BC going into the half.

 

In their second possession of the second half Shorter, once again relying on their running game between the tackles was able to pound their way down the field. Shorter’s Ray capped off the 11 play, 73-yards touchdown drive with a three-yard touchdown run, his first touchdown of the game. Gonzales’ point after attempt was good, giving the visiting Hawks a 14-13 lead.

 

After another three plays and out by the BC offense, the defense picked up the intensity shutting down the Hawks offense and forcing a turnover on their next drive. On second down and two-yards to go, linebacker Stanley Jones forced and recovered a Ray fumble, his second of the game, to give the Tornados excellent field position.

 

Starting close to mid-field, the offense went back to the rushing game and Taylor. The next seven plays would be rushing plays by Taylor in which he continued to move the chains, picking up 40-yards along the way. After a Shorter College offside’s penalty and another Taylor run, the Tornados found themselves on the Shorter five-yard line. 

 

With Shorter looking for the ball to be handed off in the backfield to Taylor, Coach Hamilton deceived the Hawks defense calling for a pass play from quarterback Colby McCoy. The pass play drew a Shorter College pass interference call, moving the ball to the two-yard line and giving the Tornados an automatic first down. 

 

The Tornados would once again give Taylor the ball, as the junior running back pounded his way through into the end zone, picking up his third touchdown run for the game and giving BC a 19-14 lead.

 

With their extra point attempt blocked earlier in the game and trying to make it a seven-point lead, BC elected to go for a two-point conversion. McCoy went to the air, this time hitting a wide open Donald Hudson along the right side line giving the Tornados a 21-14 lead. 

 

The Tornados were riding the one-touchdown lead going into the fourth quarter, yet the Hawks offense would not go away. At the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth, Shorter once again began to click on all cylinders, as they drove down the field this type using all three of their running backs. Chris Worley put the Hawks back into the game on a one yard touchdown run, capping off a 12 plays, and 62 yard drive by the Shorter offense. After a Gonzales extra point, the score was knotted up at 21-21 with 5:59 remaining in the contest.

 

After receiving the kickoff, the BC offense drove down the field using both the pass and the run to maneuver past the Hawks defense. The offense got inside the Shorter 10-yard line, when McCoy dropped back to pass on a third and goal from the eight-yard line. With no one open down field and McCoy feeling the rush, he fired downfield looking for Jeffrey Adams only to have the Hawks Jamie Stewart cut in front of Adams and pick off the pass, ending the Tornados drive.

 

The Tornado defense would bend but not break on the Hawks next possession as the BC defensive unit would force a Gonzales punt around the 3:00 mark, giving the BC offense one more chance to win the game.

 

Yet the Shorter defense forced a BC punt three-plays later, starting their drive at the Brevard 44-yard line with 1:21 to go. Over the next minute the Hawks would get the ball down to the BC 33-yard line. With only 1.8 seconds remaining Shorter’s Gonzales’ 50-yard field goal attempt was good, giving the Hawks a 24-21 lead with only 1.8 seconds remaining in the game.

 

The ensuing kickoff would go down to the Brevard 10-yard line where returner Trey Wilborn ran the ball out to the 20-yard line, where with no time remaining on the clock he attempt to lateral the ball back to a teammate but to no avail as the lateral proved to be an illegal forward pass ending the game.  Although the visiting Hawks ran the loose ball back into the end zone, the touchdown did not count and the final score was 24-21.

 

The Tornados were led by junior John Taylor who rushed for 218 yards on 30 carries. Taylor averaged 7.2 yards per carry for the night and scored all three of the Tornados touchdowns.

 

Linebackers’ Devin Simpson, Stanley Jones, ReShaun Parks and Elliot Collins led the Tornado defenses combining for 16 solo tackles, 25 assisted tackles, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.

 

The Tornados will open up their South Atlantic Conference play next Saturday, September 8, on the road when they will face off with Mars Hill College. The kickoff time is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

 

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