It’s been a tough couple of weekends for folks in the mountains of Western North Carolina dealing with the effects of Hurricane Helene.
It’s remarkable that schools like Brevard were even able to play a football game this past weekend let alone win one. Yet the Tornados (an ironic nickname right now) poured it on Saturday afternoon, cruising to a 55-21 conference victory at Southern Virginia.
Brevard, which started its season a few weeks later than everyone else, remained unbeaten in USA South Athletic play (2-0) and improved to 2-1 overall.
In other D3 action this weekend, North Carolina Wesleyan edged Methodist 19-17, while Guilford suffered its first loss at Hampden-Sydney. Greensboro had the week off.
More details:
D3 Football Scoreboard | Week 6
- Brevard 55, Southern Virginia 21
- North Carolina Wesleyan 19, Methodist 17
- Hampton-Sydney 31, Guilford 0
- Greensboro Bye
Headlines and Highlights
* Brevard’s 55 points represent the second highest score by a North Carolina college team so far this season and the most for a Tornados team since 2017. The high score was set by North Carolina Central, which recorded 66 points against North Carolina A&T a few weeks ago. Two other teams, Johnson C. Smith (52) and North Carolina (50), have hit or exceeded the half-century mark.
* The Tornados (2-1, 2-0 USA South) struck with several big scoring plays — an 88-yard punt return by Zackary Orr, a 63-yard run by Chancellor Lee-Parker, a 43-yard pass from Ethan Beamish to Reggie Taylor II among the longest.
Beamish also found Orr on touchdowns strikes of 40 and 31 yards. For the game Beamish was 18-of-28 for 315 yards and 5 touchdowns (tying a single-game school record). He did have one interception. Over the past two games, Beamish has thrown nine TDs.
* Brevard had a near ideal offensive stat sheet — a 300-yard passer, a 100-yard rusher and a 100-yard receiver.
Lee-Parker rushed for 123 yards on 11 carries and scored from 63 yards away. He averaged 11.2 yards per touch. Orr caught six passes for 134 yards and two scores.
Jadien Deaton nearly joined Lee-Parker on the 100-yard rushing list. He finished with 96 yards on 11 totes, an average of 8.7 yards per attempt. For the game, Brevard averaged 7.0 yards per carry.
* The ‘Nados put up 596 total yards, their highest tally of the season. Brevard did not punt, while Southern Virginia punted seven times.
* Orr had 129 yards on five punt returns, including the long touchdown play. His 88-yard return set a new Brevard record.
* Ernest Smith II picked off a Southern Virginia pass and returned it seven yards.
* Brevard’s Hugo Taylor made field goals from 31 and 21 yards, and was true on all seven extra points. He’s the second college player from our state to score 13 points in a game. The other was UNC’s Noah Burnette against Minnesota.
* Brevard has never lost to Southern Virginia in eight meetings. This year’s SVU team is 0-5.
* North Carolina Wesleyan won for the first time in five tries. The Battling Bishops got two touchdowns from Anthony Byrd, a 65-yard reception from Chaz Hirschman in the game’s second minute and on an 8-yard run in the third quarter.
Byrd finished with 150 yards on 22 carries. It was his third 100-yard game of the season.
* NCWU’s Christian Drumgoole caught Hirschman’s other touchdown pass, a 27-yarder late in the third that gave the Bishops a 19-10 lead. Drumgoole finished with five catches for 92 yards.
* Sajari Love scored both of Methodist’s touchdowns. Like Byrd, he had a rushing TD (12 yards) and a receiving TD (7 yards) from Brennan Brucato.
The Love touchdown reception came with 1:32 left in the game. Methodist kicked off to the Bishops holding three time outs but couldn’t get the ball back. Byrd picked up a first down on a 32-yard run, and NCWU ran out the clock from there.
* Brucato completed 18 passes in 31 attempts for 203 yards.
* Eric Cooper made 13 tackles for North Carolina Wesleyan. Andrew Brown and Botise Manuel each had 11 stops for the Bishops.
* Guilford College suffered its first loss after opening the season 3-0. The Quakers had been off to their best start since 2016. Hampden-Sydney improved to 3-1, 1-0 in Old Dominion Athletic Conference play, while dropping Guilford to 0-1 in the league.
* The Quakers’ offense struggled to get untracked. Throwing two interceptions and committing 13 penalties (135 yards) for the game certainly didn’t help matters.
* Jay Daniels provided most of the Quakers’ offensive highlights, making five catches for 129 yards. He had a long reception of 59 yards.
* Guilford play in front of 5,018 fans at Hampden-Sydney, per the school’s official box score.
This Saturday’s D3 Games
- LaGrange at North Carolina Wesleyan | 12 p.m.
- Guilford at Randolph-Macon | 1 p.m.
- Huntingdon at Methodist | 1 p.m.
- Greensboro at Brevard | 6 p.m.
