BREVARD, N.C. - The Brevard College football team (5-3, 5-1 USAS) edged out a gritty 7-3 victory against Southern Virginia University (1-6, 1-4 USAS) on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Ives-Lemel Family Field. The Tornados tied a school record with nine quarterback sacks in the contest, while Head Coach Bill Khayat recorded the 25th win of his career to become the winningest coach in the history of BC Football.
The Tornado defense was lethal all afternoon, matching the program record originally set on September 12, 2009, against Chowan University with nine sacks. BC's defense held Southern Virginia to 121 total yards and 1.9 yards per play while logging 13 tackles-for-loss.
Steffon Canady, a senior linebacker from Glendale, Arizona, matched his own school record with four sacks while also logging eight tackles and a forced fumble. Canady, the all-time career sack leader at Brevard, has accumulated 22.5 sacks over three seasons at BC.
Jerome Bass also made a habit of getting into the defensive backfield, logging two sacks and three tackles for loss as part of a seven-tackle performance. Dante Anderson led all Tornados with nine tackles, while Wyatt Lankford added eight tackles, 1 1/2 sacks, and two tackles-for-loss.
Taylor Jackson III connected with Derek Frazier for a 51-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter, marking the first career touchdown reception for the Hartwell, Georgia native. Frazier, the former defensive back-turned-receiver, scored on his first collegiate reception.
Southern Virginia's lone score of the afternoon came on its first possession, a lengthy 14-play, 45-yard drive that took 6:51 off the clock, capped by a 35-yard field goal to give the Knights a 3-0 lead.
BC's first two offensive possessions resulted in punts before its defense stifled SVU with a big fourth-down sack by Bass that gave the Tornados possession on its own 49-yard line.
Brevard responded immediately as Jackson hit Frazier in stride for a 51-yard score, giving the Tornados a four-point lead that it would not relinquish for the remainder of the contest.
BC's defense forced a punt on the ensuing Knight possession, while SVU forced its first turnover of the afternoon on Brevard's next drive. The Knights would put together another 14-play, 45-yard possession that included a pair of third-down conversions, but a 45-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right as the Tornados took their 7-3 advantage to intermission.
All five possessions in the third quarter resulted in punts, as both defenses stepped up to keep the score a 7-3 contest. BC's defense racked up three sacks in the third period as the contest shifted into the fourth quarter of action.
Canady and Lankford combined for a sack to stifle SVU's drive as the fourth quarter began, but the Knights secured their second interception of the contest on Brevard's next drive. Anderson and Bass teamed up for a QB sack to end Southern Virginia's next drive as BC took over with 9:42 left, as sophomore quarterback Eli Carr entered the game for the Tornados.
Carr was able to find Brandon Norris for a first-down completion, but the Knights forced the sixth Tornado punt of the afternoon. Down four and looking to retake the lead, Southern Virginia strung together a nine-play drive that ended with a huge Canady sack on third down followed by an incompletion forced by a quarterback hurry from Kingston Best, as the Tornados got the ball back and ran out the clock for their fourth-consecutive victory.
The Tornados will hit the road for a Saturday, October 30 matchup against Methodist University, with action slated to begin at 1 p.m. in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
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