GRAYSON, Ky. - Using a pair of rushing touchdowns and receiving touchdowns, two field goals, a pick-six, and a career day on the ground by graduate running back Chancellor Lee-Parker, the Brevard College football team (6-3) closed out its 2024 campaign with a dominant 45-21 victory over Kentucky Christian University (2-9) on Saturday afternoon at KCU Stadium in Grayson, Kentucky.
The Tornados finish 2024 with six victories, the program's first six-win season since 2021. Saturday's 45-point effort was the fifth time the Tornados have scored 40 or more points this season, and BC's 2024 win percentage is the fourth-best in program history.
Brevard was anchored by graduate running back Chancellor Lee-Parker. Playing in his final collegiate game, the Auburn, Georgia third-year Tornado racked up a career-high 208 yards on 28 carries, scoring his ninth and 10th rushing touchdowns of the 2024 season. Lee-Parker's 208-yard effort is only the fifth 200-plus yard individual performance in program history - a program who ran the triple option for over 10 years - and the mark is second in single-game DIII history, trailing just Mitchell Yoder's 220-yard mark set on October 30, 2021 at Methodist.
Lee-Parker concludes his illustrious Tornado ballcarrier career with 2,215 rushing yards and 23 rushing touchdowns, both of which are far-and away tops for a BC running back since the program transitioned to NCAA DIII. Overall in program history, Lee-Parker trails just Kelvin Jeter (3,358 yards, 2010-14) and Jordan Ollis (2,568 yards, 2012-14) in yards, and only Ollis (34 touchdowns) in all-time rushing TDs.
Graduate wide receiver Zackary Orr capped off his stellar five-year Tornado career on Saturday, recording six catches for 79 yards and a touchdown to bring his 2024 total to 837 yards and 10 touchdowns - marks that rank second each respectively in program single-season history. The BC all-time record holder for receptions (123) and receiving yards (1,893) finishes his career second in receiving touchdowns with 19.
Junior quarterback Ethan Beamish threw two touchdown passes to Orr and Joseph Cuellar (17-yard TD), while Hugo Taylor nailed two field goals and five extra points in his final collegiate contest. Former USA South Conference Defensive Rookie of the Week Brandon Broughton notched his first collegiate interception, while Dre Burton - who was playing in his first varsity contest for the Tornados after being a member of the Futures program this season - picked off a pass and took it 40 yards to the house.
Robert Dorsey capped off his 2024 season in a big way with six tackles and three-and-a-half quarterback sacks, bringing his season total to a conference-leading 11.5. Jags Ferguson, Nikolas Shultis, and Ernest Smith II registered solo sacks, with Trey Williams teaming up with Dorsey on a QB stop in his final collegiate contest. Kentrayle Holloway led all Tornados with nine total tackles, and Shultis forced a Knight fumble.
KCU was led Calvin Kafando, who threw two touchdown passes. Rey Graciano scored on a BC fumble, and Alazai Gerling hit a 26-yard field goal to round out the scoring for the Knights.
After a scoreless first quarter, Taylor drilled a 20-yard field goal to break the scoreless tie in favor of the Tornados, 3-0. Lee-Parker then scored the first of his two touchdowns on the next drive, punching the ball in from five-yards out as BC extended its lead 10-0. Following KCU's fumble recovery TD that cut the Tornado lead to three, Orr hauled in a 66-yard touchdown strike from Beamish, putting the Tornados back up by 10 at the break.
Lee-Parker scored early in the third from 27-yards out, extending the Tornado lead to a 17-point margin, 24-7. Cuellar then caught his third touchdown of the season, as Beamish connected with the second-year Tornado for a 17-yard score. Taylor's second field goal of the day, a 41-yarder, gave Brevard a 34-7 advantage as the contest shifted to the fourth quarter.
Despite the Knights outscoring the Tornados 18-7 in the fourth period, the effort proved too little too late as Burton's pick-six capitalized BC's 41-25 triumph.
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-BC-