ROME, Ga. – The Shorter Hawks kicked off the 2021 football season on Saturday at Barron Stadium and soundly defeated NCAA Division III Brevard College 38-14.

Hawks running back Jaiden Dollard exploded for three touchdowns on the ground in the game, while quarterback Aeneas Dennis hurt the visiting Tornados with both his arm and with his legs, as he went 22-of-27 passing for 226 yards and a touchdown and ran for 47 more yards.

The Hawks opened the scoring midway through the opening quarter when Dollard took a handoff and rushed for a 14-yard touchdown. Dollard added another score minutes later (2-yard run), and teammate Nick Pope later nailed a 29-yard field goal to give Shorter a 17-0 lead with 6:05 left in the first half, which ended up being the scoreline heading into the locker room.

Dollard found the end zone again early in the third quarter (3-yard run), and then Dennis hit Dorian Anderson for a 6-yard score. The final score for the Hawks came with 6:39 left in the fourth as Shorter defender Hunter Hodson recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown.

Brevard (0-1) added two touchdowns to make the final score more palatable as Dalton Cole rushed for a 2-yard score and caught a touchdown pass from teammate Cedric Brooks with 52 seconds left in the game to make the score 38-14. Brooks also led Brevard in receiving with 134 yards on nine catches. Shorter's Kyle Morlock made the most of his two catches by leading the Hawks in receiving yardage with 85.

One of the biggest bright spots of the game was the play of the Shorter defense, as the unit only allowed 14 total points, including the aforementioned garbage-time touchdown. The defense also snagged three takeaways – two interceptions by Brenton Silvar and Noah Holland (respectively) and the fumble recovery by Hodson. Hodson and teammate Tim Walker led the Hawks in tackles with six apiece.

Shorter (1-0) will be back in action next Saturday, when they will travel to Albany, Ga., to take on Albany State at 7 p.m.