Kentucky’s single-season rushing record stood for 54 years until Friday. See who broke it.
Bell County running back Daniel Thomas, a leading candidate for this year’s Mr. Football, polished his resume Friday night by breaking the state record for rushing yards in a single season in the Bobcats’ 38-36 overtime win over visiting East Carter in their Class 3A region championship game.
Thomas, a 5-foot-9, 175-pound senior, had 25 carries for 287 yards and four touchdowns. He also scored four two-point conversions, including the game-winning try in overtime.
That gives Thomas 3,446 rushing yards on the year, which breaks the record of 3,361 yards by Bath County’s Frank Jones that had stood since 1969. He’s only the eighth high school player in KHSAA history to rush for more than 3,000 yards in a season.
“The record speaks for itself, but at the beginning of the season my goal was to be better than I was last year,” Thomas told the Herald-Leader on Saturday morning. “This accomplishment far exceeds all of my expectations, but I could not do it without my team and Coach (Dudley) Hilton. My team gives me everything they have every snap, and playing for a man like Coach Hilton that makes it really easy on us.”
Thomas’ TD runs measured 64, 61, 36 and 2 yards in the back-and-forth battle with East Carter. His fourth TD tied the game 30-30 with 1:23 left in regulation. Bell County quarterback Blake Burnett also had a touchdown run.
Landon Yoak had 36 carries for 152 yards and three TDs for East Carter, which also got a pair of TD passes from Quentin Johnson. The first went for 36 yards to Michael Hall in the third quarter. The other, a 4-yarder to Jared Potter, helped put the Raiders up 30-22 with 3:03 left in the fourth quarter.
East Carter got the first possession of the overtime period and scored with Yoak’s third touchdown. But Bobcats defensive end Hayden Damron strip-sacked Johnson to thwart East Carter’s two-point conversion.
Thomas ran in the tying TD on Bell County’s third play of the overtime period and then punched in the game winner.
The win advances No. 3 Bell County (12-1) to next week’s Class 3A state semifinals where it will have to travel to No. 2 Hart County (13-0) to play for a chance to reach the state championship game at Kroger Field in two weeks.
No. 9 Lexington Catholic goes to No. 1 Christian Academy-Louisville in the other semifinal.
The Mr. Football award is presented each year by the Kentucky Football Coaches Association to a player determined to be the state’s most outstanding senior. It’s typically awarded after the season.
