‘Boom.’ How Metcalfe County’s Byron Kirkland-Lundy broke Kentucky’s rushing TD record.
Metcalfe County running back Byron Kirkland-Lundy already had a remarkable game going against district-rival Clinton County in front of the Hornets’ home crowd in Edmonton on Friday night.
His fifth touchdown, a 51-yard burst, helped put Metcalfe up 38-26 at halftime. His eighth touchdown, a 26-yard sweep through the short side of the field, extended the Hornets’ lead to 56-36 with 7:29 to play in the game.
At that point, Metcalfe coach LJ Harbison thought his senior feature back had probably done enough.
“To be honest, I was going to pull him out midway through the fourth, and one of my coaches came on the line and said, ‘He’s got eight. And I don’t know what the state record is, but somebody needs to look it up,’” Harbison recalled for the Herald-Leader on Saturday.
A glance at the KHSAA’s online record book showed the record was nine rushing touchdowns by Pike County Central’s Matt Anderson against Magoffin County in 2020.
“I said, ‘All right, put him back in there,’” Harbison said. “And sure enough, the next carry, ‘boom.’”
Metcalfe had just turned Clinton County over on downs on the Hornets’ own 42-yard line.
The “boom” took one snap as Kirkland-Lundy broke two tackles and barreled 58 yards for a state-record tying ninth TD of the game and a 64-36 lead with 5:15 to play.
“I didn’t know anything about me possibly setting a new state record until I got to my sixth or seventh touchdown,” Kirkland-Lundy said. “Everybody was just telling me that I gotta set the new record and as soon as I get the ball, just take off with it. They were just cheering me on the whole time.”
Clinton County took less than a minute to cut Metcalfe’s lead back to 64-44. The Hornets recovered a failed onside kick with 4:29 to go.
“And I was like, ‘We might as well let him break it,’” Harbison said.
The Hornets (3-5) drove right down the field and set up Kirkland-Lundy to have the single-game rushing touchdown record on his own. His 10th TD came from 7 yards out with 2:26 left. The final score: Metcalfe County 70, Clinton County 44.
“It’s a blessing. I couldn’t have done it without the line,” said Kirkland-Lundy, who has been on the radar of small colleges, including Thomas More, Kentucky Wesleyan and Georgetown College. “It was exciting, but very tiring at the end. … I’ve never had double-digit touchdowns in a game before, not even in P.E. football or nothing.”
All told, Kirkland-Lundy racked up 490 yards on 23 carries with TD runs of 5, 23, 32, 33, 51, 73, 30, 26, 58 and 7 yards. His best game prior to Friday came against Nelson County on Sept. 13, when he put up 347 yards rushing and five touchdowns.
“He’s one of those kids who’s got special speed. If he breaks through the first line, he’s gone. He got clocked this summer at a 4.37 40-(yard dash), so he’s got explosiveness,” Harbison said. “His character is what stands out most about him. It was an outstanding game. He broke 50 tackles, at least.
“Every time we got the ball, something special was about to happen.”
When news broke of Kirkland-Lundy’s big night online, social media comments were quick to point out the legendary 11-touchdown mark of old McKell High School’s Don Gullett.
Gullett, the Greenup County native who later went on to pitch for the Cincinnati Reds’ Big Red Machine — three-time World Series champions — scored his record-setter against Wurtland in 1968.
Some reports indicate those were all rushing touchdowns, but the KHSAA’s record book does not reflect that. It does credit Gullett with the overall single-game TD and scoring mark (72 points). It could be a matter of how records were kept in Gullett’s time, but the detail might be lost to history and up for argument if the Kentucky High School Athletic Association doesn’t reassess.
Regardless, there’s no question Kirkland-Lundy made history. His 10 TDs rank tied as the second-most overall TDs in a game with a 1962 mark set by Old Kentucky Home’s Herbie Phelps. He also gained the third-most rushing yards in a game behind Johnson Central’s J.J. Jude (584 yards in 2010) and Moore’s Monquantae Gibson (574 yards in 2001). His 60 points scored are tied for fifth with Lawrence County’s Noah West (in 2018).
This story was originally published October 20, 2024 at 1:58 PM.
