McCoy Breaks National Rushing Record

By Jason Hickman Sep 30, 2006, 8:54pm

West Virginia phenom rushes for 661 yards, 10 touchdowns Friday night.

MaxPreps Staff Report

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DELBARTON, W.V. --- Matewan High School senior running back Paul McCoy set a national record Friday night with 661 rushing yards in a 64-0 win over Burch High.

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McCoy became just the third high schooler to surpass the 600-yard plateau in a game, and broke Rio Mesa (Oxnard, Calif.) ball carrier Ronney Jenkins' all-time mark of 619 yards set in 1995.

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Although not a record, McCoy's 10 touchdowns on the night were an almost equally impressive feat. The 5-9, 170-pounder scored on runs of 69, 1, 52, 56, 52, 20, 31, 84, 87, and 25 yards, totaling 447 yards on his scoring runs alone. McCoy carried just 28 times

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According to the National Federation of State High School Associations Record Book, Ken Pearson of Hugo, Colo., ran for 12 touchdowns in a game in 1930.

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McCoy's performance Friday continues a run this season that is almost beyond belief from a statistical standpoint. In just five games he has run for 1,820 yards (364 per game) and 26 touchdowns on just 133 carries. McCoy opened the year with a 537-yard day, and followed the next week by tallying 306 yards.

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With five games remaining, the West Virginia phenomenon is on pace to surpass the 3,500-yard mark. The national, single-season rushing record is 4,494 yards by former UCLA and Texas-El Paso back Tyler Ebell.

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Matewan is 5-0 and averaging 49 points per contest.