Mt. Ulla West Rowan (N.C.) senior tailback K.P. Parks rushed into the North Carolina record books Friday night during a 38-0 rout of Rutherfordton-Spindale Central in the second round of the Class 3A state playoffs. 
K.P. Parks, Mt. Ulla West Rowan
File photo by Don Wessel
The powerful, 5-foot-7, 195-pounder gained 244 yards on 20 carries to boost his four-year career total to a whopping 10,253 yards – not only a North Carolina record but No. 3 on the all-time national charts.
On both counts, he eclipsed Toney Baker of Jamestown Ragsdale, who held the North Carolina record of 10,241 yards, which also was No. 3 nationally at the time (2004). Ahead of him on the national charts are Texan Kenny Hall with the "untouchable" record of 11,232 and New Yorker Michael Hart, who made a valiant run before finishing just short at 11,045.
Coach Scott Young calls the record "a great accomplishment for not only our young man, but our whole program. You’ve got to have a good offensive line and a lot of playoff games. You’ve also got to have a good defense.
"Usually when you see a little guy, you think of him as a waterbug-type runner. But he is a between-tackles runner who runs with power. Out of his 10,000 (plus) yards, I’d say he’s gotten 4,000 of them after contact."
The University of Virginia recruit, who has a 3.35 GPA and bench-presses 300 pounds, has carried 314 times this fall for 3,152 yards and 46 touchdowns. In his career, he has carried 1,277 times and scored 145 touchdowns – all but four of them rushing.
Mike London, who is an assistant sports editor of the Salisbury Post, covers West Rowan on a regular basis and calls Parks "the best I’ve seen around here in 15 years."
Young pointed out that winning has been the team’s only priority. He said that Parks sat out the entire second half in two games this year and the fourth quarter in two other games.
Parks has led the defending state champions to a 13-0 record this year, the state’s No. 1 ranking in Class 3A and 27 consecutive victories. They will play unbeaten but once-tied Asheville on Friday in the quarterfinals.
With a possible three games left in his career, Parks needs 980 yards to surpass the legendary Hall.
