Alcoa meets
East Nashville Magnet (Nashville) for Tennessee's Division 1 Class 3A state championship tonight. A win would give the Tornadoes the most consecutive state tournament championships in high school football history with nine.
The National Federation of High Schools record book lists
St. Louis (Honolulu, Hawaii) and
Washington (Sioux Falls, S.D.) as the record holders for consecutive state championships with 14 while Phoenix Union (Ariz.), which closed in 1982, is third with nine in a row. Alcoa is tied with
Independence (Charlotte, N.C.),
West (Salt Lake City, Utah) and
St. Joseph (Hammonton, N.J.) with eight apiece.
The key word here is "tournament." Washington and Phoenix never played in a state tournament to rack up their state titles. Washington was named the top team in South Dakota from 1951 to 1964 by the Associated Press, but the state playoffs didn't start until 1981.
St. Louis didn't win its 14 straight championships in a tournament. Instead, it played in the Prep Bowl, which featured the top team from the Interscholastic League and the top team from the Oahu Interscholastic Association. There was not a bracketed tournament, simply a one game match-up. The Crusaders won 13 of those bowl games in a row before winning the first state tournament in 1999.
Phoenix Union won its nine straight championships between 1920 and 1928. However, Arizona did not hold state playoffs until 1959.
Thus Alcoa, with a win over East Nashville Magnet, can become the nation's all-time leader in consecutive state tournament championships with nine in a row.
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MaxPreps reported earlier this week that
Gage Baker of
Paradise Honors (Surprise, Ariz.) tied the record for most touchdown passes in a season with 91. His total matches the record previously set by
Corey Robinson of
Lone Oak (Paducah, Ky.) in 2007 and
Jacob Browning of
Folsom (Calif.) in 2014.
It should be pointed out, however, that Baker only needed 14 games to get to 91 touchdowns. That's an average of 6.5 touchdowns per game, easily a national record. Robinson set his 91-touchdown record in 15 games (6.07) and Browning tied the record in 16 games (5.69).
Baker finishes his career with the following state records: Most career touchdowns (173), single season yards (6,045), single season completions (384), single season attempts (503), single season touchdown passes (91), single game completions (46), and single game touchdowns (10).
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With tonight's game against
Leroy and another possible game in Alabama's Class 1A championship,
Elba running back
Alvin Henderson could break the national record for touchdowns in a season. He currently has 65 and the national record is 72 by
Kazmeir Allen of
Tulare Union (Calif.) in 2017. He needs seven to tie the record, a mark he has accomplished twice this season.
Henderson has a bit further to go to break the single season points record. Brett Law of
Sheridan (Ind.) holds the record with 453 points. Henderson has 390 and would need 63 to tie the record.
In addition to his 65 touchdowns this season, Alvin Henderson of Elba (Ala.) has rushed for over 3,200 yards and compiled over 3,700 all-purpose yards. (Photo: Brandon Sumrall)
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Pembroke (Corfu, N.Y.) won the New York State Public High School Athletic Association 8-man championship last week, finishing the year with a 13-0 record.
Tyson Totten was an offensive powerhouse for the Dragons, setting numerous national 8-man football records during the season.
His 4,235 rushing yards broke the previous national record (3,710 yards) by over 500 yards. He also scored 74 total touchdowns and scored 458 points. The touchdowns broke the older record of 67, according to the National Federation of High Schools record book, while Totten's point total broke the old record of 448.
Totten also set the national record for rushing touchdowns with 71 (old record was 67), rushing touchdowns in a game with 10 (9), rushing yards per game with 325.7 (324.5), and career rushing yards with 8,612 (8,336). He also had a single game rushing yardage total of 626, which just missed the national record of 633.
