Rushel Shell set a pair of highly impressive records Friday night, but his dreams of an eventual state football championship were denied as
Hopewell (Aliquippa, Pa.) sustained a 24-21 loss to Franklin Regional (Murrysville, Pa.) during the WPIAL quarterfinals.
Rushel Shell
Photo by Tom Lemming
The 6-foot, 215-pound senior running back rushed for more than 100 yards (292 yards) for a national-record 39th consecutive game. He had tied the record one week earlier. He also completed his tremendous career with a state-record 9,078 yards, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The previous record was 9,027 yards.
He is committed to play his college ball at the University of Pittsburgh.
Shell told the Tribune-Review, "Records don't matter. Championships matter. We fell short of a championship. I could have all the records in the world, but in my eyes, that doesn't matter because we lost."
Franklin Regional coach Greg Botta said, "I give all the credit in the world to Shell for what he's accomplished. I've never seen a runner as smart as him."
