THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 13, 1994 TAG: 9409130476
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 128 lines
It took a generation's worth of running backs to beat it, but Amos Lawrence's single-game area rushing record fell Friday night.
As Lawrence said upon hearing the news, ``Records are made to be broken.''
Maybe so, but for 19 years his 411-yard effort in a 38-13 victory over Bayside has been viewed as a sacred cow, the ultimate feat, an untouchable. When Lawrence set the record, he broke the previous mark by 92 yards.
Nonetheless, Wayne Bacon, a senior tailback at Norview High whose physical build bears uncanny resemblance to Lawrence's, exploded for 427 yards in a 63-7 rout of Kellam last Friday.
The raw numbers of the two performances - which are separated in time by 18 years and almost 11 months - are very similar.
Lawrence ran 21 times and scored five touchdowns on runs of 81, 44, 85, 74 and 17 yards.
Bacon ran 23 times and scored six times on runs of 72, 14, 18, 5, 79 and 24 yards.
But that is where the similarities seem to end.
Amos Lawrence, a 5-foot-11, 175-pound junior at the time, was already considered a legitimate college prospect. He would later pick up the moniker ``Famous'' Amos while becoming only the second running back in Division I to rush for 1,000 yards in each of his four seasons at the University of North Carolina. Pitt's Tony Dorsett was the first and is still the only other.
Lawrence even owns a Super Bowl XVI ring, earned while playing for the San Francisco 49ers.
Bacon is about as unknown as a high school tailback could be. He'd been a backup quarterback prior to this season and had run for a grand total of 62 career yards leading to his record-setting performance.
Before beginning extensive workouts last spring with track coach and assistant football coach Alan Williams, Bacon says he was ``about as slow as a milk truck.''
The caliber of competition that Lawrence and Bacon faced on their record-setting nights also differs dramatically.
Lawrence's Lake Taylor Titans were visiting Bayside on Oct. 25, 1975. The game had been postponed the previous night due to rain. But the field was in excellent condition by game time.
Bayside was on its way to a 7-3 record and the Marlins were not pushovers on defense. On five occasions, they held teams to less than 100 yards rushing.
Both teams ran the veer, so it was believed both could adequately defend the veer.
``I didn't go into that night believing I'd have such a great game,'' Lawrence recalls. ``But everything was just clicking. Every time Bert Harrell called my number it turned into a big play and a big gain. I didn't really pay much attention to it. Then the next day friends were coming by and knocking on my door and wanting to talk about the game.''
Lake Taylor won, 37-13.
Bacon's Norview Pilots were heading to Kellam looking for their first win for new head coach Will Robinson. Kellam had lost 15 straight.
Norview was last in South Hampton Roads last year in offensive yardage (138.8 per game) and points (7.8 per game) and finished 2-8.
There was little evidence in its season opener against Indian River that things would be different this year as they lost, 22-8, and gained only 216 total yards.
Then the 5-11, 168-pound Bacon ran for 108 yards on his first three rushing attempts against Kellam. He didn't stop until early in the fourth quarter with the Pilots ahead, 49-7.
While Robinson says he wasn't attempting to run up the score, he was definitely trying to run up the yardage - he'd been a water boy for Bayside back in 1975 and has vivid memories of Lawrence's phenomenal feat, the most vivid being the final total of 411.
That, more than anything, brought a smile to Lawrence's face when he met with Bacon and Robinson Monday at Norview High. Particularly when Robinson started rattling off some of the players who'd played with and against Lawrence in that game.
``That's really neat that he saw both games,'' Lawrence said. ``He might be the only one to have witnessed double history.''
Robinson knew better than anyone that Bacon had a chance to rewrite the record book against Kellam.
``At the half, we knew Bacon had about 240 yards (247 on 14 attempts),'' Robinson said. ``I got the line together with Wayne and said, `How would you guys like to be a part of history?' They were fired up and even more determined after halftime.
``I know people will say we were running it up, but we didn't throw a pass in the second half and by the end of the game I had one of my wide receivers, who hasn't practiced at all at tailback, back there. We had to tell him where the play was going.''
Bacon left the game with 10:44 remaining after his final touchdown run.
``I think I could have run for 500 yards if he'd left me in,'' Bacon said with a smile. ``My line (Basley Carlisle, Dominic Edwards, Deitrick Knott, Johney Fisher and Al Lamb) and my fullback (Dennis Peele) were opening up huge holes.''
Informed that Lawrence had joked that he could have rushed for 700 or 800 yards had he not been pulled midway through the fourth quarter, Bacon smiled and said, ``I know what he means.'' Then Bacon leaned over and came clean. ``You know, in my wildest dreams, I figured I might run for 100 yards (against Kellam).''
Kellam coach Chris Worst doesn't know what to make of Bacon's performance, but indicated that Norview took no mercy.
``I don't know, we might just be that bad,'' Worst said. ``Bacon's a good back, but they had a superior line.
``You can call it what you want, but with the score 21-0 in the first quarter, they kicked an onsides kick.''
Robinson said the Pilots need to build confidence at every turn and added that ``if anyone out there can beat me 60-0, then I want them to do it. In this day and age, statistics are important and I'm trying to get the kid's name out there.''
Bacon might not have been known last week, but chances are the Norview athletic department will get a few calls from college coaches this week. They will be pleased to find out that Bacon, according to Robinson, has taken 14 NCAA core curriculum classes (the NCAA requires a minimum of 13) and has a 2.4 core grade point average. He has signed up to take the Scholastic Assessment Test for the first time in October.
``The kid can play college football,'' Robinson said. ``He might be able to play big-time Division I. He can get to 190 pounds if he starts beefing up.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color staff photo by Joseph John Kotlowski
Norview's Wayne Bacon, left, broke the one-game area rushing record
Amos Lawrence set in 1975. I could have run for 500 yards if (coach
Will Robinson) had left me in, Bacon said. My line and my fullback
were opening up huge holes.
Color graphic
Bacon and Lawrence: Head-to-head
[compares records of Bacon and Lawrence]
[For copy of graphic, see microfilm
by CNB