J.J. Jude ran 35 times for 441 yards and six touchdowns on Friday night to lead Johnson Central (Paintsville, Ky.) to a decisive 63-20 football victory over Holmes (Covington, Ky.) in the first round of the Class 4A state playoffs.
He needed just 124 yards to break the state career rushing record of 8,224 yards held by Derek Homer of Fort Knox (Ky.), It had stood since 1998. He now has 8,543 yards during his outstanding four-year career.
J.J. Jude
Photo courtesy of Jared Kestner
The contest was witnessed by a capacity crowd of 4,500 which included many fans and coaches from around the state who anticipated a historic night.
"It was a great honor to do it for such a great community," Jude said. "To be honest, it hasn't set in yet. It's over my head right now. I just want to keep winning and get the state championship. That's been my main goal all year, with the record second."
Coach Jim Matney added, "It couldn't happen to a finer young man. He has worked as hard as any high school athlete ever worked. It's a tribute to him and his high school teammates."
Matney pointed out that the rushing record is remarkable in an era when many teams have gone to wide-open passing attacks. Also, Kentucky has a 45-point rule which shortens a lot of games. In addition, Jude had to share the load as a sophomore when the Golden Eagles had three 1,000-yard rushers.
Football has been Jude's passion since the day he was born, Dec. 31, 1992. Or so the story goes.
"The doctor was watching the Cotton Bowl, I think, and my dad got mad at him (because he wasn't tending to his mother, who was in labor)," Jude said. "The doctor kicked him out of the room, so the first thing I saw was football."
His passion was fueled by Matney, who was his neighbor in Inez, Ky., and then was coaching at another school. Matney took the job at Johnson Central and the Jude family moved to Paintsville when J.J. was in fifth grade so he eventually could play for Matney.
"I've had him since age two," Matney noted. "We started playing on the field when he was four or five. You don't ever dream (about state records), but I saw great potential early. He supplied the work ethic."
That work ethic has come at least partly from being stubborn.
Jude explained, "I've always fed off something someone told me that I couldn't do. Like I wasn't the fastest kid. I just go work hard and stay in the gym."
That hard work has helped him to run 40 yards in 4.48 seconds and bench press 330 pounds. It also has spurred him to greatness in wrestling where he is the defending state champion at 173 pounds.
Jude said he hasn't felt a lot of pressure while pursuing the record.
"Not really a lot of pressure," he said. "When you have a team like I have, they are going to help take some of that pressure off of you."
Matney admitted, "I think we all felt the pressure - the entire team and coaching staff. It got to be a pretty big task."
Even facing stacked defenses, Jude continues to roll up big numbers.
"He's very quick and very very strong," Matney pointed out. "He has a pretty good supporting cast, even though they are very young."
Jude has scholarship offers from such Division I-AA colleges as Liberty and Eastern Kentucky. With a 3.98 grade point average, he is good college material.
He says that wherever he goes, he wants to play and not just be "another jersey on the sidelines."
