BIG SANDY, Texas — There isn't much Big Sandy coach Brian Pullum had to do against Ore City in their 73-37 win Sept. 20, just hand the ball off to running back Lurbryson Ross.
Ross, a two-way varsity starter, stacked 302 yards and five touchdowns in the victory over the Rebels that night.
"He definitely makes it a lot easier to call plays on Friday night, when the guy can take lead and take it 40-50 yards," Pullum said.
Ross didn't know it at the time, but when the final seconds left the clock, he finished just four yards short of the school's single game record. Missing the near record bothered his mom Shun Johnson, a women's basketball coach at Big Sandy, as much as it bothered Ross.
"We didn't know about him about to beat the rushing yard record here, and so now we're going to push for that," Johnson said.
Johnson raised Ross and his sister Shemaiah Johnson, a basketball player at Big Sandy, to work hard on and off the field, and it shows in Ross' mentality.
"He speaks of himself as being a dog, and that means he never stops," Johnson said. "He used the expression, if you stay ready, you don't have to get ready. And so I like that about him, because he don't like to hear things that he can't do. He always say he can do."
Now that can do mentality has set it's sight on a new standard, that elusive single game record.
"I've been thinking about [the record] a lot," Ross said. "That's what I'm looking forward to doing."