Credit: James Lynch Jr. | The News Herald

Freedom senior James Caldwell (right) gets to the sideline on a long kickoff return against Draughn on Friday in Morganton.

Freedom High senior running back David Burgess said after Fridays 34-14 home win over Draughn that 1,000 yards was his goal this season.

Reaching that mark is almost a foregone conclusion after the game of his life.

Burgess racked up 230 yards on the ground in the first half alone and finished the Patriots victory over their county rivals with 287 yards and four touchdowns on just 18 carries. His total shattered his previous career high of two weeks ago by more than 100 yards.

In the process, Burgess eclipsed the 2,000-yard rushing mark for his varsity career and now has a county-best 704 yards and 11 TDs on 67 attempts this fall.

We started off the game trying to run it inside on them, Freedom coach Mike Helms said. Then we went to the spread, and thats what really worked for us. Davids a special kid and he had a special game. Weve grown to expect that kind of thing from him.

(Burgess) just broke tackles and made us miss, Draughn coach Scott Lambert added. Theyve got some very talented athletes over there.

Burgess 67-yard touchdown run made it 6-0 Freedom after one quarter. The Wildcats (3-1) stormed back, though, to lead 14-6 with 4:42 to play until halftime after TDs on the ground by Adam Estep (17 carries, team-high 68 yards) and Dustin Bryant (11 carries, 37 yards).

Freedom (3-1) had a quick answer. Burgess pulled within one yard of 2,000 after a 7-yard dash up the middle into the end zone, set up by a 63-yard kickoff return by James Caldwell. His two-point conversion reception from quarterback Shawn Fairchild knotted the score.

Continued here:

Freedom's Burgess runs for 287 yards, 4 TDs in win over Draughn