Well, there’s something you don’t see every day.
On Friday night, an Alabama high school football team recorded a 1-yard punt return … for a touchdown.
During Spanish Fort’s 44-6 win over Murphy, in a Class 6A, Region 1 showdown, the Toros’ Bishop Burkhalter was Johnny on the spot. The Panthers were punting from their end zone when pressure forced a punt to travel straight up and bounce at the 5-yard-line, only to bounce back to Burkhalter at the 1. He simply took a step into the end zone for the easy score.
“We really focused on (special teams) more than we have, honestly,” Spanish Fort coach Chase Smith said Saturday. “We talked about the importance of if they muffed a punt or missed kicked a punt, which, obviously, the kid did, we applied a little pressure there. …
“It was just a heads up play. Right place at the right time. It worked out good for us.”
WKRG Sports in Mobile captured the video as it happened.
“A lot of times on Fridays, we don’t get much time to really look at plays prior to air,” WKRG Sports Director Simone Eli told AL.com. “But, I did see this one and had a good chuckle before going on TV to do highlights. Of course, you feel for the kids on one side — it’s never fun to punt out of your own end zone — but then from our end, it makes for great TV if you’re lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and our photographer Dan definitely was.”
The play has gone viral. Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy, Barstool Sports and others circulated the video Saturday over social media.
“There’s so many great things about high school football,” Nagy told AL.com on Saturday. “You see a lot of cool things on Friday nights you don’t see on Saturdays and Sundays. That was just a very rare play. I thought it would be a fun thing to post.”
That’s the power of social media.
“When Jim posted the video and tagged us, we got a kick out of it, pun intended, and, of course, appreciated him showing us love to his NFL and college football following,” Eli said. “Some 2 millions views later, it’s been entertaining to see the comments and get the texts I have about the play going viral.”
The play was so rare even Smith admitted he hadn’t ever seen a 1-yard punt return for a score.
“Never,” he said with a laugh.
It was just one of the way Burkhalter scored Friday night for the Toros (4-1 overall, 3-1). He returned the punt for a touchdown, returned a fumble for a score and had a safety in the victory. He also had 11 tackles on the night.
“A great game for him for sure,” Smith said.
Aaden Shamburger threw touchdown passes to Justin Bonner and Nemo Hixon in the win for the Toros, who host rival Daphne on Friday.
Murphy fell to 0-5 and 0-4 in the region.
Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.
