Wesley Hills is a name well-known to football coaches in small high schools across South Jersey, and has put together a breakout season at running back that has his name recognized by fans around the area.

It took one of the best-known names in South Jersey football rushing to surpass his exploits Friday night.

Playing for Wildwood in a 6 p.m. game against Maple Shade, Hills set a South Jersey single-game rushing record with 452 yards on 18 carries in a 61-34 victory. He tied the South Jersey mark of eight TDs in one game, seven of those coming on the ground.

Just an hour later, he found out the record had been broken by Glassboro's Corey Clement when he needed just 14 carries to amass 478 yards and seven TDs in a 45-23 win over Gloucester.

“I knew because (the stat guy) was on the headsets, I knew he was close to the South Jersey record,” Warriors head coach Rich Hans said of Hills’ night. “I was about to take him out, but (the stat guy) said to leave him in for one more play because he was close to the record. I told him to get 21 (so he would get 400). I didn’t know what the record was. That was his last carry, and he took it 81 yards for a touchdown.”

"I kept asking him, for what? He wouldn't tell me," said Hills of Hans' request for 21 yards. "I wound up scoring on that play. After the game they told me I broke the South Jersey rushing record. I was so happy. Then within the hour, I heard Corey Clement broke my record.

“He did it in only 14 carries, that’s awesome. It was tough to hear, I had just broken it. But it’s cool, props to him. I’ll just have to go do it again.”

What made Hills’ performance even more impressive is that a day before, he was home sick from school. But he made it to school Friday to make sure he could get onto the field that night.

“I was sick the whole game, I had a fever,” Hills said. “I went (to school) Friday because I couldn’t let my teammates down. I’m still trying to get over it. Once the second half hit, I felt terrible. But I had a cough drop, got some medicine and went back out there and had another four touchdowns that half.”

Hills averaged more than 25 yards per carry on the night, but Clement had to do him one better there as well. His totals averaged out to more than 34 yards a rush.

“I didn’t want to know,” Glassboro head coach Mark Maccarone said of Clement’s run for the record. “I knew his numbers were up there, but during the game I’m not focusing on his numbers. During the third quarter I started hearing the rumbles from my assistant coach because our stat guy (Chug Mangeney) is on the sideline. Chug walked up to me later in the third quarter and I said, ‘I don’t want to know, don’t tell me.’ I didn’t know until the clock hit triple-zero and we were lining up for the handshake.

“They were big long runs, but they were good runs. It was the offensive line making holes, him hitting holes and once he got past level one he was off to the races. It was a great effort by the offensive line and him.”

Each collected four scoring runs of more than 50 yards, and what makes both marks even better is that both came in wins against unbeaten teams where there was no going for the record at the expense of the other team’s pride.

“It wasn’t a night you were playing sisters of the poor,” said Maccarone. “That was a dogfight, Gloucester did a great job. It’s just amazing that a record that stood for 10 years was broken twice in an hour. I don’t know how often that’s done.”

The answer is never, and now both players rank among the best in the state according to football historian Chuck Langerman. Clement’s total is second in state history to the 754 of Netcong’s John Giannantonio in 1950, while Hills is sitting fourth.

“We face the two single-game rushing kings in the next two weeks,” said Schalick head coach Seth Brown, whose team plays Glassboro Friday and Wildwood next week. “It’s even more of a challenge for us. We’ve got to make sure we run to the football, tackle well. You see them on film, you see them in person, they’re two extremely good backs.”

Hills leads South Jersey in rushing yardage with 1,062 yards, and Clement is third with 844 and one fewer game played. With Glassboro’s move to the Diamond and the advent of the West Jersey League the teams don’t play each other, but they may before the season’s done.

The Warriors are 3-1 and sit atop the power-point standings in South Jersey Group I, while the Bulldogs are comfortably fourth and have won four of the last five titles in the section. Wildwood is on pace to qualify for the playoffs for the first time ever, and if that happens fans could get treated to two of the best backs in South Jersey — forever linked thanks to Friday night — squaring off on the same field.

“That’s definitely one of our big goals, to make it to the playoffs and prove everybody wrong, go from there,” Hills said. “It would be awesome to play him. I’ve seen his stats and he’s definitely good.”

Contact Scott Chappelear at 856-686-3614 or schappelear@southjerseymedia.com