Randolph senior Xander Hind set a Section VI single-season record with 2,577 yards rushing this season. Photo by Mike Frame

Jehuu Caulcrick, a 2003 Clymer graduate, who went on to star at Michigan State and even bounced around in the National Football League for a few years, is widely considered the best small-school running back to ever come out of Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties.

Randolph itself has a long lineage of New York State Sportswriters Association all-state running backs from Chad Slade and Ike Morrison in the late 1990s to Steve McElwain, Jeff Durow, Nick Jackson and Alan Lockwood in the 2000s, and Brent Robbins, Chris Doubek and Devyn Nelsen in the 2010s.

None of them had a season like Cardinals senior Xander Hind did this year.

The 5-foot-10, 180-pound running back rewrote record books this fall for Randolph and all of Section VI.

Hind carried 305 times for a Section VI and Cardinals record 2,577 yards and 34 touchdowns, averaging 8.4 yards per carry.

The yardage total unofficially led all New York state running backs whose statistics were reported to MaxPreps.com.

For his career, Hind finished with 4,870 yards on the ground, which puts him close to the top 50 in New York state history.

The son of Phil and Gretchen Hind opened his season with 21 carries for 132 yards and three touchdowns on a come-from-behind 39-20 victory over nonleague Salamanca and followed that up with 39 carries for 340 yards and a touchdown while also catching a 16-yard TD in a Class D league-opening 35-18 win over Clymer/Sherman/Panama.

The Cardinals took control of the division a week later as Hind ran 35 times for 275 yards and two scores in a 28-12 victory over Franklinville/Ellicottville.

After a week off, Hind went wild in a 33-0 first half against Gowanda/Pine Valley with just eight carries for 144 yards and three touchdowns. He also caught a screen pass and rumbled 85 yards for a fourth score. For good measure, Hind returned the opening kickoff of the second half 87 yards for a fifth score.

In Week 6, Hind and the Cardinals made quick work of Wilson as he ran for 217 yards on just 11 carries and scored twice in a 35-14 win. Then, Hind needed just eight first-half carries to run for 236 yards and five touchdowns in a 35-8 beatdown of Cattaraugus-Little Valley.

Hind and the Cardinals closed out the regular season and clinched the No. 1 seed for the Class D postseason with a 39-0 shutout of Portville during which the star running back carried 27 times for 218 yards and three touchdowns.

That set up a pair of rematches in the Section VI playoffs.

First, Hind ran 31 times for 285 yards and three touchdowns in a 37-7 semifinal win over Clymer/Sherman/Panama, then he carried 37 times for 200 yards and four touchdowns as Randolph repeated as Section VI champion with a 30-14 victory over Franklinville/Ellicottville at Highmark Stadium.

That set up a rematch with Oakfield-Alabama/Elba in the Class D Far West Regional. A season ago, the Aggies beat Randolph at Strider Field in Jamestown to advance to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association semifinals.

Hind didn’t allow that to happen this fall. Playing at SUNY Brockport’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver Stadium, Hind ran an astounding 48 times for 281 yards and five touchdowns as the Cardinals eliminated Oakfield-Alabama/Elba 42-26.

Facing defending state champion Tioga in the semifinals at Union-Endicott High School’s Ty Cobb Stadium, Hind closed out his high school career with 40 carries for 249 yards and four touchdowns, but Randolph could not stop the Tigers en route to a 41-34 defeat.

Hind, who set goals to eclipse Jackson’s Randolph career rushing record and Doubek’s Section VI single-season rushing record when the season began, will be remembered forever after the season he turned in this fall.

Young players will idolize him just like he idolized those great Randolph running backs before him.

And now, in addition to two-time Post-Journal/OBSERVER All-Star and two-time Section VI Class D Player of the Year, Hind can call himself the 2022 Post-Journal/OBSERVER Player of the Year.