There have been times in Cole Smith’s high school football career when he seemed destined to be just another above-average receiver.

As a sophomore, he didn’t start and caught only one pass. As a junior, Porters Chapel Academy was so dominant that they didn’t have to throw much – and when they did, Smith had a bad case of the drops. And as a senior, he got off to a bad start that made him the second receiver in a pass-happy offense.

With one great stretch of games, however, Smith has put all of that behind him and gone from above-average to above everyone else.

With two regular-season games and at least one playoff game remaining, Smith needs just one more touchdown reception to break a 50-year-old Warren County career record. Smith, who is tied with Culkin’s Tommy Akin with 18 career TD receptions, will try to break the record Friday night at home against Prairie View.

&#8220It’d be great to get it in the last game at home in my senior year,” said Smith, who has caught 24 passes for 725 yards and nine touchdowns this season. &#8220My sophomore year, I didn’t even start. Then last year I broke out.”

Akin set the mark at Culkin from 1955-57. Since then, three other players – Warren Central’s Russell Richards (1974-76) and James Jones (1991-93), and Temple’s Ronald Queen (1962-64) – have caught 17 touchdown passes, but none have caught Akin until now. Smith did it with a dazzling four-touchdown performance against ACCS on Friday.

On the first TD catch, a 9-yarder, Smith outjumped an ACCS defender on a fade route and tapped one foot down along the back of the end zone for the score. The next touchdown came on a reverse flea flicker. The ball was underthrown, but Smith made an adjustment to come back to it, then sprinted into the end zone for a 56-yard TD after his defender slipped down.

In the second half, Smith caught a slant pass in tight coverage between two defenders, then outran them for a 72-yard score. On the final one, a 21-yarder in the fourth quarter, he caught a short pass in single coverage and put a juke on the cornerback that sent the defender to the ground and allowed Smith to walk into the end zone.

The final touchdown tied the single-game record set by Vicksburg’s Michael Sweet in 1973 and salted away a playoff-clinching 44-14 PCA win. Smith and Sweet are the only two receivers in nearly a century of high school football in Warren County to catch four touchdown passes in one game.

&#8220I just threw the ball up there to him and he made plays,” PCA quarterback Hayden Hales said. &#8220That’s what he does. You put the ball in his hands and he makes plays.”

In his last four games, Smith has caught 17 passes for 532 yards and seven touchdowns. The surge has put him within reach of the career and single-season county records for both receiving yards and touchdowns. He needs 376 yards and one TD for the career marks in those categories, and 352 yards and three touchdowns for the single-season records.

For his career, Smith has caught 41 passes for 1,199 yards – an average of 29.2 yards per catch and a yardage total that puts him fourth on the county’s all-time list.

For now, the career touchdown record is the one within reach and the one Smith is chasing after. PCA coach Randy Wright said he’d do what he could to make sure Smith gets it.

&#8220We’re definitely going to give him a shot to catch another touchdown pass,” Wright said. &#8220I’m really happy for Cole. Any records he gets and breaks, he deserves. He’s a super kid and a tremendous athlete.”