UPON FURTHER REVIEW; IF PINGEL STAYS HEALTHY, NO ONE WILL EVER CATCH HIS RECORDS

It's third down and 15 to go on the 20-yard line.

Scott Pingel and his Westminster Blue Jays are down by seven.

The ball is snapped and No. 10, wearing a navy blue jersey with gray pants takes off from his split end position into the heart of the defense on a post pattern where there are two, maybe three secondary players keyed on him.

His quarterback sidekick, Justin Peery, tosses the ball in his direction. The ball is thrown a bit high, so Pingel, with no fear, times his leap perfectly at the 5-yard line.

The ball seems to be out of his reach, so Pingel reaches up with one hand.

Pingel snatches the tough, spiraling pigskin as if it was an egg he was trying not to break. Just as he pulls the ball in, a strong safety crushes him from the side. Pingel should go down easily, take the first down and set up a first-and-goal from the 5.

But no, Pingel never settles. The receiver is knocked sideways and lands on one foot. He reaches his free hand to the turf to avoid going down completely, regains an upright position, sprints for the sideline, uses an open-field block, dives for the orange pylon in the end zone and taps it with the football as he flies recklessly out of bounds.

Piece of cake. Now for the two-point conversion to take the lead.

Okay, maybe not all of his catches were like that, but many of his snags were as good, if not better, than any catches I've ever seen while watching the NFL on Sundays.

In a way, the Scott Pingel saga has followed me as much as I have followed it the past couple of years.

As far as the print media is concerned, no one has covered Pingel and the Blue Jays more than I have over the past two years.

During Pingel's sophomore and junior campaigns, I worked for the Fulton Sun Gazette and covered all Westminster's home games.

Now I'm here in Southeast Missouri, home of college football's all-time leader in receptions.

As someone who has been close to the Pingel story, let me say this: Perryville, you should be proud. Your guy beat Jerry Rice and his 301 career receptions. Your guy defeated logic.

Three-hundred-nine, and counting.

It is my opinion that if Pingel stays healthy, he will set standards that will never be reached.

If he puts up similar numbers of a year ago (and common sense says that he will considering he has improved every year), he will put 100 catches between he and the second-place fellow. He will bury Scott Hvistendahl (All-time leader in career yards) by about 2,000 yards.

That's about a 33 percent increase over the old reception record and a 44 percent increase in the yards department.

In more relative terms, that would be like someone hitting 93 homers in a season (33 percent) or like someone running the mile in a little more than two minutes (44 percent).

No one will ever break it.

On Saturday, Pingel had a mediocre day according to his standards. His nine catches was 1.3 catches below his career average.

His 113 yards was 40 yards less. And his three touchdowns were nice, but he's done better.

He owns 11 Division III records and Saturday he began to leave Jerry Rice in the dust.

In his career, Pingel has had 21 100-yard games and 54 touchdown receptions.

Has anyone heard of 395 receiving yards in a game? Pingel did it.

It's gotten to the point where nothing Pingel does anymore surprises me, unless it's dropping a pass.

It's too bad Pingel doesn't have blazing speed. It has been reported that the Denver Broncos took a look at Pingel last year. But with a 4.7 time in the 40 it's doubtful he'll get drafted.

Pingel seemed to get dramatically faster between his sophomore and junior years. Fewer defenders caught him from behind last year than they did in 1997. Still, he's probably not fast enough to play in the NFL.

But the numbers don't lie and speed doesn't do a thing for you unless you can catch the ball.

In the hands department, I believe Pingel is in a category by himself.

Perhaps, by shattering the record, he'll get invited to an NFL camp next year. Or maybe he'll get a shot in the CFL or Arena Football or maybe he'll come back to Perryville and teach.

Whatever the case, Pingel will always have a group of fans here in Southeast Missouri, especially those who are associated with St. Vincent High School.

He will always have a degree in secondary education/mathematics.

And, in my opinion, he'll always have the records.

Bob Miller is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian