They say timing is everything and Spanish Fort senior linebacker Bishop Burkhalter was evidence of that Friday night.

With the visiting Murphy Panthers punting out of their own end zone, Burkhalter rushed up the middle and tracked a high kick that didn’t travel far. He positioned himself at the 1-yard line and caught a backward bounce before stepping across the goal line to set an Alabama record for the shortest punt return for a touchdown according to the AHSAA Football Spotlight.

Video, caught by WKRG and subsequently shared by Senior Bowl Executive Director Jim Nagy, went viral after being shared by Barstool Sports whose post on Twitter/X had 3 million views with over 1,700 reposts and 34,000 likes as of Tuesday. The post also had 3.1 million views as an Instagram reel shared by 247Sports and MaxPreps with over 106,500 likes and 296 comments.

And that was just Burkhalter’s first touchdown of the night as he also provided a fumble recovery for a touchdown off a sack from classmate Isaih Woodall. Burkhalter was also credited with a safety as fellow Spanish Fort senior Camden Lumbard added a defensive touchdown with a pick-six.

Offensively, junior quarterback Aaden Shamburger threw touchdown passes to junior Justin Bonner (5 yards) and senior Nehemiah Hixon (35 yards) to complement a 20-mph, 60-yard burst of a touchdown from senior Sawyer Wilson. Toro senior kicker Cam Lytle connected on all 5 point-after tries.

Junior Justin Vines also recorded an interception to highlight the defensive effort alongside senior Trent Sellers who collected 3.5 sacks and 5 tackles for loss.

Burkhalter finished with 11 tackles, 3 tackles for loss and 2 sacks to help Spanish Fort improve to 4-1 overall and 3-1 in Class 6A Region 1. The Toros have outscored their opponents 32.4-16.2 on average.

Spanish Fort also moved to 2-0 on its new home turf and the Toros are scheduled to be back there in Week 6 for a non-region rivalry game against the Daphne Trojans who will enter 3-2 overall and 1-2 in Class 7A Region 1.