When A.J. Yeboah arrived in the United States from Ghana in 2022, he did not know how to throw a football. At recess, the sport still felt so unfamiliar that when the ball reached his hands, his instinct was to punt it.

Soccer was the game he knew. Football was something he had yet to learn.

Four years later, the Greater Latrobe junior is in the Wildcats’ record book.

Yeboah rushed for 264 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries in Latrobe’s 38-14 season-opening victory over rival Derry Area Friday, breaking the school’s single-game rushing record of 252 yards set by Robert Fulton in 2022. The performance earned Yeboah Westmoreland Sports Network Player of the Week honors.

The symmetry behind the record makes the story even more remarkable. Yeboah said Fulton’s father, David Guess, was the person who first noticed his athletic ability and encouraged his family to give football a try.

“It’s crazy — foreshadowing and all that,” Yeboah said during an appearance on Westmoreland on the Gridiron.

Yeboah was born in Ghana in 2010 and spent his childhood there with his mother and grandmother. His father had moved to the United States before he was born. Yeboah said his family wanted him to remain connected to his Ghanaian roots before eventually reuniting in the United States, where both of his parents pursued job opportunities.

His introduction to football did not come immediately. He began playing in seventh grade, after first encountering the game with friends at recess. The adjustment tested him mentally and physically.

“I didn’t know how it worked. I didn’t know what was going to happen,” Yeboah said. “The mental part was so hard. The conditioning part was actually hard at first, but I feel like I got used to it the more I was around football. It’s just been my whole life now.”

The sport that once felt foreign now has given Yeboah some of his closest relationships. He said the bonds formed with teammates, trainers and former players are what he values most about playing.

“I’ve built brothers,” he said. “It’s a relationship that’s going to be there forever. It’s not something that can be easily broken just because they’re not playing anymore.”

Those teammates were at the front of Yeboah’s mind after his record-setting night.

Yeboah said he believed he had a little more than 100 rushing yards after breaking two long runs. Even following his final carry — an 89-yard touchdown burst — he estimated his total at only about 150 or 160. He did not realize he had made history until he was told after the game by TribLive writer Bill Beckner.

“Once he told me, ‘School record,’ I was just shocked,” Yeboah said. “There were so many emotions rushing through my mind. It was just too much to handle, out of nowhere. It was a great feeling.”

His celebration was immediate: jumping, screaming and trying to process a number he never thought he had approached. His reflection, however, quickly turned away from himself.

“This record, it’s not just mine. It belongs to the team,” Yeboah said. “My linemen, my quarterback, my receivers, my defense — everybody came through. Everybody did their job, and we were able to get this record together. I’m not going to take this accomplishment to myself. It belongs to the whole team.”

Latrobe coach Tom McIntyre’s offense entered the rivalry matchup believing it could run successfully. Yeboah said he and fellow back Dante Durigon were each challenged to reach 100 yards. The opening drives were not especially productive for Yeboah, but patience and trust eventually changed the game.

“I really just had to feel it and trust my O-line, trust myself, trust my quarterback to give me the ball and let me do my job,” he said.

Of his two touchdown runs, Yeboah favored the first — a play on which he bounced outside, cut back into traffic, spun free and then accelerated away. His second was an 89-yard sprint to the end zone which made the record possible.

“I saw green grass and I was like, ‘Wow, I’m gone. Nobody’s catching me,’” he said.

The record has only raised Yeboah’s ambitions. He hopes to pursue Latrobe’s single-season rushing and touchdown marks. He keeps those targets written on a sheet of paper that he reads each day.

“I look at it, read it to myself, and I’m like, ‘Yeah, this is the goal that I need for this day, this week, this year,’” he said.

Yeboah’s larger goal is shared by the Wildcats. Rather than merely qualifying for the postseason, he wants Latrobe to contend for a section title and make a meaningful playoff run. After opening with a rivalry win, the Wildcats turn their attention to Norwin with the same message McIntyre gives them each day: do your job.