RELATED: Barkley's path to NFL stardom began right here in the Lehigh Valley
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Whitehall’s Saquon Barkley ran his way into the NFL record books as his team captured its second Super Bowl championship Sunday night.
With a 2-yard run in the closing moments of the second quarter of Super Bowl LIX, Barkley passed Broncos great Terrell Davis to capture the NFL total season rushing record.
The Kansas City Chiefs managed to contain Barkley for most of the night, holding him to 57 yards on 25 carries.
But the Chiefs got steamrolled by the Eagles as a ferocious defense denied Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and former Eagles coach Andy Reid a Super Bowl three-peat.
"When I got here this was a goal. But when it comes to life, it shocks you."Eagles running back Saquon Barkley on winning the Super Bowl
It wasn’t even as close as the score might have indicated.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was named Super Bowl MVP after throwing for 221 yards and two scores, plus running for 72 yards and another score.
Barkley, the Whitehall High grad and former Penn State star, had one of the best seasons in NFL history. He finished the year with 2,504 rushing yards.
And he wasn't the only Lehigh Valley product on the Eagles' second-ever Super Bowl-winning team.
Nazareth Area High School alum Jahan Dotson, a wide receiver, joined the Eagles from the Washington Commanders before this season.
Hurts connected with Dotson on a 27-yard pass to the 1-yard-line to set up the Eagles' first touchdown — and set the tone for the evening.
Record-breaking year
Entering the Super Bowl, Barkley needed 30 yards to top Davis’ record of 2,476 yards – the most in a season, including the postseason, in NFL history.
The record-breaking performance came on Barkley’s 28th birthday and in the biggest game of his life.
He broke the record on the last play before halftime as the Eagles led at the time, 24-0. He had 32 yards on 12 carries in the first half.
Throughout the postseason, Barkley deflected chatter about the rushing records and maintained the most important prize is the Lombardi Trophy.
"When I got here this was a goal," he said Sunday night in a celebratory locker room. "But when it comes to life, it shocks you."
Last week, Barkley was named the Associated Press offensive player of the year on top of earning first-team All-Pro honors and being named to his third career Pro Bowl.
He and Davis are the only players in NFL history to rush for more than 400 yards and five touchdowns in a single postseason.
Barkley came within 100 yards of one of the NFL’s most illustrious records – the regular season rushing record set by Eric Dickerson in 1984. Barkley sat out the Eagles’ final game of the regular season, but still finished with 2,005 yards rushing – an Eagles record and the eighth-best in NFL history.
The former Penn State star and 2015 graduate of Whitehall High School has torched NFL defenses this year after signing a nearly $38 million, three-year contract with the Eagles last offseason.
He played his first six seasons as a pro with the New York Giants, who selected him as the second overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
