OMAHA, Neb. — If his coach had used his head instead of his heart, Anteries Daniels never would have become the first player in Nebraska's largest high school division to rush for more than 400 yards in a game.

Daniels was benched Friday night after fumbling for a third time, and coach Damon Benning figured his winless team might as well let younger players get some experience in the last game of the season.

But Benning sent Daniels back into the game after sitting him for a possession and a half in the third quarter. He said he didn't want Daniels to end his senior season on a bad note.

Short of winning, Daniels' high school career ended as well as it could. The 5-foot-11, 200-pounder ran through the Omaha Benson defense for 410 yards and four touchdowns in a 51-33 loss. The performance fell just short of the all-division, 11-man record of 414 yards by Burwell's Brett Gumb in 2004.

"I'm still taking it in," Daniels said Sunday. "I want people to understand that I work hard and that I like to tell kids on little league teams that if you work hard, you can get it. I've been believing it, and I hope they're believing it now."

Daniels went over 1,000 yards for the season after running for 570 as a junior. He was part of just three wins in the 27 games he played with the Huskies.

Friday's game was his last chance to get a win this year, and he said he began to "check out" as Northwest fell behind. Daniels, who fumbled in the first half, was benched after he lost the ball on Northwest's first two series in the third quarter.

Before overruling assistants who wanted Daniels to stay on the bench, Benning spoke with Daniels on the sideline and told him to not worry about winning and losing.

"This game is about you wanting to compete and being able to go out as a senior and say you maximized," Benning said he told Daniels.

The conversation, Daniels said, made him feel as if he were letting Benning down — and gave him the spark he needed.

"Coach B is like a dad to me. All he had to do was ask me, 'Can you help me, can you go?'" he said. "I was like, 'I got you, Coach.'"

Daniels ripped off six runs of 30 yards or longer and scored touchdowns of 56, 59, 2 and 6 yards.

Daniels ended up breaking Benning's Northwest single-game rushing record of 358 yards, set in 1991. Benning played college football at Nebraska and returned to his high school alma mater this year as head coach.

Nebraska has shown recruiting interest in Daniels, as have Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and Notre Dame.