It happened in 2002. Known as NBC 8 at the time, KOMU 8 covered 22 mid-Missouri high school football games on a single Friday night.

"People will stop and talk about it. They really will," KOMU 8 news director Stacey Woelfel said. "They'll say, '22, we didn't think anybody could beat 20.'"

For years, the record stood. But the challenge of beating the mark by covering 23 games, as represented by a poster of Chicago Bulls' former No. 23 Michael Jordan, hung over KOMU 8 sports anchor Eric Blumberg's head in the sports office.

"Yeah, now that [the poster] is up this week, I just noticed it, that's a great target, you're right," KOMU 8 sports director Chris Gervino said. "That's why that's there."

Even the Missouri football team doubted KOMU 8's chances of covering 23 games .

"Yeah, that is crazy, man. Hey, it's going to be tough," junior defensive tackle Jaron Baston said. "Y'all are going to have to work hard and believe in each other to get it done. I haven't heard anything like that before."

The key to showing highlights from 23 games in one night is coordination. Every week the games start at 7 p.m. and the highlights hit the air by 10:12 p.m. On the record-breaking night, there were 18 different crews driving a total of 2,350 miles.

Friday Night Fever (FNF) heats up every week with the afternoon meeting at 4:30 p.m.

This week, the crews got their final assignments and headed out as far north as Kirksville, south as Camdenton, west as Sedalia and east as Troy.

"Double check those maps, because you don't want to go to Rockport when you really want to go to Rocheport," Woelfel said.

Setting a new record doesn't come without obstacles. Nobody wants to be the one who drops the ball, or the camera.

"We want to make sure the cameras and the people come back in good shape," Gervino said.

After the coaches yell, the crowd cheers and the teams catch touchdowns, on camera that is, the crews come back to capture and edit their video.

The deadline is tight and so is the mood.

"I might have some second thoughts, but with your efforts and coordination and the way this season's gone and just being an optimist, we're going to get it done," Gervino said.

FNF workers collected the scores and Gervino took the set, successfully delivering the highlights from 23 games, a new KOMU 8 record.

"It will definitely be No. 1 among FNF nights, but you know election nights, big events like that, the Flood of '93, it'll be right up there," Woelfel said.

The celebration wasn't caught on tape, but it was loud.

"Hey, let's get 24 next week!" KOMU 8 news anchor Jim Riek said.