ATHLETE OF THE WEEK : Armstrong Is Not Your Everyday Cornerback-Scholar-Homecoming King

People at Reseda High are beginning to wonder whether Darrell Armstrong has any famous relatives.

Like one named Jack.

In Friday night’s semifinal playoff game against Los Angeles High, Armstrong rushed for 147 yards on only seven carries, leading Reseda to a 35-13 victory and into Thursday night’s City 2-A final against University.

It was hardly the first time Armstrong excelled in a leadership role.

The 5-7, 145-pound senior plays wingback and cornerback, is student-body president and homecoming king, carries a 3.7 grade-point average in a college-prep curriculum, runs a 48-second quarter-mile as a member of the track team, is involved in the student council, the scholarship club, and for good measure is “the team’s spiritual leader,” according to Coach Joel Schaeffer.

“He is not your stereotypical football player,” Schaeffer said. “If a guy had a bunch of Darrell Armstrongs, he could be Alfred E. Neuman and still coach the team.”

And though Schaeffer is just mad about Armstrong, he is just one of a number of talented running backs on the team. But after Friday’s performance, Schaeffer may take another look at who gets the ball. Armstrong’s runs of 48, 16, 25, 33, 8, 12 and 5 yards on Friday virtually equaled his entire output for the season.

But Armstrong remembers from his science classes that an organism is composed of many individual parts. To Armstrong, if his own numbers contribute in any way to those on the scoreboard, that’s all that really matters.

“My stats don’t mean that much,” Armstrong said. “From the players’ standpoint, we’re winning because of team unity--something that wasn’t really here last year.

“Of course, anybody would like to carry the ball a lot, but we have some good players on this team.”

But with as many interests as Armstrong has, defining his role is the hard part.