Leading a Rushin’ Revolution : Preps: Several standout running backs have attended Bishop Amat, but Rodney Sermons may be the best in school history.

The name stands out on the list of running backs who have slashed and dashed their way to stardom at Bishop Amat High.

Rodney Sermons. Rushing touchdowns in a season: 21. Career: 43. Yards rushing in a season: 1,376. Points scored in a game: 24. In a season: 150. Del Rey League offensive player of the year, 1992.

Sermons, a senior, has put himself in position to garner several school records. In five games, he has averaged a touchdown every fourth time he has touched the ball. Had Bishop Amat, the top-ranked team in Southern Section Division I, not manhandled its opponents, thereby affording Sermons time off in the second half, his totals would be even more impressive. In Friday’s 45-13 rout of Long Beach Jordan, Sermons had only six carries, but gained 64 yards and scored a touchdown.

He’s sure to be called on more Friday night when the Lancers (5-0) open Del Rey League play at Encino Crespi (3-2) at 7:30 p.m.

Assuming Bishop Amat parlays a few playoff victories, Sermons could eclipse the 186 points scored in 1986 by current San Diego Charger running back Eric Bieniemy.

He’s a fine receiver, too, averaging more than 10 yards a catch.

“He’s as good a running back as we have had here and he’s doing real well,” Coach Mark Paredes said. “When he has the ball, he does get it into the end zone.”

Because of his speed and ability to catch the ball, Sermons, a three-year starter, may be switched to receiver or slotback in college. After leading the Lancers to a 15-0 season and victories in the Division I and Reebok Bowl title games as a junior, colleges came knocking. USC, which has a long line of succession between Kiefer Stadium and Exhibition Park, was foremost on Sermons’ list.

“I’ve always wanted to go to SC since I was old enough to watch football on television,” he said.

But Washington and Arizona have become recent additions to the list. Now the 6-foot, 185-pound Sermons says he goes to bed each night considering his college options.

“It’s the most difficult decision I have to make,” he said.

Sermons, who was named a preseason prep All-American, attributed much of his success as a junior to the offensive line. When fall practice began, though, all five linemen had graduated. The new line has met the challenge.

“As it turned out, the guys who stepped up have been doing real good,” Sermons said.

Right guard Robert Flores, a senior who saw only limited action last season, said he and fellow linemen vying for starting jobs knew the pressure was on them.

“For the team to do well, Rodney has to perform,” he said. “And if we don’t perform, he doesn’t perform.”

The fears were laid to rest in the first half of a 14-0 season-opening victory at perennial City Section power Carson. Sermons took a handoff and broke a 31-yard touchdown run early in the first half, then added a two-yard scoring run. With the defense proving it is also up to the task--the victory over Carson marked only the seventh time in 31 seasons that the Colts have been shut out--the Lancers know all they have to do is stay close and let Sermons put some points on the board.

“It really surprised me how well we have been playing,” Paredes said. “It’s made me happy.”

When he was 5, Sermons hung out at Victory Park in Pasadena with his grandfather, Willie Wallace. Wallace was a coach in the Pop Warner League and his grandson was the water boy. The league has helped develop its share of top players, and Sermons was awed by many of the players’ talent. He couldn’t wait to start playing. Wallace couldn’t wait, either.

“We could tell he was pretty fast when he was little,” Wallace said. “He would run laps around the track with the older kids and he would come in first all the time.”

Soon he was breaking tackles like the rest of the kids. When it came time to enter high school, Sermons huddled with his parents. They lived in Diamond Bar, and public school wasn’t to their liking.

“My parents have always been real hard on me about my academics,” he said.

A couple of friends told him that Bishop Amat had a good football program, too. Sermons played on the freshman football team in 1989 and also went out for the basketball and track teams.

Sermons didn’t think he had a chance to play varsity football as a sophomore, but Paredes had other ideas. Sermons impressed Paredes in fall drills and soon found himself starting at fullback, blocking for Scott Fields, now a tailback at USC.

“I didn’t think I had the size or strength to play fullback,” Sermons said. “But once I got out there blocking wasn’t too bad and I got to carry the ball some. Blocking was more of a mental, not physical, thing.”

With Sermons leading the way on many runs, Fields rushed for almost 1,600 yards in 1991.

Slowed because of a midseason groin injury in 1992, Sermons still averaged about eight yards a carry and more than 100 yards a game in all-purpose yardage.