Two Feet Take Him 619 Yards : Prep football: Hueneme running back Ronney Jenkins breaks national record that stood for 21 years.

The morning after Ronney Jenkins of Hueneme High set a national record by rushing for 619 yards was not much different from the game itself.

“Nothing has hit me yet,” he said.

From a 93-yard scoring run on his first carry to a 15-yard scoring run on his last, Jenkins wasn’t hit often in a 52-34 Channel League victory over host Rio Mesa.

In 30 carries, the 5-foot-11, 175-pound senior scored seven touchdowns, four covering 79 yards or more. He kicked a field goal and an extra point, amassing 46 points.

And it could have been worse. Jenkins had scoring runs of 65 and 45 yards that were called back by penalties.

The yardage total broke a record of 608 set by John Bunch of Elkins, Ariz., against Winslow, Oct. 25, 1974.

Hueneme Coach Larry Miller got word that his tailback was close to the record with about two minutes to play. He had planned on replacing Jenkins with Hueneme leading, 46-28, but gave him two more carries, the second of which was the record-setting 15-yard touchdown run.

Jenkins had 258 yards by halftime and 468 after three quarters. In the final period, even the game officials turned to those keeping statistics on the sideline and whispered between plays, “What does he have now?”

For his part, Jenkins was clear on only one point: what to do with the ball.

“They told me about the record thing, but I was in a zone,” he said. “I didn’t know what they were saying, really.”

The Vikings (5-5 overall and 3-4 in league play) finished tied for fourth in the Channel League, so unless they are awarded the Southern Section Division III wild-card berth, the performance marks the end of Jenkins’ high school career. Hueneme has not made the playoffs since 1987.

He gained 2,152 yards rushing and scored 27 touchdowns this season, running his totals to 3,962 and 43 in three years as a running back.

Rio Mesa Coach George Contreras had a feeling all week that Jenkins would be showcased. The Spartans (2-8) allow opponents an average of 440 total yards and 35 points.

Contreras had no visions of stopping Jenkins. He told his team during practice what the national, state and Ventura County rushing records were, and set a goal of keeping Jenkins from breaking the county mark of 415 set by Ventura Buena’s George Keiaho in 1992.

“When we brought the team together, instead of yelling ‘Hit!’ or ‘Win!’ we yelled, ‘414!’ ” said Contreras, whose team dressed 23 players, two of whom were injured in the game.

As it turned out, the county record was the least of Rio Mesa’s worries.

“We knew who was getting the ball, and because they usually run to the wide side of the field, we knew where he was going,” Contreras said. “We still couldn’t stop him.”

Where will Jenkins go next? He said he gets frequent recruiting calls from USC, UCLA, Washington, Arizona and others. Miller said that 34 college scouts visited the Hueneme campus during workouts last spring.

Jenkins has close to a 3.0 grade-point average and is taking the proper classes to meet NCAA scholarship standards. He has not taken the Scholastic Assessment Test, but said he will take the American College Test in December.

“I’ve been getting tutored,” Jenkins said.

He will remain busy with athletics as well. Jenkins is a starter on the basketball team, which Miller also coaches, and is a nationally ranked long jumper.

Jenkins has a personal best of 24 feet 1 1/2 inches in the long jump and has leaped 23-1 or better in nine meets. He also is a sprinter.

Football is in Jenkins’ future, however.

“He is a football player running track, not a sprinter playing football,” Contreras said. “On his sweeps, he dips inside before breaking outside, and it’s really effective. He’s a tough runner in addition to having great acceleration.”

Jenkins got his record yardage on only three plays--a pitchout sweep on which both guards pull, a counter gap on which he starts in one direction before cutting back off tackle, and a simple dive on which he follows the block of fullback Saipole Vainuku.

About the only call left for Jenkins to make is how to spell his name in the record book. His grandmother and coaches spell it R-O-N-N-I-E, but he prefers R-O-N-N-E-Y.

“At this point, I think he can spell it any way he wants,” Miller said.