Parents with scrawny boys who are fond of football might want to consider a move to the vicinity of 28th Street and Allegheny Avenue.

Something must be in the water.

As a ninth-grader on Northeast High's junior varsity football team, Charles Way stood 5-8 and weighed 135 pounds. He then expanded to 5-9, 160 as a sophomore, to 6-foot, 180 as a junior and to 6-2, 210 as a senior.

"It was never that noticeable to me," Way said, shrugging off his growth.

"But when people would see me for the first time in a while," he added, ''they'd comment about my size. One day, I went to see my old Little League football coach and he said, 'You're lookin' big. ' "

To Abraham Lincoln defenders last Friday, Way must have looked like Paul Bunyan in a 40-28 Northeast victory. They didn't know whether to tackle him, hop on his back for a ride or merely step aside and holler, "Ole! "

Way carried 19 times for 186 yards and 3 touchdowns, added 2 conversion runs, caught 1 pass for a 54-yard score and returned 2 kickoffs for 42 yards.

"Have to mention the linemen," Way said, referring to center Brian Peterson, guards George Veit and Adam Friedman, tackles Steve Kim and Peter Oravitz and ends Jamiel Williford and Jeff Weiss. "They'll love this. "

Additionally, in his first start at inside linebacker (he played previously on the outside), Way played what veteran assistant Ben Rosner said was "the best game on defense anyone has had since I've been with the program. "

"Afterward," Rosner continued, "Charles came over and asked, straight- faced, 'How'd I do at inside linebacker? ' That's the kind of kid he is (unassuming). I told him, 'Well, since you were fantastic, I think we'll keep you there. ' "

Unless large numbers of Division I recruiters are mistaken, Charles Way will star on more than just the high school level.

Representatives of Penn State, Rutgers, South Carolina, Syracuse, Pitt, West Virginia, Virginia, UCLA, Tennessee regularly write and/or call. Schools such as Penn and Princeton are staying in touch, too, in case Way opts for an Ivy League education.

"Wednesday is the heavy night for calls," Way said. "Tuesday through Thursday, actually. Most of them last about 10 minutes. All the coaches present themselves well. They'll ask about my games, about school. They'll tell me about their games, ask if I have any questions.

"They'll ask who else is calling. When I say names, it seems like they all know each other. "

Way confesses that Northeast is not always where he wanted to be.

"Truthfully, I wanted to go to Central," Way said. "I'd always heard about their good football team, I'd seen TV clips of their Thanksgiving games with Northeast, and I knew about the academics. But I didn't get accepted. They took kids who scored above 90 on the entrance test. I was around 85. I didn't do that great my first year here, then I got myself together. "

For a guy who would have preferred being someplace else, Charles Way has blossomed into quite a well-rounded young man at Northeast.

Athletically, aside from football, Way was the Public League's second-best 185-pound wrestler a year ago and was prominent in track as a shot-putter and 100-meter man. Academically, he ranks in the top 20 percent of seniors, has scored 900 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test and participated last summer in a monthlong, engineering-oriented program at Villanova.

Harvey "Brew" Schumer, Northeast's head man for five years and an assistant for two before that, said Way is the best player he has coached.

One thing is for sure: The last Viking to stir even close to this much recruiting attention was halfback Kevin Duckett (class of '79), who starred briefly for Temple before academics felled him.

"Lots of schools want to know about Charles," Schumer said, "but it's hard to tell for what. Could be either way (offense or defense). Most say they'll try to accommodate him. "

Said Way: "The coaches said I have time to make up my mind. If I want to, they said I can come to the school, try both sides (of the ball), then they'll give me an evaluation of where they think I'd do best.

"Offense is what people think about more. They don't mention too much about defense. But you could say I'm leaning toward defense. I like it a lot, especially since I'm playing in the middle now. You get to make more tackles. You're more involved in every play . . . Really, though, if it's helping the team, I'll play any position. "

Way's parents, Cleveland and Jacqueline, always have insisted that their sons make strong efforts in school. Charles's only brother, Cleveland, was a member of Engineering and Science's first graduating class ('82) and played basketball as the first front-court substitute.

He later went to Textile and now works in New Jersey as a textile engineer, after spending some time in Ohio.

"I want engineering, too. Probably a different branch, like mechanical or electrical," Charles said. "I look up to my brother a lot. Watching him was how I got interested in engineering. "

Charles's football appetite was whetted by dad and brother.

"We'd always watch TV games together," he said. "When I was in fifth grade, I asked my dad to find me a team to play on. He tried the Frankford Chargers first, but I was too heavy. Then he got me on the Nicetown Steelers, with guys like (Gratz quarterback) Robert Alston and Keita Crespina (Temple frosh, formerly of Lincoln).

"I'm a football fan. Some teammates and I went up to the Penn State- Rutgers game (Oct. 7) and we saw the Wood-Judge and North Catholic-Ryan games last weekend right here. I've been watching all the middle linebackers, trying to see how they do things. "

Last Friday, as 68 points were being posted, Way was shaking in his cleats.

"That was the kind of game I don't like," he said, laughing. "All those touchdowns going back and forth. It was scary. I like to beat someone convincingly. I don't like close games."