The High Schools /Steve Elling : Stein Gets His Points Across in Several Ways for Undefeated Oak Park

The bases were loaded and the Dodgers were threatening to blow Game 3 of the National League Championship Series wide open in the seventh inning Saturday. Oak Park running back Jason Stein, however, was not among those glued to his TV set.

“I can’t stand baseball,” he said. “I was pretty good at T-ball but not that great at baseball.”

At last, something in which Stein does not excel. Consider that the 6-foot, 1-inch, 170-pound senior is possibly the school’s best basketball player. He is also a track athlete, competing in the 400 meters, the relays and the 300 hurdles.

His best sprinting, however, is done on grass, not hardwood or a tartan surface. Stein rushed for 117 yards in 10 carries and scored 5 touchdowns in Oak Park’s 49-0 rout of Paraclete on Friday night.

Finding Stein’s forte is not difficult: Open the closet and let him use whichever pair of shoes falls out.

Stein, a 3-year starter for the football team, set an Oak Park record for touchdowns. He scored on special teams . . . he scored on the ground . . . he scored through the air.

Stein has 10 touchdowns this season and is on a pace to better the school mark of 18 he set last year. Stein broke a record set by Erik Affholter, now a senior and starting receiver at USC.

Affholter, another multiple threat, was known for his prodigious field goals. Kicking was virtually the only way Stein did not score Friday. First came a 9-yard pass from quarterback Gary Silverman. That was followed by an 85-yard punt return that Stein singled out as his personal highlight.

“I think that was the most memorable,” he said. “You don’t return a punt for a touchdown every day.”

And sometimes, you do. Twice. After he scored on a run of 63 yards, Stein returned a punt 86 yards for a touchdown. He later added a 23-yard scoring run to cap the record-breaking night as Oak Park improved its record to 4-0.

Clearheaded: Stein took the Scholastic Aptitude Test on Saturday morning at Agoura High. When he arrived, he looked across the room and saw Crespi quarterback Ron Redell, who was taken from the Pierce College field on a stretcher Friday night after suffering a separated right shoulder.

“He looked pretty good,” Stein said.

After precautionary X-rays following the game, Redell returned home.

“He got dinged and was pretty woozy,” said Crespi Coach Bill Redell, Ron’s father. “But he’s fine now. He’ll be ready next week.”

Redell was not the only Crespi player who was lightheaded after Friday’s 34-29 loss to Muir. All-American running back Russell White suffered a minor concussion in the first quarter and did not return.

According to Coach Redell, neither White nor his son suffered a loss of memory, although, in retrospect, perhaps that would not have been so bad after all.

Decisions, decisions: Oakwood’s Mitchell Butler, named the 1987 Southern Section Small Schools basketball Player of the Year after leading the Gorillas to the section title, has pared the list of colleges he is considering attending to 6.

Butler (6-5, 200) will make official visits to UCLA, Duke, Cal and Arizona during the next few weeks. His final visit will be to either Kansas or Stanford. His first trip will not be a long one--he is scheduled to visit UCLA next weekend.

“It’s about 10-15 minutes from my house on the freeway,” he said.

Butler, projected to play off-guard in college, will be a swingman this year at Oakwood.

“I think I’m going to be a free-lance type of person,” he said, “I’ll be trying to be practically everywhere.

“We have some strength this year in the middle, and the only reason I played so much inside last year was for the rebounds.”

Butler averaged 31 points and 16 rebounds last year and was The Times’ Valley Player of the Year.