Johnson Has a Big Night as El Toro Easily Defeats Buena

El Toro High School quarterback Rob Johnson made it look easy Saturday night, passing for 250 yards and three touchdowns in a 40-12 victory over Buena in a Division II playoff opener before 3,000 fans at Ventura High.

Johnson completed 16 of 19 attempts--one pass was dropped--before leaving with 10:54 remaining to play and El Toro ahead, 33-6.

“He was everything he was advertised to be,” Buena Coach Rick Scott said. “I’m sure wherever he decides to go (for college), you’ll be reading about him.”

For now, Johnson will be content making headlines for El Toro (10-1). The Chargers will meet Lynwood (6-5) in the second round of the playoffs at a site to be determined by a coin flip today at the Southern Section office.

Johnson set the tone by throwing touchdown passes of 23 yards to Brian Haas and 19 yards to David Canfield in a little more than a quarter. But he said he wasn’t completely satisfied with his performance on a damp and uneven playing field.

“My passes were on target, but they weren’t crisp,” he said. “We used mostly play-action passes, but we were careful not to show too much of our offense because we figured a lot of other schools were here scouting us.

“Nothing against Buena, but in a game like this, we’re not going to show everything.”

Buena (5-6) also had problems sustaining any offense against an El Toro defense that was led by Haas and Mike Nelson at linebackers.

The lone bright spot for Buena was the running of George Keiaho, who became the first freshman in Southern Section history to gain 1,000 yards in a season by gaining 146 yards in 21 carries.

He is the first running back to get more than 100 yards against El Toro’s defense, although he did get 56 against El Toro’s sophomores in the final quarter.

“He was very impressive,” El Toro Coach Bob Johnson said. “As a coach, you’re always worried going into a playoff game against a team you’ve never played against or heard much about.

“We saw that Camarillo score last night (upset victory over fourth-seeded Glendale), and we were worried.”

The evening was costly for some of El Toro’s players. Thieves broke into the locker room during the game and stole personal items, including jewelry, watches and wallets.