Buena Riddled by Johnson’s Passes, 40-12

Rob Johnson made it look easy, passing for 250 yards and three touchdowns in a 40-12 El Toro High victory over Buena on Saturday night in a first-round Southern Section Division II football playoff game before 3,000 spectators at Ventura High.

Johnson completed 16 of 19 passes before leaving the game with 10 minutes 54 seconds to play and El Toro comfortably ahead, 33-6. He threw to six receivers and had one pass dropped on a near-perfect night.

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

For now, Johnson will have to be content making headlines for El Toro (10-1) in the playoffs.

The Chargers will meet Lynwood (6-5) in the second round at a site to be determined by a coin flip today at the Southern Section office.

Johnson set the tone for a big night by throwing a 23-yard touchdown pass to Brian Haas and a 19-yard scoring pass to David Canfield as El Toro established its superiority early.

“They can hurt you in so many ways,” said Scott, whose Bulldogs finished 5-6. “They are big, physical and they don’t make mistakes. They were simply overpowering.”

Despite the big night, Johnson said he wasn’t satisfied with his performance on a damp and uneven 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.”

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

Buena, the second-place team from the Channel League, was competitive for most of the game but had problems sustaining an attack against an El Toro defense that was led by linebackers Haas and Mike Nelson.

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

Keiaho, who finished with 1,134 yards, is the first running back to gain more than 100 yards against El Toro this season.