Chang Fills the Bill With Keiaho Out

Second-stringer or not, Johnny Chang has been a big-money running back for Buena High, rolling up huge sums in consecutive weeks. He’s a regular reserve bank.

For the second time in as many weeks, Chang stepped forward and paid big dividends in relief of George Keiaho, the state’s second-leading career rusher who was injured on his first carry one week ago.

If the well-traveled Chang has a motto, in both the classroom and on the football field, it might very well be: Live and learn.

“I’ve learned a whole lot from George, just by watching him run,” said Chang, who was up bright and early Saturday to take his college-board exams.

Fortunately, Buena Coach Rick Scott flunked his multiple-choice exam in Friday’s 35-21 Channel League victory over San Marcos. Scott elected to give the ball to Chang a school-record 43 times and the latter cashed in with a 274-yard performance.

The victory by Buena (7-2, 6-0 in league play) sets the stage for a regular-season showdown finale against cross-town league rival Ventura (7-2, 5-1) on Friday night. Buena already has clinched a share of the league title.

Keiaho, out temporarily because of a strained knee ligament, saw Chang carry the ball on 10 consecutive plays late in the game. Buena scored an insurance touchdown on a 29-yard Chang jaunt.

“I’m not used to getting the ball that much,” said Chang, who normally starts as an H back.

If this keeps up, Keiaho might be relegated to water boy. In fact . . .

Scott said Buena was wobbling in the first half when he called for a timeout and stalked onto the field to address the troops. Who should appear with the water bottles but Keiaho, who was in a chipper mood after learning earlier in the day he had satisfied NCAA eligibility requirements on the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

“How’s it going out here?” said Keiaho, dressed in street clothes.

Said Scott: “We settled down after that. George broke the ice.”

Chang doesn’t break the Buena mold. Keiaho is a native of Fiji. Chang was born in Taiwan. Scott is, well, an island unto himself.

“When I was coaching at Hart, they used to accuse me of recruiting,” the coach cracked. “Now I’ve gone above and beyond.”

So has Chang, who moved to the United States shortly after his birth and lived here through fourth grade. He returned to Taiwan--where his father is a college professor--for fifth through seventh grades--so he could learn Chinese, then moved back to the States. Chang (5-foot-9, 175 pounds) lives with his mother and plans to attend a U.S. college.

Judging by Chang’s grade-point average (3.8) and score on the SAT (1,300), he should have no trouble finding a place to hang his academic hat. Big numbers on the football field aren’t exactly a shocking development for Chang, either. Thrice given the chance to fill in extensively for Keiaho, there has been no drop-off:

* Dos Pueblos (1992): 195 yards and two touchdowns in 26 carries.

* Oxnard (1993): 217 yards and four touchdowns in 30 carries.

* San Marcos (1993): 274 yards and five touchdowns in 43 carries.

In short, Chang has rolled up 491 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground in seven days. He’s no sub, he’s a hero sandwich.

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Starr-crossed II: Add another name to the list of coaches who are less than enamored of Taft Coach Troy Starr.

Starr angered Cleveland co-Coach Everett Macy by attempting three first-half onside kicks in Friday’s 53-8 rout at Cleveland. One of them came with Taft (9-0) holding a 34-0 lead.

Said Macy: “That’s a good team with a lot of talent. It’s too bad their coach is so immature.”

Five weeks ago, Reseda Coach Joel Schaeffer was so incensed after a fourth-quarter onside kick by Taft that he demanded Starr either resign or be disciplined.

Taft administrators took no action, other than to admonish Starr for the decision. Taft won handily, 39-13, and Starr later apologized to the Reseda players.

Macy refused to meet at midfield with Starr after the final gun.

“I don’t appreciate what he did,” Macy said. “He’s not making any friends. The pendulum swings both ways. At least, it will someday.”

Taft Principal Ron Berz, who attended the Cleveland game, said Starr is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. The Toreadors have the best talent in the Valley and their players deserve a chance to see action, Berz said.

“He plays everybody,” said Berz, who pointed out the second half was played with a running clock and that Taft has not scored in the fourth quarter in three of its last four games. Berz added he was “not alarmed” by the onside kicks.

“We usually meet to talk about the game every Monday,” Berz said. “I’ll ask what his thinking was.”

Starr said he ordered the onside kicks because it was still the first half and the game was not out of reach. Taft is averaging 38.3 points--tops among area public schools--and has scored at least 39 points in seven of the past eight games. Berz said that since the Reseda game, the Taft program has been stigmatized.

“Anything he does is going to be scrutinized,” Berz said.

Starr sighed when told that another coach was upset with him. But he isn’t exactly overwrought.

“You know, I really don’t care,” Starr said. “I can’t keep apologizing for our team being good.”

*

Credit check: Give Jay Graham points for honesty. Maybe.

The El Camino Real defensive back-receiver could have taken credit for blocking a crucial point-after kick by Ricardo Rivas in the second half of a 14-13 victory over San Fernando. But he didn’t, even though he appeared to have deflected the kick wide.

What happened remains a mystery. Graham didn’t exactly clear up the matter.

“The straight truth?” Graham said Saturday, laughing. “OK, here’s the deal. I think he just shanked it. There was a lot of pressure.”

Then again, Graham plays for co-Coach Mike Maio, who annually has T-shirts printed that are emblazoned with themes such as “Big Team, Little Me,” or “There Is No ‘I’ in Team.”

“We decided to call it a team thing,” Graham said. “Say the team blocked it. Yeah, it was definitely a team block.”

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It’s Miller time: Eddie Miller, a highly regarded forward who played on the varsity basketball team at Notre Dame last season as a freshman, finally has moved into the Chatsworth attendance area and apparently will be eligible for the 1993-94 season.

Miller, who has been attending Chatsworth all semester, needed to change residence to establish athletic eligibility at the school. Miller moved Tuesday, according to Chatsworth assistant Bort Escoto. Chatsworth will open with Palisades on Nov. 30.

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Homecoming: Old Trojans don’t forget their roots. Make that roosts.

Spotted on area sidelines Friday night were former USC tailbacks Charles White (San Fernando, Class of 1976) and Aaron Emanuel (Quartz Hill, Class of 1984), who dropped by to watch their respective high school alma maters play.