Buena Has Its Chance for Title, by George

George Keiaho clenched his powerful fists and squinted as he paced nervously in street clothes on the Buena High sideline.

Keiaho--the second leading rusher in state history--looked like an expectant father in a hospital waiting room. The mood was a marked departure from the senior running back’s normally cool demeanor, but the situation was a first for Keiaho.

He missed two of the Bulldogs’ final three games of the regular season because of a knee injury, and now this: A thigh injury reduced him to a spectator as Buena played Schurr in the opening round of the Southern Section Division III playoffs Nov. 19.

Keiaho has never missed more than one game in a season, let alone a playoff game. If Keiaho’s high school career was coming to a close, he thought, he wanted to go out carrying a football--not playing cheerleader in sweats.

“I just wished I could have put on pads and run out there,” Keiaho said. “I wanted to play.”

That was not an option.

So Keiaho put aside his anger as the game wore on and offered encouragement to his teammates. Buena won, 25-14, and Keiaho made a pact with himself to return for the quarterfinals.

He had another spectacular game last week, rushing for more than 300 yards in the Bulldogs’ 28-27 overtime victory over West Covina. Almost completely healed, Keiaho is making his final run at what has eluded him throughout his superb four-year varsity career: a section championship.

Keiaho leads Buena against Hawthorne tonight at 7:30 in the Division III semifinals at Hawthorne.

“I’m proud of what I’ve done, but I don’t like to make a big deal about it,” Keiaho said. “I never really think too much about it.”

Keiaho’s list of accomplishments is long and impressive--just like the majority of his runs.

Despite missing three games, Keiaho has rushed for 2,145 yards (a 7.4-yard average) and 28 touchdowns. He carried 39 times for 309 yards and one touchdown against West Covina in the quarterfinals, marking the third time Keiaho has rushed for 300 or more yards in a game during his career.

“It’s incredible watching him run,” lineman Brian Williams said. “He just takes the ball and he’s gone. A lot of his runs are unbelievable.”

Keiaho, 18, has the size and tools of the prototype running back of the 1990s: He is 5-foot-9 and 200 pounds, most of which is muscle. He looks more sculpture than human.

He can bench-press almost 350 pounds and runs the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds. He has received a qualifying score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test and is being recruited by Washington and Arizona among others.

Keiaho, averaging 238 yards a game this season, is second on the all-time state list to David Dotson (USC), who rushed for 7,257 yards while playing at Moreno Valley Valley View (1989-91). Keiaho has 6,482 yards and is fourth on the all-time state list with 79 rushing touchdowns.

A native of the islands of Fiji, Keiaho moved to the United States with his mother and stepfather when he was 9. Success on the football field followed shortly.

He was the first freshman in the state to rush for more than 1,000 yards (1,134 in ‘90). He gained 1,443 yards and scored 21 touchdowns as a sophomore, and was named the state freshman and sophomore player of the year by Cal-Hi Sports.

“I feel honored to play with him,” senior running back Johnny Chang said. “I just watch what he does and go, ‘Oh, gee, how did he do that?’ ”

As a junior, Keiaho rushed for 1,760 yards and 22 touchdowns. In one game, he logged a Ventura County-record 415 yards in 29 carries, breaking the mark of 358 yards set by Oxnard’s Laurence Burkley in 1984. Keiaho scored five touchdowns to lead Buena to a 42-30 nonleague victory over Westlake in the season opener.

Keiaho also broke the county’s all-time rushing mark last season of 4,054 yards, set by Thousand Oaks’ Marc Monestime (1985-87).

He was selected All-Channel League his first three seasons and All-Ventura County by The Times the past two.

Keiaho (474 points) has shattered the county mark for points in a career (332), set by Kwinn Knight of Santa Clara (1987-89). The single-season county rushing record (2,285 yards) set by Camarillo’s Fahali Campbell (Oregon State) last season will fall tonight if Keiaho gains 141 yards. Only three times this season has Keiaho failed to gain 200 yards--all Buena losses.

“He’s improved his strength and speed each year,” Bulldog Coach Rick Scott said. “There’s no doubt in my mind George would have caught Dotson without the injuries.”

The first injury occurred Oct. 29 during a 38-24 league victory over Oxnard. Keiaho suffered a ligament injury to his right knee on the first play of the game. Scott feared Keiaho was out for the season.

X-rays taken the following day, however, showed that the ligaments were stretched but not torn. Keiaho missed Buena’s 35-21 league victory over San Marcos on Nov. 5, but still made a major contribution.

With the game on the line and Buena on offense in the fourth quarter, Scott called a timeout. While Scott was talking to his players, Keiaho came up behind him carrying water bottles and said: “How’s it going, guys?”

“For all the great things George has done, I don’t think any meant more than that moment,” Scott said. “Things were really tense, and that helped everyone relax.”

Said Williams: “I couldn’t believe he was bringing us water. That really pumped us all up.”

Keiaho returned to action for the Bulldogs’ final game: the annual showdown against archrival Ventura with the league title on the line. He rushed for 112 yards, but it was not enough as Buena fell, 19-14.

Moreover, he suffered a pulled muscle in his right leg that forced him to miss the Schurr game. In two previous trips to the playoffs with Keiaho, Buena has failed to advance past the first round.

“We haven’t gone far in the past so I wasn’t sure what would happen this year,” Keiaho said. “It was frustrating because I felt like I was letting the team down.

“But I’ve overcome the injuries. All I want now is two more wins. I think we’ve got a good shot at it.”