Life on the edge still suits Johnson

It took only two series Friday night to demonstrate why Exavier Johnson’s play at quarterback has been exhilarating and frustrating.

On his first snap for Lake Balboa Birmingham late in the first quarter, Johnson dropped back to pass and threw a 10-yard bullet that was intercepted by Los Angeles Dorsey’s Rahim Moore, who returned it 21 yards to Birmingham’s four-yard line.

The Patriots’ defense held Dorsey to a field goal.

Johnson returned to the field at the start of the second quarter, again at quarterback, but this time he stayed on the ground, breaking loose for three runs of 10 yards or more. His 13-yard run positioned Birmingham at the Dons’ seven-yard line, and Milton Knox scored three plays later to give the Patriots a 14-10 halftime lead in a game they eventually won, 30-10.

In six minutes, Johnson presented Dorsey a chance to control the game with his errant pass, then took it away with his quick feet. He finished with 55 yards rushing.

“We certainly didn’t plan for that,” mumbled one disappointed Dorsey assistant coach trudging off the field after the game.

Coach Ed Croson, who had planned all along to make Johnson his starting quarterback before a broken right hand kept him out of most of Birmingham’s first three games, said he expects to split the position between Johnson and his son, Morey, the rest of the season.

“Exavier is a senior,” Croson said. “As he continues to recover,” from a broken right hand, “we’re going to try and use his [group of plays] first. We’ll still use Morey more than we might have if Exavier hadn’t gotten hurt.”

That’s some commitment, considering Morey Croson, a junior, has directed the Patriots, ranked fourth in the Southland by The Times, to a 4-1 record that includes victories over Southern Section powers Long Beach Poly and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.

Ed Croson figures Johnson, a transfer from Woodland Hills Taft over the summer, is too good an athlete to leave on the bench, so he will also be employed at wide receiver.

Although Morey Croson knows the Birmingham system better, Johnson has played the position longer.

“This is Morey’s second year as a quarterback,” his father said. “Exavier’s been playing quarterback since Pop Warner.

“Now, Morey has proved himself to some extent and has earned the right to at least be in the mix. We will go with two, but we still primarily use Johnson.”

Morey accepts his coach’s decision.

“We definitely can co-exist,” he said. “We both understand the offense, and we have different [play] packages the team will use. I think we can both achieve.

“We’re friends. Nothing about this is personal. I’m not thinking this is a bad thing.”

While playing quarterback for Taft as a sophomore, Johnson passed for 3,071 yards and 39 touchdowns with seven interceptions. He helped the Toreadors to a 13-1 record, with their only defeat coming against Crenshaw, 20-14, in the City championship game.

But the next season, Johnson’s statistics tumbled to 1,760 yards passing and 15 touchdowns while his interceptions rose to 10. Taft finished 6-5 and, after losing to Los Angeles Locke in the first round of the playoffs, Troy Starr, the Toreadors’ coach, called Johnson into his office and told him he would not be his quarterback the next season.

“I was stunned,” Johnson said. “Coach Starr said I couldn’t read the [defense] and I’d probably be a linebacker in college anyway.”

Starr, who took a job last summer as a recruiter for the University of Florida, declined to discuss Johnson’s situation.

Had he known Starr was about to leave, Johnson said, “I might have stayed at Taft.”

But when his family moved to Lake Balboa, Birmingham was happy to take him.

“I didn’t see him as damaged goods, “ Ed Croson said. “He has a lot of game experience, so we figured he would be cool under pressure. He can throw, he’s a run threat and he’s a big kid.”

When Johnson broke his hand in August, he said he did so by hitting a wall at home after becoming angry at his 14-year-old sister.

“I can’t even remember why now,” he said. “She just got me mad and I hit the wall.”

When his temper got the best of him in the past, Johnson said he would respond “by hitting stuff.”

“I wouldn’t hit other people, just what was around me.”

He said he has taken anger management classes and feels he is in better control of himself. Johnson wants to attend college, and understands he may not stand a chance if coaches perceive him as a loose cannon.

He called sitting on the bench at the beginning of this season a sobering experience.

“It’s taught me to let go of the anger,” Johnson said. “To take a deep breath and walk away from the situation. . . . The future is too valuable to keep doing something dumb.”

mike.terry@latimes.com