Buena’s Hammer Strikes

VENTURA — Buena High will live to play another day--thanks to the accurate right leg of James Hammer and the powerful legs of George Keiaho.

Keiaho, Buena’s 5-foot-9, 200-pound senior tailback, rushed for 309 yards and one touchdown in 43 carries.

But it was Hammer, a sophomore kicker, who provided the dramatic margin of victory with a decisive extra point in a tiebreaker to give Buena a 28-27 come-from-behind victory over West Covina in a Southern Section Division III quarterfinal Friday night at Ventura High.

Buena (9-3) will play Hawthorne, a 24-22 winner over Westlake, in next week’s semifinals.

Keiaho, who had missed three of the past four games because of knee and groin injuries, looked like his old, lowered-shouldered self, bowling over would-be tacklers to spearhead a 406-yard team rushing effort.

In overtime, West Covina quarterback Miguel Meriwether hit Brandon Orso with a touchdown pass on the first play, but a poor snap resulted in a failed conversion try.

On Buena’s first play, quarterback Chris Carr threw over the middle to tight end Jason Bendenelli, who made a juggling catch at the one before crossing the goal line.

Hammer, who had missed three field-goal attempts in the game, split the uprights.

“We had a sophomore field goal kicker, a snapper with bad fingers . . . I guess we deserved to get lucky,” Buena Coach Rick Scott said. “It would have been a shame to lose because we pushed them all over the field.”

Keiaho’s one-yard dive for a touchdown on the opening march of the second half capped a 40-yard drive and pulled Buena even at 14-14 after West Covina had taken a 14-point second-quarter lead.

With 1 minute 15 seconds to play in the fourth quarter and the score tied, 21-21, Keiaho rumbled 40 yards to the West Covina eight-yard line, setting the stage for what appeared would be a dramatic winning touchdown smash.

It never came because West Covina (9-2-1) stacked up Keiaho on fourth down at the one-yard line as time expired.

Buena had a chance to put the game away with eight minutes to play. Leading, 21-14, the Bulldogs marched to the West Covina five-yard line, but Keiaho fumbled the ball away.

That set up another showdown between Buena’s defense and Meriwether, who marched his team the length of the field to pull even on a 37-yard touchdown pass to Leroy Lee.

Meriwether’s elusiveness helped stake West Covina--also nicknamed the Bulldogs--to a 14-0 second-quarter lead.

Late in the first quarter, Meriwether scrambled out of the pocket for gains of nine and seven yards to sustain a ball-control drive. On first down at the Buena 43, Meriwether fell into the grasp of a pair of defenders in the backfield before flipping the ball to split end Vincent Boone.

Boone knifed through a pair of defenders and raced untouched for the game’s first touchdown.

Early in the second quarter, Meriwether raced 54 yards on a keeper to give West Covina a first down at the Buena 26. Two plays later, Meriwether zipped a pass over the middle to Robert Walls for an 18-yard touchdown to give West Covina a 14-point lead.