Turnovers, Injuries Cost Artesia First Victory In Battle Of Winless Teams

By Loren Kopff

Not a lot of people knew what to expect last Friday night when Artesia hosted Bellflower in its Suburban League opener. Both teams had a combined 0-9 record with anemic offenses that had produced just 64 points.
The Pioneers were still having their season-long issues with turnovers but on top of that, were without the services of senior quarterback Anthony Johnson and senior linebacker T.J. Taimutuia, arguably the best two players on a struggling team. As a result, Artesia dropped another game, 31-7, and at 0-5, is off to its worst start to a season since losing the first six games of the 2003 campaign.##m:[more]##
Johnson has a bone bruise on his quad and although he practiced when he could last week, interim head coach Joe Veach said he always felt like he could play. But the decision was made moments before kickoff that senior Montez Hunter would assume the quarterbacking duties. Taimutuia, who is being courted by several NCAA institutions including the University of Hawai�i, bruised his right shoulder on the fourth play of the Oct. 2 game against Villa Park. Without Johnson, the Pioneers managed 254 yards but 167 of that came in the second half. However, four interceptions were thrown which is one more than in the previous four games combined. The defense also allowed over 30 points for the fourth time thus far.
�It hurt us a lot when we found out at game time that our quarterback wasn�t going to play,� Veach said. �Anthony is like a coach on the field with everybody that�s out there. Not having him really hurts.
�That�s why we went to a huddle this season,� Veach continued. �Normally we�re a no huddle [offense]. We went to a huddle this season when we switched over to a new offense because we knew Anthony could get into a huddle and tell every single player what they needed to do if they didn�t know what to do. He knows every single read, he knows every single route that needs to be run and he knows where to throw it.�
Early on, the Buccaneers weren�t much better handling the ball as Jeremy Allen was picked off by senior defensive back Travon Payne on the fourth play of the game. When the Bucs got the ball again, Allen fumbled at the Artesia 25-yard line. Bellflower would get on the board first with 7:48 remaining in the first half as Larreon White went in from nine yards out.
Bellflower had a 14-0 halftime lead and when the second half began, senior Earnest Randell took the kickoff 80 yards to the house. But a penalty nullified that touchdown and the Pioneers had to settle for an eight play drive that ended when Hunter scored from a yard out. Despite two more interceptions in the third quarter, the Pioneers were still in the game facing a 21-7 deficit. But with 7:34 left in the game, a 20-yard touchdown pass from Benny Perez to Michael Jasper on a double reverse iced the game for the visitors. The last two Artesia possessions ended on a fumble and an interception.
�Montez is a great athlete but this is his second season playing quarterback and his first one was playing [junior varsity] last year,� Veach said.
Hunter completed seven passes for 98 yards but had a stretch of nine incompletions in 10 attempts from the end of the first quarter to the beginning of the third quarter. Senior running back David Lasisi led the Artesia running game with 104 yards on 12 carries but on defense, the Pioneers allowed over 300 yards on the ground. White led the Buccaneers with 129 yards on 14 carries while Perez added another 99 yards on 10 touches.
�I hate to keep going back to the personnel, but T.J., to me, is the best linebacker in the area,� Veach said. �Not having him there�everybody is shifting around. People start playing out of position. It�s a situation where we have to get people in there that can make some plays.�
Artesia, which has been home the previous three games, will host Cerritos tonight on its homecoming. The Dons, at 0-6, become the second straight winless opponent to face the Pioneers. But, the Dons have scored 89 points while yielding 219 including over 40 points the past four games. Artesia has won the past five meetings with the Dons and have been victorious on homecoming four out of the last five seasons.
�I�ve watched Cerritos three times this year and some of our coaches from last year are over there,� Veach said. �We�re in close contact with the Cerritos guys. Definitely, we need to prepare for them. I got the feeling that some of our kids this week saw a Bellflower team that was 0-5 and thought, �oh, they haven�t won a game yet�. Something we tried to tell them was, �neither have you�. That�s something that we just have to keep driving into them about Cerritos.�