WEEK FIVE FOOTBALL-Pettus, Artesia return the favor against Estancia in signature victory

September 28, 2025

By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X

Sometimes it takes a few games into a season to establish what your team’s identity is. For Artesia High, it took six games to find out its identity, and it starts with Justin Pettus.

The sophomore running back rushed 20 times for 163 yards, scored twice on the ground and returned a kickoff 97 yards for another score as the Pioneers avenged their first loss of the 2024 season to Estancia High with a 28-21 victory. While Pettus’ performance may be average to some, he entered the game with 186 rushing yards on 26 carries and three touchdowns in the previous five games combined.

“Honestly, I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” said Pettus. “From the blocking down to our mentality; we started out super rough and I really thought it was over, especially since [Estancia] was undefeated. We went into this game with not that good of a mentality. But my teammates helped me up; we got the ball back and it was all energy. The way that my teammates talked to me during this game made me feel like I was the best player ever. They gave me the energy to just drive and keep scoring and scoring.”

Credit the offensive line of senior left tackle Leyon Brown, sophomore left guard Antony Amaya, senior center Nehemiah Levu, senior right guard Jaell Rueda and sophomore right tackle Alex Beccera for creating the holes for Pettus. Of the 20 carries he had, only once did he not get back to the line of scrimmage.

“He’s a dude, but he’s just figuring it out still,” said Artesia head coach Connor Crook. “We’re so young everywhere, and the last two games were winnable for us, and we just didn’t put all the pieces together. We won tonight; it wasn’t pretty, but the sophomores every week are going to get better and better. So I’m proud of him and I’m proud of the other guys, too, and the seniors who guided those guys.”

A fumble on the opening kickoff led to the Eagles taking a 7-0 lead as Brady Macphee hauled in an eight-yard pass from Kai Bargas on the third play. After getting nothing on its first three plays from scrimmage, Artesia’s defense began to set the tone as sophomore Jorge Velazquez picked off Bargas at the 32-yard line and returned it 13 yards.

Pettus would gain 11 yards on three straight running plays and following a false start infraction and an incomplete pass from senior quarterback Joey Peck, the Pioneers knotted the score on a 39-yard run from Pettus. The remainder of the first half would be about the running from Pettus and Artesia’s defense despite Estancia’s Jeff Brown doing the bulk of the work for his team.

Brown rushed for 85 yards on a dozen carries as he was the lone ball carrier in the half while Bargas completed just three of nine passes in the half with a pair of interceptions.

Meanwhile, Pettus scored on a 61-yard run to begin the second quarter and after Juan Silva missed a 40-yard field goal with 7:41 left in the first half, the Pioneers turned that into a long 7:23 drive that ended with a one-yard sneak from Peck.

“Those aren’t easy situations to be in,” said Crook of the first quarter. “But we talk about those all the time with our guys, and we put them in situations like that. We just tell them that it’s a long game; if you fumble on the first play, you still have 48 minutes or whatever left to win and come out on top. That’s what we did tonight. We stayed together, they played hard, and we had that big run on the second drive. They did a good job of keeping their heads up.”

Knowing that the Pioneers would have another tough task on their hand would be an understatement and knowing that Estancia cost the red and black of an undefeated season in 2024 was on the team’s mind all week and according to Pettus, every practice.

“Everything that we did, it was straight from last year,” said Pettus, who was playing on the freshman team last season. “We were anticipating for this game a lot…and especially once we got to halftime, it was all talking about last year’s game; about how they couldn’t finish the half. So, that’s all I was thinking about.”

There were a few turning points in the game, but the most important one came within the opening minute of the second half. Brandon Bettinghausen gained 78 yards on the first play, then Bargas found Sean Sweeney for nine yards as Artesia’s lead was cut to 21-14. But on the ensuing kickoff, Pettus returned it 97 yards for what would eventually be the game-winning touchdown.

“That was very critical for me because honestly, I thought [we] wouldn’t even score a touchdown if I wouldn’t have made the tackle. When I missed the tackle and [Bettinghausen] took it all the way for the touchdown, I was bummed. But my teammates picked me up.”

Pettus was referring to a missed tackle moments before returning the kickoff to the house.

Artesia (3-3) was forced to punt on its first possession of the half and after three straight gains from Brown, Bettinghausen hauled in a 32-yard touchdown pass from Bargas with 2:25 remaining in the third quarter.

After that, both defenses would take over.as the teams combined for five straight punts with neither team getting past midfield until there was 52.3 seconds left to play, and Estancia began at the Artesia 41-yard line. But an interception from Velazquez ended any hopes of a potential tying score.

Brown paced the Eagles with 150 yards on 22 carries while Bargas was 10 of 19 for 99 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. Brown now has just over 700 rushing yards while no one else for the team has more than 55 yards.

“We knew we were going to be in for a battle, and he’s a really good player,” said Crook of Brown. “Our whole focus all week was if we could stop the run, we have a chance of winning the game. We did that at times; I think the second half they came out motivated and ran the ball kind of all over us. But our guys didn’t waver really, and we were able to get the job done. If we could force them to throw it, I thought we had a pretty good chance of winning, and that’s what happened at the end.”

Peck, Velazquez and junior running back Izayah Carranza combined for 44 yards on 16 carries while Peck completed four of nine passes for 33 yards. But the story of the night was Pettus. On defense, senior Anthony Sevillano had six tackles while senior Christopher Razo added five tackles.

“This [win] can take us very far,” said Pettus. “I think the coaches; all of us know we were looking for this every game. This is the team we wanted this entire season. This is the team that the coaches are trying to build during the summer. This is a team that can definitely take us to [the playoffs] and further. We just have to keep building and building off this mentality.”

The Pioneers, who have been on the road just twice this season, will remain home as Rowland High pays a visit on Friday. The Raiders will be the third straight undefeated opponent for Artesia, and the game will be followed by a much needed bye week.

“We have a tough stretch these last few games,” said Crook. “We’re playing undefeated teams; last week San Gabriel was undefeated, Estancia [tonight] and Rowland is undefeated. So, we’ve had a tough stretch, but we’re motivated as coaches for sure. But the players are too; the players realize that this is going to set us up down the line for a playoff spot. They were more focused today before the game than I’ve seen them in a while during our pregame meal and stuff like that. You could tell they wanted a little bit of revenge today and they did a good job.”