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By Loren Kopff
@LorenKopff on X
July 31, 2026
ARTESIA PIONEERS
4-6 overall last season, 1-2 in the 605 League, third place
Division 14 last season
24-31-1 overall last five seasons
Head coach: E.J. Ashby (first season)
Lost 10 seniors out of 40 players from 2025 roster
Last made the playoffs: 2024
2026 schedule
Aug. 21 Gabrielino (7-4 overall last season, Division 14)
Aug. 28 @ Hacienda Heights Wilson (5-6, D. 13)
Sept. 4 Gahr (7-5, D. 11)
Sept. 11 @ Buena Park (6-6, D. 13)
Sept. 18 San Gabriel (7-3, D. 12)
Sept. 25 BYE
Oct. 2 Pioneer (7-7, D. 14)
Oct. 8 @ Firebaugh (1-9, D. 14)
Oct. 16 @ John Glenn (2-8, D. 14)
Oct. 22 @ Whittier (5-5, D. 13)
Oct. 30 Lynwood (4-6, D. 13)
The Suburban Valley Conference, more specifically the Rio Vista League, isn’t the only thing making its debut for the 2026 football season. Longtime Artesia High assistant E.J. Ashby is now the new head coach, replacing Connor Crook who had three successful seasons, finishing seven games over .500. Ashby was officially named the head coach on July 9 but is no stranger to the program.
“It’s definitely not my first opportunity at having to be the head coach at this school because I started here in 2010 with [former head coach Joe] Veach,” said Ashby. “When he stepped down, I had the opportunity to take over the program, and I just didn’t want to; I liked being the assistant. So, [former head coach Don] Olmstead took over because Olmstead was on staff, and I helped him for years. For this to happen now is a surprise because I wasn’t expecting it. But I have been an assistant for years.”
Ashby was an assistant for 10 seasons until 2020 when Covid hit. He stopped working on campus and wasn’t coaching for three seasons until 2023 when he was on Crook’s staff. He said it’s a thrill to be a head coach for a program he’s been familiar with for over 10 seasons, citing it’s ‘more comfortable’.
“The kids do know me, I know them, and I know how the school works,” he added. “I’ve been working on campus for years, also. It’s not like the kids only see me during practice because they also see me on campus. So, having that relationship with them is huge because they trust me. They were sad that Coach Crook had to leave, but they also felt good knowing that Coach E.J. is in charge and I’ve been here the whole time. Knowing them; knowing how we do things and the system and all that does make it a lot easier. I’m more excited about how we can take advantage of the season rather than how am I going to do this.”
OFFENSE
Last season was only the second time since the 605 League was formed that the Pioneers missed the playoffs, but they were the first league team to advance to a CIF-Southern Section Division championship game. Both non-playoff teams resulted in the red and black sporting records of under .500 and Ashby had a feeling last season would be a challenging one. He remembered going into spring ball last year that he had questions about the leadership because the senior class didn’t have enough leaders.
“We had one good leader, but we didn’t have enough good leaders, and that senior class, when they were freshmen, were 0-10,” said Ashby. “They got used to us winning because when they were sophomores, we made the semifinals. When they were juniors, we made the quarterfinals. So, I think they had this idea that [they] were the big dog, and we were winning, and it was just going to come easy.”
The Pioneers scored at least 35 points in two of their first three games and defeated Estancia High 28-21 to move to 3-3 but totaled 56 points in their last four games of the season.
For the most part, Artesia started as many as eight sophomores in any game, which Ashby thought was a big deal because there was a lot of inexperience. But with that inexperience and what they gained last season hopefully will pay off this season.
The Pioneers will have a new quarterback as junior Zyir Lewis replaces junior Jorge Velazquez (29 of 42, 334 yards, two touchdowns, one interception last season). Lewis was the freshman signal caller last season and played a little at the wide receiver position.
“With Jorge, he was our freshman quarterback when he was a freshman, and then last year, he played quarterback for us as a backup sophomore,” said Ashby. “He’s very talented; he can still play quarterback to this day. But he just felt more comfortable being a skilled player, and we noticed it.
“With Zyir, he’s just really good at being able to make a mistake and not letting it faze him, and that’s what you need in a quarterback,” he added. “He has it; he can mess up, and we can get on him, and he’ll be like, ‘you’re right coach, I got you, next play’. And the kids see that. So, when he’s able to stay even-keeled whether it’s a good or bad play, it helps our offense run better.”
Backing up Lewis will be juniors Justin Pettus, who led the Pioneers with 688 rushing yards on 92 carries and scored eight times and Andrew Quarles, who led the team with 20 receptions for 275 yards last season. Velazquez will be summoned in an emergency situation, but last season, he ran the ball 51 times, gained 371 yards and found the end zone five times.
The backfield is solid with seniors Izayah Carranza (31 carries, 122 yards, one touchdown), Fermin Duran (21 carries, 126 yards, three touchdowns), Jamorie Mitchell (eight carries, 31 yards, one touchdown), who will be one of the fullbacks, and of course Pettus.
“Justin is really hard worker,” said Ashby. “He didn’t know anything about football when he got here as a freshman. He’s been on the rugby team in Hawaiian Gardens, and he didn’t even know that sport before he joined that. He’s always in go mode, he’s always in shape, he loves lifting weights and he wants to break out this season. We’re going to have some fun with him in the backfield.”
Even though Pettus led the Pioneers in rushing, Ashby plans to use him in various roles thus allowing Carranza to get a lot more carries. Don’t be surprised if Artesia doesn’t have a 1,000-yard rusher this season. Also expecting to see some time in the backfield is sophomore Talitua Fonoimoana, most likely as a fullback. In fact, Ashby played with his uncle on the Long Beach Poly High defensive line.
Catching the ball will be seniors Ismael Felix (eight receptions, 63 yards, one touchdown),
Makei Fitzgerald, who couldn’t play last season because of health reasons but is the fastest athlete on campus and Kingston Waller, plus junior Amir Lewis, the twin brother of Zyir Lewis, Pettus (12 receptions, 109 yards), Quarles and Velazquez.
“I think we’ll be balanced; I think we’re going to be 50-50 this year because Zyir is more of passer than a runner,” said Ashby. “I can honestly say this, since I’ve been here since 2010, this is the best receiving corps I’ve ever coached. Usually, we’ve had one to two receivers we could rely on who could catch the ball. This year, we have five guys that we know will catch the ball.”
The offensive line took a major blow as senior right tackle Jonathan Foster, junior guard and linebacker Antony Amaya and junior starting left tackle Leyon Brown, who transferred to St. John Bosco High, are no longer with the program.
“Losing our only three returning offensive linemen…we felt good in the offseason,” said Ashby. “So, our O-line this year is fresh; all fresh bodies.”
With the offensive line still a competition battle, the leading candidates figure to be junior left tackle Noah Nunez, junior left guard Mateo Flores, junior center Joseph Hallam, junior right guard William Alvarez and senior right tackle Aiden Marquez.
DEFENSE
Last season wasn’t the best defense the program has had, allowing at least 26 points in six games while yielding zero, seven and 14 points in three other games. Senior Giovanny Martinez (12 tackles, one sack in six games) has been labeled as the team’s best defensive lineman, according to Ashby and junior Jhovanny Ramirez will lock down the interior positions of the defensive line while senior Jonathan Garcia (36 tackles last season) and junior Jacob Cortez will handle the end spots.
The secondary is expected to be Carranza (strong safety), Fitzgerald, Amir Lewis (cornerback), Quarles, and Velazquez (12 tackles, two interceptions last season at strong safety).
Felix and Fonoimoana will solidify the interior linebacker positions while senior Jamorie Mitchell (37 tackles, three interceptions, one sack) and junior Robert Talkington will handle the outside spots.
“I think we’re going to be more aggressive up front with the D-line, and our linebackers are faster and more experienced than last year,” said Ashby. “Last year we had Angel Lagunas, who was a beast; he was the big body in the middle, but it was just him. Our other linebacker was Jamorie, and Jamorie did a lot of the clean-up. We want more of a special unit to be able to not have our DB’s having to worry about trying to make all the tackles.”
SCHEDULE
The expanded league schedule should give Artesia a better chance of making the playoffs as the top three teams will advance to the postseason instead of only two. But the Pioneers will have their work cut out for them in the first five games, playing teams who either had a winning record or advanced to the playoffs. They face Gabrielino High and Hacienda Heights-based Wilson High for the first time in at least 28 seasons before hosting ABC Unified School District rival Gahr High. The two did not face each other last season, but the Gladiators have owned the Pioneers since 1998, winning 14 of 20 games. Artesia’s last win over Gahr came in 2013, a 29-27 affair.
The final two games before the bye week are rematches from last season and the Pioneers hope to avenge a 14-0 loss to Buena Park High and a 34-21 defeat to San Gabriel High.
“I like it because it’s going to show our players what it’s like to play good teams,” said Ashby of the first five games. “Sometimes when you start the season off with an easy team and a win, yeah, it kind of gets the morale up. But is that really reality? I like being able to come out of the gates and be able to play teams that have been to the playoffs. Going into summer practice, these kids know that we have to bring our ‘A’ game from day one.
“Buena Park is definitely a game that I want us to be able to show out because we had such a good defensive game against them, but we couldn’t get our offense going,” he added. “Just like in any football game, when your defense has been playing so good for so long, they still will get tired, especially if your offense is doing three and outs.”
After facing Pioneer High for its Rio Vista League opener, Artesia goes on the road for three straight games against teams with a cumulative record of 8-22 from last season before rounding out the regular season against Lynwood High, whom the Pioneers have not faced since at least 1998. While in the former San Gabriel Valley League, Lynwood was predominately towards the bottom of the six-team league. However, the Knights played for a Division 14 title in 2022 and 2023 and lost in the semifinals two seasons ago.
Artesia has a 22-6 record against John Glenn High dating back to 1998 and has faced Whittier High four times, splitting that series, but the teams have not met since 2012.
HOMECOMING
In last season’s homecoming game, the Pioneers were walloped by Rowland High by 50 points, it’s worst loss of the season. This season, Artesia is seeking revenge against Pioneer, which posted a 26-21 victory on the last game of the regular season which decided the second and final automatic playoff berth from the 605 League. Artesia split a pair of games with the Titans in 2015 and 2016, then went 5-2 against them in the former 605 League. Artesia is 12-13 in its homecoming game since 1999, but 2-5 since 2018 after crushing Cerritos High 87-32 in 2017.
“That’s going to be huge,” said Ashby of the first league game. “Our last two [games] against Pioneer have been so dramatic because when they came here the year that we got bumped up to the Division 13 playoffs, they ended up winning [the Division 14 championship]. That left a sour taste in our kids’ mouths. They were bitter about that, and then last year, they stopped us from getting into the playoffs.”
FINAL COMMENT
“I’m excited about the new faces that we do have, and I’m even more excited about the balance that we’re going to have on both ends; on offense and on defense,” said Ashby. “I think we have a lot of balance this year, which is something we definitely needed in order to not only win league, but to get into the CIF playoffs and win CIF. I feel special about this group. We’ve been working hard with them on just all the little things prior to spring ball as far as lifting and stretching. I think this will be another good year after having the dip we had last year.”
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