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By Loren Kopff
Sports Editor | Follow X
September 17, 2026
BUENA PARK-After two convincing victories to begin the E.J. Ashby era as Artesia High’s new head coach, the Pioneers were unresponsive against Gahr High on Sept. 4 following a poor week of practice. Then came the heat and humidity that forced Artesia to have just one practice (Sept. 8) ahead of its game last Friday at winless Buena Park High.
While the first half against the Coyotes was sluggish, resulting in a scoreless game at the half, the Pioneers woke up just enough to post a 17-7 victory, spoiling Buena Park’s homecoming and 70th anniversary to the date.
“The number one thing was bouncing back,” said Ashby, who had been an assistant on Artesia’s staff for 13 seasons. “You always want to know how your kids are going to respond to that type of loss [to Gahr], because it wasn’t just a close loss. It was a butt kicking. I did want to see how they were going to come back, especially with having one day to practice with all the heat and the distractions.
“I knew we were going to be rusty in the first half; I saw that coming,” he continued. “But I’m glad we didn’t break. We didn’t give up any huge or big plays in the first half, so we stayed in it. And then our kids started to get the confidence at halftime; they started to realize that ‘hey coach, we can do this, we can do this’. It was good to see how they bounced back and responded.”
While the offense couldn’t get much going in the first half, the defense did its job and limited the Coyotes to 55 yards, forced them to punt three times and got an interception from junior free safety Andrew Quarles with under a minute remaining. He would return it to the Buena Park nine-yard line.
One play later, the game was halted due to a significant injury to Buena Park’s Qwantino Ornellas, who remained on the turf for a significant amount of time. With 35 seconds remaining in the half, both teams would be summoned to their respective locker rooms for an extended halftime as Ornellas was attended to.
The Pioneers were held to 69 offensive yards and senior kicker Giovanny Martinez was short on a 41-yard field goal attempt with 1:37 left in the first half. Even though senior halfback Izayah Carranza was nearly the whole offense the Pioneers had in the half, gaining 69 yards on 11 carries, the game still remained scoreless.
“Once I explained to them the situation [about Ornellas] how their coach and myself agreed to go into half at the time before the second quarter would end, I explained to them this is our halftime right now,” said Ashby. We have the advantage because we’re getting the ball in the second half.”
A key component to Artesia’s offense was absent in the half as junior running back Justin Pettus was serving a team rule infraction. However, he played the second half and displayed his talent, rushing eight times for 162 yards and scored on a 42-yard run with 8:56 remaining in the contest.
“The kids know my rule; they know I’m strict about it,” said Ashby. “If you miss two practices, you have to sit the whole half. If you miss one, I’ll make you sit in the first quarter. He knew it…and he said, ‘I’m sorry coach’. I had a couple of starters that couldn’t play the first quarter because they missed at least one practice.”
Artesia got on the board late in the third quarter when Martinez redeemed himself with a 34-yard field goal with 4:44 remaining, ending a seven-play drive which would be the longest for the visitors in the game. Three plays later in Buena Park’s second drive of the half, Quarles picked off Eli Yescas, the third string quarterback for the ‘Yotes, and returned it 37 yards to the house.
“It was funny because yesterday, our [freshmen] team…one of our sophomore corners returned a pick-six,” said Ashby. “So Andrew was the main one on varsity telling me, ‘coach, coach, you have to give him a sticker’ because we give stickers to the varsity players for big plays. He said, ‘if I do it this game, you have to give both of us a sticker’. Well, he did, and now both of them have a sticker.”
Then on the fifth offensive play of the fourth quarter, Pettus added his touchdown and the game seemed out of control as the Pioneers were limiting Buena Park to 71 yards on 25 plays. But Buena Park would put together its best drive of the game, crossing midfield for the first and only time in the game and ending an 11-play, 92-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown run from Elias Chavez. He ended the night gaining 56 yards on 16 carries.
The Artesia passing game was nearly nonexistent as junior Zyir Lewis was three of six for three yards and a pair of interceptions. But Carranza in the first half and Pettus in the second half made up for that. Senior linebacker Kingston Waller led the defense with six and a half tackles while junior lineman Alex Beccera and junior safety Jorge Velazquez each had five tackles.
Artesia will conclude the non-league portion of its schedule with a home game against San Gabriel High, hoping to avenge last season’s 34-22 loss, before heading into its bye week.
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