ANAHEIM — Western’s football team suffered its first loss of the season last week against Huntington Beach, and lost in blowout fashion.
But the Pioneers were able to rebound with a rout of their own by defeating La Mirada 54-14 on Thursday night at Western High.
Pioneers coach Dan Davidson took accountability for last week’s underwhelming performance and praised his team’s ability to reset and play much better.
“It was a much-needed bounce back for us,” Davidson said. “The way that we performed (last week), or underperformed — I don’t know if we can call it a performance or not — but that really came on me. I felt like I didn’t do a good enough job last week preparing our guys.”
Western quarterback Chance Thomas threw for 297 yards and five touchdowns and Ayden Payne caught three passes for 124 yards and two touchdowns. Maxwell Young caught a pair of touchdowns as well.
“Chance and Bunchie (Young) have a beautiful connection to it, but it was great to see Ayden Payne coming in and make something happen,” Davidson said. “Our run game really started kicking off and our offensive line really stood up to a powerful front.
“I mean, they (La Mirada) just held Beckman down. They played Troy, who’s always known as a physical team, so they came in this 2-1 you know, so we knew that we were going to be up for a battle and I thought we were up for the challenge.”
The Pioneers (3-1) took advantage of five turnovers in the first half, including a 90-yard interception return for a TD by Payne.
“I told him greatness is inside of him, he just has to let it out,” Davidson said about Payne. “And my job is to bring it out of players and right now, he was just being a shell of who he is, but that’s who he is tonight.”
The Matadores (2-2) were without their starting quarterback, Ace Faagata, and they turned to Isaac Cuevas, who finished with three interceptions and one TD pass to Kaiden Wardlow.
Thomas threw a 75-yard score to Ernest Nunley in the second quarter, which was part of a 35-point second quarter scoring barrage.
Davidson believes Nunley’s addition to the offensive side of the ball can propel that unit to great things.
“I challenged him throughout the week and told him that we were going to need him to step up and do some things for us,” Davidson said on Nunley. “And I was really proud of the way that he responded. I think he’s going to add another dimension to our offense.”
The Pioneers travel to San Dimas next week.