Consistency and coaching have been key in keeping the East High football pipeline flowing

In the last decade, Bettye Davis East High has produced dominant teams at all levels of its football program — from freshmen and junior varsity up to the varsity under head coach Jeff Trotter. That team has secured a pair of state titles and one city championship in the last four years.

One of the main reasons Trotter believes they’ve been able to maintain a high level of success over the years is the consistency of their playbook, from their freshman team through the varsity level.

“Everyone is running the same stuff, so when they go level-to-level, there’s no surprises,” he said. “There are always add-ons as you progress, but those kids come up and they’re not too wide-eyed. They’re doing fine-tuning instead of installing.”

Trotter said another key to keeping their pipeline of talented players moving to the varsity level is the tutelage they receive at the C-team and junior-varsity levels.

“We put really good coaches throughout the whole level so they don’t lose a beat, and I don’t try to screw it up when they get up here,” he said.

His staff of assistant coaches essentially runs the offseason program for him and helps get the players into shape so they’re not starting from scratch in terms of strength and conditioning.

“The assistant coaches are why we are good consistently,” Trotter said.

The Thunderbirds graduated a historic senior class this past spring that featured all-state players on both sides of the ball, but especially at their offensive skill positions, with the departure of quarterback Kyler Johnson, running back Elijah Reed and receivers Deuce Zimmerman and Damarion Delaney.

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As several of their key pillars and most notable names of the past few years have moved on, Trotter doesn’t want his players to try to emulate them. Rather, he wants them to forge their own path to success.

“There’s no Deuce, there’s no Damarion, there’s no Kyler,” he said. “I say, ‘Who is the next person? Don’t be the next Deuce, be the next you.’ ”

“We’ll see who steps up. There are a lot of guys that want it, but now they have to commit and take that step,” Trotter said.

He sees a lot of potential players who could be the next bunch to gain visibility and make a big impact. Some of the players slated to assume larger roles as key starters on either side of the ball include juniors Andrew Montenegro and Azariah Atonio, and senior Puni Pau.

“Last year it was about the big four,” Pau said. “It was almost always them on the news, but hopefully this year we can get a lot of young kids on the news.”

Atonio is a Thunderbirds legacy whose older brothers Ja’Sem Atonio and Jesse Vanilau starred on the gridiron at East. Ja’Sem Atonio was the team’s starting quarterback when the team won the city title during the 2020 COVID-19 season.

The two have been working together in the offseason, and the youngest brother is excited for the chance to show off all the hard work they’ve put in.

“Even when our seniors are shining, our JV and C-team are still working and being hungry,” Azariah Atonio said. “I think we’re shining at all three levels of football at East. As we progress and move up to varsity, we’ll all be locked in.”

He has the tall task of replacing Johnson, who was the 2021 Alaska Gatorade Football Player of the Year as both the starting quarterback and a core leader on the team.

“Once you’re on the field, you have to lead the team as a quarterback and leader,” Atonio said.

His brother Ja’Sem’s advice to him heading into the season was to “stay focused, be a leader on the team, stay humble, and stay hungry.”

Nearly half of their starting offensive line from last year is returning, as are two of their top three running backs. Reed’s departure will leave a hole, as he earned CIC Offensive Player of the Year honors in 2021.

“Obviously missing Elijah is big, but having Puni and Andrew back and (John Cervana) was a hell of a back in JV, so we’re pretty stacked all over the place with the skill guys,” Trotter said.

Montenegro is excited for the opportunity the Thunderbirds’ young backfield has to make a name for itself with more playing time.

“Last year as a sophomore behind Reed I learned a whole bunch. Now I’m going to start this year and can’t let anybody down,” Montenegro said. “I got to turn it up.”

East is a young team mostly composed of juniors, but Montenegro doesn’t want to use that as an excuse.

“That doesn’t matter and doesn’t make any difference,” he said. “We’re just as good as last year, if not even better.”

The Thunderbirds are well aware of the target that is on their collective backs as the defending champions.

“We can’t expect to win everything just because we’re East,” Montenegro said. “This is a whole new team. We have to work just as hard and get our heads straight so we can go through the season like last year and the year before.”

They are the top-ranked team in the Alaska Sports Broadcast Network’s Preseason Football Poll and are followed by West Anchorage, Juneau-Douglas, Bartlett and Colony.

Bartlett is the only team ranked in the top five that won’t play a game on opening weekend because of the odd number of teams at the Division I and II level that requires one team to have a bye in Week 1.

“This year was our turn and it’s no big deal,” Bartlett coach Chance Matsuoka said. “All those rankings have to get proven during the year and hopefully we move up as the season progresses.”

The Golden Bears will kick off their season in Week 2 with a road trip to Juneau where they will take on the 2021 state title game runner-up Juneau-Douglas Huskies and will play East the following week in the annual “Boot” game.

“Nobody really knows what’s going on until after at least the first couple weeks, then we’ll start to get a little more accurate view of who’s got who and who is the team to beat,” Matsuoka said.

East will host Service on Friday night at 7 p.m. to open the season.