Search

ARCHIVES
CONTACT US
WORLD NEWS

Piercing the surface

Casey Dexter Arizona Daily Wildcat Junior linebacker Antonio Pierce takes a breather from practice yesterday afternoon. Pierce was one of the Wildcats only bright spots against Penn State as he registered 11 tackles and broke up two passes in the 41-7 loss.

It didn't take long for Antonio Pierce to make his mark.

The junior linebacker from Ontario, Calif., started off last Saturday's game against Penn State with a hit on the Nittany Lions' kick returner that was supposed to propel Arizona to victory. It didn't, but Pierce played solidly the rest of the game, racking up a team-high 11 tackles with two passes broken up.

"There were a lot of things I could've done better," he said. "I had a pass that hit me right in the chest that I should've had. Going into the game, I was unsure of myself, but I think I did a good job."

Pierce, who normally backs up senior Scooter Sprotte, has a reputation as a hard-hitter and stepped in well.

"After the opening kick, I stayed on the field," he said. "(Marcus) Bell, (DaShon) Polk and the other guys were looking at me, saying, 'Yeah, let's go.' It seemed like the opening kickoff knocked more wind out of us and gave more to them."

Pierce came to the UA before the 1998 season, but was redshirted. He played two years of junior college football at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif., where he was the conference's defensive player of the year and an honorable mention All-America. Pierce was a three-year letterwinner at Paramount (Calif.) High School, where he starred in basketball, track as well as football.

Pierce, whose nickname is "Tone," knows this football season doesn't end in August with a loss to a top-5 team.

"We still have 11 games in front of us, all that loss did was make us 0-1," he said. "We can still win the Pac-10 and achieve all the goals we set out to accomplish. We just need to get back to basics."

Like most players, Pierce couldn't put his finger on what went wrong in State College, Penn. Penn State came out with a number of plays Arizona had never expected and pounced on the Wildcats early on, leaving the team in a deep hole.

"We went up 14-0 and they were huffing and puffing," PSU fullback Mike Cerimele said after the game. "You could see it in their eyes. All we needed to do was throw the knock-out punch."

That knock-out punch may have cost Arizona some credibility on the national scene, dropping them from No. 4 to No. 15 in the polls. But after a week of practice, Pierce says the team will fare well against Texas Christian on Sunday.

"It's been a real rough week, it needs to be that way," he said. "It's always tough when you lose, especially like that, but the coaches are doing their best to get us back up and ready to beat TCU."

Arizona faces TCU on Sunday at 4:30 p.m.