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Former Penguin Cejudo catches on with L.A. Kiss
By charles grove
Former Youngstown State kicker Joey Cejudo is back to splitting the uprights, but this time in a totally new environment.
The kicker for the Penguins in 2013-14 has found a new home with the Los Angeles Kiss of the Arena Football League.
“It’s a way to keep everything going,” Cejudo said. “I pursued the NFL first and then the CFL and then the L.A. Kiss is just a few minutes from my house so I gave them a call. I gave them a tryout and they picked me up midseason.”
With no preseason, Cejudo has had to learn just how different the indoor game is than traditional outdoor football. Most notably the goal posts are only nine feet apart in terms of width (as opposed to 18 feet six inches in college and the NFL) and the crossbar is 15 feet high instead of the standard 10. That’s in addition to the field being just 50 yards long.
“Your room for error is really small,” Cejudo said. “Any little mis-hit on the ball and you’ll miss a PAT and PATs in this game are so crucial because the game is so high scoring and so fast.
“It could be 42-41 and you could miss that one PAT and now your team loses by one because of some small little error that in outdoor football you still would’ve made it.”
Those little mistakes nearly came back to bite the rookie in a game earlier this year against Orlando.
“We scored to take the lead and I missed a PAT with [3:10] left and they came down and scored with 10 seconds left,” Cejudo said. “But their kicker pushed the ball wide that would’ve given them the lead.
“You’ve got to lock into every kick because it could cost your team and it could cost you a spot.”
The smaller field and eight-on-eight style of the AFL gave Cejudo a crash course in another aspect of the game, tackling. Cejudo has already made nine tackles in the handful of games he’s played in this year.
“It’s very different because it’s not the norm for me,” Cejudo said. “You kick it and ‘bam’ you’re down there. If a guy gets a little crease on the return you have to go for it because you can’t rely on someone else to catch him. At that point he’ll be in the end zone in 15 yards.”
Indoor turf is also a change, but that tends to balance out the lack of rain or wind in the AFL.
“At first, it’s a bit awkward [kicking indoors],” Cejudo said. “I’m wearing a tennis shoe on my plant foot so I’m wearing one tennis shoe and one cleat. But I don’t have to worry about weather factors so that’s nice. Being indoors makes things a little smoother.”
One change that has been welcomed is the ability to play in front of family once again. Cejudo grew up in Chino Hills, Calif., about a 40-minute drive to the Honda Center where the Kiss play. It’s a tad closer than Stambaugh Stadium, which is 2,380 miles away.
“My family has been really close to me,” Cejudo said. “It hurt a little bit going all the way out to Youngstown. In high school and junior college they never missed a game. But when I was in Youngstown they were only able to come out to four or five games over two years. But with this I can have my entire family come out at the games so it’s a good feeling.”
This Kiss (5-7-0) have four games remaining before suiting up for the playoffs. They’re currently chasing the Cleveland Gladiators (7-6-0) for second place in their conference and a home playoff game.
Whatever happens until then, Cejudo will have to answer to L.A. Kiss owner, Gene Simmons.
“He’s there all the time,” Cejudo said. “He comes in the locker room after the games. He’s a very nice guy.”