It was the beloved late baseball icon Yogi Berra who once said “It’s like déjà vu all over again.”
And for the Point Loma High School football team, their third non-league game of the season last Friday night at Lincoln High School had fans experiencing the psychological illusion from both the season’s opening game loss at El Camino in Oceanside and the second game, a home match against Ramona.
In all three contests, the Pointers have yielded two touchdowns in the opening minutes. 
And, perhaps playing gracious guests, the Dogs have delivered five turnovers each to the hungry host Wildcats and, last Friday, Lincoln, who gobbled them up with delight while turning them into 20 points.
That was half the winners’ total last week in a 40-27 defeat at the hands of the quick Hornets (2-0) with quarterback Asante Hartzog passing on virtually every offensive play, his receivers repeatedly fooling and eluding Pointer defenders for long gains and six touchdowns, a huge number for a prep quarterback, while totaling 379 yards.
The Hornets flashed noticeable speed, both in Hartzog’s quick release of the ball before Pointer defenders could react and in after-catch runs by receivers with touchdowns of 26, 42, 74, 44, 13 and nine yards.
With another bite from the fumble bug, the Pointers (1-2) couldn’t catch up.
“We weren’t holding onto the ball real well and had some fumbled snaps,” Pointer head coach Mike Hastings said after the game. “Just poor execution on our part offensively.”
Lincoln took a 12-0 lead after one quarter when they scored twice in a span of 1:34, the second touchdown coming immediately after an early Pointer flub.
Despite their difficulty holding onto the ball, the Pointers did have the lead (13-12) when quarterback Kyle Grady ran five yards for a score and the Hornets coughed up the ball on the ensuing Dog kickoff. On the next play, Josh Ball blasted 17 yards for a second touchdown in just 13 seconds to give his team a 13-12 lead with 45.3 seconds left before intermission.
Those 45.3 seconds were also the amount of time the Pointers held the lead all night because on the first play following the ensuing kickoff, Hartzog found another of his swift receivers for a 74-yard touchdown with no time showing on the stadium scoreboard. 
In the third quarter, the Hornets added three more touchdowns, two of them following lost fumbles by the Dogs, as their lead grew to 40-13.
To their credit, the Dogs didn’t roll over, adding two final period touchdowns by Antonio Quintanilla on runs of 11 and 34 yards.
Ball picked up 124 tough yards on the night for the Pointers with backup quarterback Anthony Karty directing his team’s third scoring drive while Grady received treatment for an ankle problem before returning.
“There were times we had some good drives, but you have to be consistent – you can’t turn it over. We’ll get better and get it right next week,” Hastings said. Point Loma 27, Ramona 21 The Pointers found themselves behind early against the Bulldogs, the visitors scoring 14 points in the game’s opening minutes, but fought back to claim their first victory of the season.
When the Pointers answered with 14 points of their own in the early minutes, the game looked to be close and high-scoring.
Then an interception by Michael Blakely in the end zone spoiled a Bulldog scoring threat and led to a short touchdown pass from Grady to a leaping JL Skinner in the back of the Ramona goal to give his team a 21-14 lead with 8:55 still left in the first quarter.
The final Pointer score came when the they drove with the second half kickoff to score, a Grady to Kyle Johnson pass covering the final yards.
From there, the Pointer defense kept Ramona from scoring until the final minutes of the game to secure the victory.
Dog defenders held their canine counterparts to just 120 yards of total offense. Extra points:
Next up the Pointers travel to Bonita Vista (0-3, Sept. 16, 7 p.m. at Southwestern College) and Olympian (2-1, Sept. 23, 7 p.m.) 
The Pointer freshman team (2-1) beat Ramona 35-0 then traveled to Mission Hills for a game because Lincoln cannot field a team. The turnover bug bit them too as they turned the ball over seven times in a 27-7 loss. The junior varsity (2-1), however, shutout Ramona 22-0 before pinning a 13-0 loss on the Hornets.
Big Arthur Daniels (6 foot 2 inches tall, 255 pounds) lived the “lineman’s dream” when he intercepted a Lincoln pass attempt.
About 25 people ranging in age from teens to elderly chose to sit in the Lincoln stands while the Lady Gaga Super Bowl version of the National Anthem was played before the game.
The five-man referee crew working the game was wearing two-way radios to communicate with each other but the sideline judge in front of the Pointer bench refused to share his view that would have negated a 15-yard call against them.