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Just one yard away
from winning a share of the National Division
Central Conference championship and a berth in the
Southern California Regional Playoffs, the Cerritos
College football team has been selected to play in
the Golden Empire Bowl at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday at Bakersfield
College against Palomar College. The Falcons, who
lost, 35-32 to El Camino College on Saturday night,
decided to go for the win at the Warrior two-yard
line on the last play of the game instead of
attempting a 19-yard field goal that would have sent
the game into overtime. As a result of the loss,
Cerritos (7-3) finished in third place in conference
play, while both Mt. San Antonio College and the
Warriors advanced to the playoffs.
"That was probably
the most devastating loss I have ever been a part
of," said head coach
Frank
Mazzotta the day after the game. "I
should have stuck to my rule of going for the win in
a non-conference game and going for a tie in a
conference game. We can't change what happened,
but we had had some success on the ground and we had
a lot of options with that play. But we are very
fortunate to be playing in the Golden Empire Bowl
because the people of Bakersfield are awesome and
they treat teams that come there to play better than
anyone else."
The eight-team
playoff format is set up where the first and second
place teams from the three National Division
conferences and the champions from the two American
Division conferences comprise the playoff teams. The
two teams from the American Division enter the
playoffs with a 6-4 record, while the Falcons
opponent, Palomar (7-3), defeated San Diego Mesa,
37-17 in the third week of the season. The Comets
finished in third place in the Southern Conference.
"I really think
it's awesome that we get to play in Bakersfield,"
added Mazzotta. "I also think we have shown everyone
that our program has rebounded from our down years
and we get to show those who come to the game how
good we really are. It gives us a chance to finish
the season with a win, which not many teams are in a
position to do. We will approach this game with
excitement and be ready for a good game."
The last time the
Falcons appeared in a bowl game was in 2003 when
they played in the Potato Bowl and defeated Victor
Valley College, 34-22. The Potato Bowl is now known
as the Golden Empire Bowl.
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