Freshman kicker
Francisco Rodriguez (Bell HS)
looked to add the extra point in the first overtime
to tie the game against Mt. San Antonio College in
their National Conference Central Division game on
Saturday afternoon. The extra point would have sent
the important game to a second overtime, but his
kick was blocked, and the Mounties came away with a
27-26 victory. Cerritos (8-1, 4-1) entered the game
as the #1-ranked team in Southern California, with
Mt. SAC ranked #2. The loss drops the Falcons into a
three-way tie for first place with one game
remaining. Cerritos will now host El Camino College,
who is the third team in the tie, while Mt. SAC
(8-1, 5-0) will close with Chaffey College. A win
and the Falcons will advance to the
Southern California Regional Playoffs, while a loss
will send them to a non-playoff bowl game.
Cerritos is in the
same position as they were last year when a win over
the Warriors would have given them a playoff bid.
But the team was defeated 35-32 and played Palomar
College in the Golden Dome Bowl.
Coming into the
game, the Falcons were ranked #1 for just the third
time in the last 21 years. Back in 2002, they opened
5-0 on the year, but lost to El Camino coming out of
the bye week. In 1988, Cerritos was the pre-season
#1 team, but opened with a loss to Taft College.
The Falcons opened
a 14-3 lead over the Mounties, with the first
touchdown coming on a magnificent one-handed catch
by freshman tight end
Lucas Mealy
(St. John Bosco HS) from sophomore
quarterback
Chris
Morales (La Habra HS). Mealy
had a defender holding his left arm, so he stuck out
his right hand a pulled the ball in for a score. On
the ensuing kickoff, sophomore linebacker Cee
Jay Harris (Long Beach Wilson HS)
recovered a fumble, giving Cerritos the ball at the
Mt. SAC 26-yard line. Six plays later, sophomore
running back Demetrek
Chambers (Long Beach Millikan HS)
scored from a yard out. The Falcons were helped
along by a pair of pass interference penalties on
the Mounties, with one coming on a third-and-10
play.
But Mt. SAC worked
their way back in the game and eventually took the
lead, 20-17 with 11:27 left in the fourth quarter.
But Rodriguez tied the game at 20 after he booted a
24-yard field goal with 5:44 remaining. The Mounties
had two chances to take the lead, but they missed a
pair of field goals, one with 1:10 left in the
fourth quarter.
Cerritos was
playing without leading rusher Tylik
Carter (Long Beach Jordan HS),
while they also lost offensive weapons
Michael
Willie (Long Beach Wilson HS)
and Tavoy
Moore (Gahr HS) from their
receiving corps to injuries during the game.
In overtime, Mountie
backup quarterback Colby Ardense rushed the ball
four straight times and scored from three yards out
on their first possession. Cerritos responded when
freshman
Jason Davis
(La Habra HS) found the end zone from 10
yards out to get to within a point. But that's when
Mt. SAC blocked the extra point and came away with
the win.
On the ground,
Davis rushed for 121 yards on 24 carries, while
Morales (11-for-39, 113 yards) was pressured by the Mountie
defense and struggled throwing the ball. Sophomore
Joshua Robbins (La Habra HS)
led the team with four catches for 56 yards. On
defense, Harris led all players with 16 tackles,
while he also added 1 1/2 tackles for loss.
Sophomore
Eric
Russell (Gahr HS) posted nine
tackles and returned four kickoffs for 132 yards.
|
