Using their huge size advantage in the trenches, the
Cerritos College football team accounted for 289
yards on the ground, while the defense allowed just
32 yards, as they posted a 26-10 win over West Los
Angeles College on Saturday at Falcon Stadium. The
win was the second in a row for the Falcons, who
improved to 2-2 on the year, while the Wildcats
dropped to 1-3. Cerritos will have a huge test next
Saturday when they travel to Saddleback College for
a 6:00 p.m. game. The teams split their two games
last season, with the Falcons recording their win in
the Southern California Bowl. The Gauchos (4-0) are
ranked #2 in Southern California after their 48-14
win over Victor Valley College, while the Falcons
were ranked #16 heading into their game against West
LA.
Cerritos had their hands full against the Wildcats, who
trailed just 16-10 with 12:26 left in the third
quarter after a 37-yard touchdown run by Dominic
Cooper. However, the Falcons upped their lead to
19-10 on a 23-yard field goal by freshman
Richard Valencia (Paramount HS)
with 5:26 remaining in the third quarter and then
added an insurance touchdown by sophomore running
back
Thomas
Gray (Narbonne HS/Los Angeles
Harbor College) with 1:08 left in the game.
The Falcons opened the scoring on their second drive of the
game, as they went 87 yards on seven plays, which
was culminated with a 19-yard touchdown run by Gray.
The key play in the drive was a 39-yard scramble by
sophomore quarterback
Brandon Denker (North Torrance HS)
that put the ball at the Wildcats 19-yard line, with
Gray scoring on the next play.
It was the offensive line that allowed the Falcons to
maintain possession of the ball for 38:15 minutes of
the game. Anchored by freshman center
Patrick
Collins (Los Alamitos HS) and
freshman tackle
Sean Rubalcava (St. Paul HS),
as well as sophomores
Andrew Weidel (St. John Bosco),
Miguel DeLaRosa (Bell HS) and
Brandon Davidson (Long Beach
Millikan HS), Cerritos rolled up 289 yards on
the ground. Gray finished with 149 yards and two
touchdowns on 26 totes, with Denker chipping in with
57 yards and freshman
Donald
Livingston (Savanna HS) adding
56 yards.
Denker, who started the game just 1-for-7 with an
interception, rebounded to complete 12-of-24 passes
for 136 yards, including a four-yard scoring strike
to sophomore tight end
Clark Evans
(Los Alamitos HS/University of Colorado)
with 7:11 left in the second quarter which gave the
team a 13-3 lead.
Along with the domination on the offensive line, the
defensive line limited West LA to only 37 yards on
24 carries, with two bad snaps mixed in that hurt
the Wildcats. Late in the second quarter, a bad snap
that was recovered by sophomore linebacker
Jay Suai
(Long Beach Millikan HS) resulted in a
31-yard field goal by Valencia with 56 seconds left
in the first half. Then, with Cerritos leading 19-10
in the fourth quarter, another bad snap on fourth
down gave the Falcons the ball at the Wildcats
47-yard line and led to the final touchdown of the
game.
The Cerritos defense constantly pressured West LA
quarterback LeAndre Thompson and recorded 10
quarterback hurries, with sophomore defensive end Alauna Finau
(Dominguez HS) leading the way with three
on the night. Sophomore linebacker
Donovan Amituanai (Long Beach Poly
HS/El Camino College) led the team with eight
tackles and 1 1/2 tackles for loss, while in the
secondary, sophomores
Tommy
Elliott (Long Beach Jordan HS)
and
Chris
Metcalf (Compton HS) each
finished with five stops.
At halftime, the Falcons recognized the 25-yard anniversary
of the 1986 South Coast Conference championship team
and the 20-yard anniversary of the 1991 Mission
Conference North Division championship team, both
coached by current head coach
Frank
Mazzotta. Representing the 1986 team
were center Keith Harrison,
defensive back Andy Salazar,
defensive tackle Scott Zowada and
wide receiver Frank Mazzotta, Jr.,
while Harrison and Mazzotta Jr. were assistant
coaches in 1991. Players from the 1991 team included
wide receiver Cliff Parks, tight
end Reggie Kennedy, running back
Darrell Thomson and defensive back
Casey Mazzotta, along with
offensive line coach Joe Biagioni.
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